New Central District chief magistrate judge announced

The appointment of Chief Magistrate Judge Paul L. Abrams to a four-year term was announced Friday by the Central District of California court.

"I'm honored that my colleagues decided I was up to the task, and hopefully I'll prove that their trust was well placed," Abrams said in a phone interview shortly after the announcement.

"I'm also pleased the district judges decided that after 18 years of dealing with me that it was OK for me to assume this position," he added with a chuckle.

Abrams, who began his new role Jan. 1, said with a full roster of federal magistrate judges ready to hear cases, he wants to encourage the legal community to take advantage of the magistrate judges consent program. The program allows litigants to choose a magistrate judge to fully handle civil cases from start to finish if both parties consent. It not only benefits litigants but district judges as well, who unlike the magistrate judges, are suffering from a number of vacancies, Abrams said.

"A: It would be a benefit to the district judges' bench, the more consents we would get, and B: I think it's good for the legal community because we are able to step in and probably get sooner and firmer trial dates than what might have been gotten with a district judge."

After graduating from UC Berkeley school of Law in 1983, Abrams moved back to Los Angeles, where he grew up, and handled business litigation at the firm now known as Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell. Two years later he took a job at Bet Tzedek Legal Services in the San Fernando Valley, providing pro bono services to people who faced evictions and other legal problems. Prior to his appointment as a federal magistrate judge, Abrams served as the supervising deputy federal public defender in the Central District.

Abrams was appointed as a magistrate judge in 2002 and reappointed in 2010 and 2018.

Abrams succeeds Magistrate Judge Patrick J. Walsh, who completed his term in December..

-- Blaise Scemama