Newsom appoints 11 judges in 7 counties

Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed 11 Superior Court judges in seven counties Friday, leaving California with about 95 state court judicial vacancies.

Newsom has appointed 109 superior court judges and six appellate justices this year. Additional new judges were elected in June and November, and most of those are due to be sworn in in January. Several superior court and appellate judicial officers were named to federal courts.

Newsom named one new judge in Fresno County; one in Kern County; three in Los Angeles County; two in Orange County; one in San Bernardino County; two in San Diego County; and one interim judge in Santa Clara County, moving forward the swearing-in date for a recently elected judge.

The appointees include: two commissioners, three former public defenders, four former county prosecutors, three who have headed their own practice and five who have large law firm experience, including an employment attorney. All are Democrats except two who did not state their party preference.

María G. Díaz, of counsel with Allred, Maroko & Goldberg since 2016 and principal of employment firm Diaz Canon Law APC in Beverly Hills and Fresno since 2011, was appointed to the Fresno County Superior Court. She worked as an associate with Allred Maroko & Goldberg for eight years after a two-year stint with Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe LLP. She graduated from Stanford Law School.

Kern County Superior Court Commissioner Keenan S. Perkins was elevated to judge after one year on the bench. He spent 11 years heading his own law office after working as a deputy public defender, and as an attorney at Thomas Anton & Associates. He graduated from Southwestern Law School.

Eisner LLP partner Jeffery McFarland, a veteran of seven major law firms during his three-decade career, was appointed to the Los Angeles County Superior Court. He was a partner at McDermott Will & Emery LLP from 2020 to 2021, and at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP for 10 years. He was a principal at Troop Steuber Pasich Reddick & Tobey LLP; and an associate at Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy LLP as well as Brobeck Phleger & Harrison LLP. He earned his law degree at the University of Utah.

Safaan K. Ahmed, a district attorney since 2012, and previously a deputy Long Beach city prosecutor, was appointed to the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Ahmed was a law clerk at the district attorney's office after graduating from Boston University School of Law.

Michael Cavalluzzi, a sole practitioner for the past 23 years and a former deputy public defender, was appointed a Los Angeles County judge. Cavalluzzi was an attorney at Barry Bartholomew & Associates for four years after graduation from Southwestern Law School.

Amber Poston was appointed to the Orange County Superior Court after 17 years as a deputy public defender in Orange and Yolo counties. She was a contract attorney at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges LLP and a post bar law clerk at the Santa Clara County public defender's office. She graduated from the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law.

Also appointed an Orange County judge is Mehtab Sandhu, an assistant Anaheim city attorney. He also worked as a deputy city attorney -- community prosecutor in the same office and previously was a San Bernardino County prosecutor. He was an associate at Bernstein, Litowitz, Berger & Grossman after graduation from University of San Diego School of Law.

Christopher Hayes, a new San Bernardino County Superior Court judge, has been a senior attorney at the 4th District Court of Appeal since 2015. He was counsel and an associate at Boies, Schiller & Flexner. His judicial law clerk assignments were at the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and at the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana. He graduated from Duke University School of Law.

Commissioner Lizbet Muñoz was elevated to a judgeship on the San Diego County Superior Court. Before she became a commissioner in 2019, she was a founder and principal attorney at the Law Office of Lizbet Muñoz W. APC for 15 years. She worked as a staff attorney for the Legal Aid Society of San Diego for three years after graduating from Thomas Jefferson School of Law.

San Diego County Deputy District Attorney Roy Lai was named a Superior Court judge. He was a county prosecutor for nine years, and a deputy city attorney for one year following his graduation from Loyola Law School.

Johnene Stebbins, elected to the Santa Clara County Superior Court on Nov. 5, was appointed as an interim judge, allowing her to take office without waiting for her term to begin in January. She has been a county prosecutor since 1998. She graduated from UC Davis King Hall School of Law.