Newsom picks 2 justices, names 10 trial court judges

Gov. Gavin Newsom nominated two Court of Appeal Justices on Thursday and appointed 10 superior court judges in Alameda, Los Angeles, Orange, Plumas, Santa Clara and Ventura counties.

Judge Charles A. Smiley, appointed to the Alameda County Superior Court in 2012, was nominated by Newsom to be a justice of the 1st District Court of Appeal, Division 1. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Nathan R. Scott will become a justice of the 4th District Court of Appeal, Division 3, if Newsom's nominations are confirmed by the Commission on Judicial Appointments.

Smiley, who was a court commissioner before his elevation by Gov. Jerry Brown, has also been a lecturer at UC Berkeley School of Law for the past 10 years. He served as a deputy public defender for 10 years after graduating from the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, formerly UC Hastings law school, where he also was an adjunct professor before his first bench appointment. If confirmed, he will fill the vacancy created by the retirement last year of Justice Sandra L. Margulies.

Smiley was born in New York but grew up in Oakland. His father was a corporate attorney for CBS and Smiley thought he would be an entertainment lawyer until he was exposed to trial court. He has spent the greater part of the last decade researching and compiling a historic archive for the California Association of Black Lawyers. One of his innovations when he became a juvenile court judge was to pay for lunches for the minors, knowing they would miss their school meals. Now this is a court program.

Scott, an Orange County Superior Court judge since 2012, will return, if confirmed to the 4th District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana where he became a research attorney in 2005 for Justice Raymond J. Ikola. Scott said in a Daily Journal profile in 2013 that one aspect of the work he especially appreciated was how it combined high-level legal analysis with practicalities. "There are real people out there" in litigation that comes to the appellate court, he said.

Previously he spent five years in private practice as an associate with Cox, Castle & Nicholson LLP and at Kirkland & Ellis LLP. He graduated from Harvard Law School. If confirmed, he will fill the vacancy created by Justice William W. Bedsworth's retirement a month ago.

Alameda County's new judge, Jamilah A. Jefferson, has been with the Oakland city attorney's office since 2012. She worked as a superior court research attorney after three years in private practice with Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld and Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe. She was a law clerk for U.S. District Judge Andre M. Davis in Maryland and a staff attorney law clerk at the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Jefferson graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Commissioner Latrice A.G. Byrdsong joins her husband, Rupert Byrdsong, as a judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Before her appointment as a commissioner last year, she was benefits counsel for Toyota Motor North America through Axiom Law for 10 years. Previously she was corporate counsel at DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc. and senior attorney at Southern California Edison Co. For six years. She was also an associate at McDermott, Will & Emery LLP; senior counsel at US Airways Inc., and an associate at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP. She graduated from Columbia University School of Law.

Danielle Colon O'Sullivan joins the Los Angeles County bench after spending 16 years as a deputy public defender. She was also a senior counsel at Lim Nexus LLP, an adjunct professor at Loyola Law School and an associate at Paul Hastings LLP. She graduated from Loyola Law School.

Alexander P. Sario joins the Los Angeles County Superior Court from the county's alternate public defender's office, where he has been a deputy since 2008. He previously worked at the Riverside County Public Defender's Office and as an associate at Palmer, Lombardi & Donohue LLP. He graduated from Loyola Law School.

Stephanie Story becomes a Los Angeles County judge after 10 years as owner and president of Story Law Firm PC. She was previously an associate at L.A. Law Group and Ellis Law Corp. She graduated from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law.

Elia Anwar Naqvi has been appointed as a Judge of the Orange County Superior Court. Naqvi has been a sole practitioner since 2008. Previously, she was a deputy California attorney general and an Orange County deputy public defender. She earned a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Western Ontario.

William S. Abramson was elected to Plumas County Superior Court in March. His interim appointment to the court allows him to begin his service right away, rather than waiting until January. Abramson has been a sole practitioner since 1996. He graduated from Southwestern University School of Law.

Santa Clara County Superior Court Commissioner Jon A. Heaberlin has been elevated to judge. Before his appointment as a commissioner last year, he was a partner at Rankin | Stock | Heaberlin | Oneal from 2005 to 2023 and an associate there from 1998 to 2005. Heaberlin graduated from Santa Clara University School of Law.

Meghan Piano was appointed to the Santa Clara County Superior Court from the public defender's office, where she has worked since 2008. She was an adjunct professor at Santa Clara University School of Law for seven years, and a research assistant and clinical fellow for the Northern California Innocence Project at the law school, where she received her law degree.

Carla J. Ortega, the new Ventura County Superior Court judge, is originally from Los Angeles County but has been managing attorney at the Kern County Superior Court since 2018. She was a chief deputy and staff attorney at the Central District of California court from 1995 to 2016, and an associate at England, Whitfield, Schroeder & Tredway from 1994 to 1995. She graduated from UCLA School of Law.