Governor Newsom appoints 18 new superior court judges across California

A wave of retirements may give Gov. Gavin Newsom a unique legacy: The opportunity to shape the California judiciary more profoundly than any governor in history.

On Wednesday, Newsom took another step toward this milestone, appointing 18 new judges to superior courts across the state. This diverse group brings experience spanning public defense, prosecution, appellate law and private practice, reflecting the state's varied legal landscape.

Notably, two-thirds of the appointments were concentrated in three major counties with high judicial vacancy rates: Los Angeles, Sacramento and San Diego.

Among the new judges is Brendan M. Farrell, who will join the Superior Court in Colusa County, where he has been the district attorney since last year.

Robert S. Leach was appointed to the Contra Costa County Superior Court. He is chief of the Special Prosecutions Section at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California.

Leslie B. Gutierrez, Heather M. Hocter, Karen C. Joynt, Esther K. Ro and Karla Sarabia were appointed to the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Gutierrez is a deputy district attorney and Hocter is a deputy alternate public defender. Joynt is a court commissioner. Ro is a senior appellate attorney and Sarabia is a deputy public defender.

Julianne Sartain Bancroft and Randy K. Ladisky are set to serve in Orange County. Bancroft is an appellate research attorney. Ladisky is a deputy alternate public defender.

In Sacramento, Lee S. Bickley, Joseph M. Cress and Brenda R. Dabney received appointments. Bickley works for the California Public Employees' Retirement System and is a former assistant U.S. attorney. Cress is a deputy public defender. Dabney is the Northern California regional director at the Children's Law Center.

James M. Taylor was appointed the San Bernardino County court. He is a sole practitioner specializing in criminal defense.

In San Diego County, Jami L. Ferrara, Rachel L. Jensen, Devon L. Lomayesva and Catherine A. Richardson were appointed to the court. Ferrara is a sole practitioner. Jensen is a partner at Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP. Lomayesva is the chief judge of the Intertribal Court of Southern California. Richardson is a court commissioner.

Fritzgerald A. Javellana will join the Sutter County Superior Court. Javellana is a deputy county counsel.

Sixteen of the new judges fill jobs that opened through retirement -- most of them in the past two years -- while two took the jobs of judges elevated to appellate courts. Some of the retired judges are now on the panels of large alternative dispute resolution providers. This includes two Los Angeles County judges who retired this year. Paul A. Bacigalupo joined ADR Services Inc. Amy M. Pellman is with Signature Resolution.

With the latest round of appointments, Newsom has named 553 judges to the state's superior and appellate courts, including 108 so far this year. In his most recent eight years in office, Gov. Jerry Brown appointed 644. At his current rate of over 100 judges a year, Newsom could pass Brown by late next summer -- with well over a year left in office.

He's also appointed three current members of the California Supreme Court, including Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero. Two current justices, Carol A. Corrigan and Martin J. Jenkins, are over 70 and long vested in the Judges Retirement System.

It is also common in the months before an election for a governor to appoint judges to the seats they already won outright in the spring primary election. This allows them to take the seat before the official start of their term. But only one of the judges appointed on Wednesday, Leslie B. Gutierrez in Los Angeles, had already won her seat.

Newsom still has plenty of seats to fill. According to the monthly vacancy report from the Judicial Council, there were 108 total judicial vacancies in California on Oct. 1, including 29 in Los Angeles County alone. This is up from 90 on Jan. 1, despite Newsom's rapid rate of appointments. Brown had just 66 open seats at the same point in his second term.