Brown Appoints API Superior Court Judges

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown on Dec. 7 announced the appointment of 13 California superior court judges in eight counties, including the following:

• Eumi K. Lee, 46, of San Francisco has been appointed to a judgeship in the Alameda County Superior Court. Since 2005, she has been a clinical professor at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, where she served as co-founder and co-director of the Hastings Institute for Criminal Justice from 2010 to 2012.

Lee was an ethics trainer for San Diego Gas and Electric, Southern California Gas Company and Southern California Edison from 2009 to 2012; of counsel and a consultant at Gonzalez and Leigh (2006-2012); an associate at Keker and Van Nest (2002-2005); a law clerk for Judge Warren J. Ferguson at the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit (2001-2002); an associate at Thelen Reid and Priest (2000-2001); and a law clerk for Judge Jerome Turner at the U.S. District Court, Western District of Tennessee (1999-2000).

She earned a Juris Doctor degree from the Georgetown University Law Center and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Pomona College. She fills the vacancy created by the elevation of Judge Alison M. Tucher to the Court of Appeal. She is the first Korean American judge ever appointed to the Alameda County Superior Court. Lee is a Democrat.

• Lisa S. Tamashiro Coen, 45, of Fullerton has been appointed to a judgeship in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. She has served as a deputy district attorney at the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office since 2000. She was a sole practitioner from 1999 to 2000 and an associate at Richards and Chemerinski from 1998 to 1999.

Coen earned a Juris Doctor degree from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Hawaii at Mānoa. She fills the vacancy created by the conversion of a court commissioner position on Oct. 25. Coen is registered without party preference.

• Anne Hwang, 42, of View Park-Windsor Hills has been appointed to a judgeship in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Since earlier this year she has been chief deputy federal public defender in the Federal Public Defender’s Office, Central District of California, where she has served in several positions since 2006, including chief of the Los Angeles Trial Unit, supervising deputy federal public defender and deputy federal public defender. She was an associate at Irell and Manella LLP from 2002 to 2006.

Hwang earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Southern California School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University. She fills the vacancy created by the conversion of a court commissioner position on Oct. 25. Hwang is a Democrat.

• Joginder Dhillon, 57, of Sacramento has been appointed to a judgeship in the Sacramento County Superior Court. He has served as a senior advisor in the Office of the Governor since 2013. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1982 and served in the Air Force for 20 years, including assignments to Panama, Saudi Arabia and Germany. Prior to his retirement from active duty, Dhillon was the legal advisor to U.S. Space Command/North American Aerospace Defense Command.

Dhillon served as chief counsel for the California Gambling Control Commission (2009-2013); general counsel for the California Emergency Management Agency (2007-2009); director of academic support at the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law (2005-2007); an associate at Booz Allen Hamilton (2004-2005); and an associate and shareholder at Schuering Zimmerman and Doyle LLP (2002-2004). Dhillon earned a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School and a Master of Laws degree in intellectual property law from the University of Houston Law Center.

He fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Raymond M. Cadei. Dhillon plans to continue serving in his current position in the Governor’s Office until the end of the administration. He is the first Sikh judge ever appointed to the Sacramento County Superior Court. Dhillon is registered without party preference.