The Antelope Valley Times

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Six new judges appointed in L.A. County

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LOS ANGELES – Gov. Gavin Newsom Friday announced the appointment of six new judges in Los Angeles County. Named to the bench in Los Angeles County were:

— Ramiro P. Cisneros, 53, of Eastvale, who worked as a deputy public defender for the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office since 2001 and was previously an associate at Parker Stanbury LLP from 1999 to 2001;

— E. Carlos Dominguez, 42, of Studio City, who has been a deputy attorney general at the California Department of Justice’s Office of the Attorney General since 2009 and was formerly an associate at Rutan & Tucker LLP from 2005 to 2008. He has also been a lecturer in law at the USC School of Law this year;

— Benjamin P. Hernandez-Stern, 40, of Washington, D.C., who has served as counsel for the Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security since 2019. His previous posts include working as an attorney in the Office of Justice Programs at the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office for Civil Rights from 2014 to 2019, special counsel in the Office for Access to Justice at the U.S. Department of Justice from 2016 to 2017, acting associate deputy director for enforcement and special assistant to the deputy director for enforcement and regional operations in the enforcement division at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights from 2012 to 2013 and serving as a judge advocate general in the U.S. Air Force Reserve since 2014;

— Abraham C. Meltzer, 55, of Glendale, who has been a deputy chief since 2018 at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, where he began working as an assistant U.S. attorney in 2004. His previous posts have included serving as counsel at the California State University’s Office of General Counsel from 2000 to 2004, an associate at Irell & Manella LLP from 1997 to 2000 and as a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney from 1995 to 1997;

— Reginald L. Neal, 54, of View Park-Windsor Hills, who has been a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney since 2008 and formerly worked as a deputy attorney at the California Department of Transportation from 2006 to 2008 and as an associate insurance compliance officer at the California Department of Insurance from 2001 to 2005;

— Tara L. Newman, 46, of Pasadena, who has been a deputy attorney general at the California Department of Justice’s Office of the Attorney General since 2008 and previously was a sole practitioner from 2006 to 2008, an associate at Ivie McNeill & Wyatt from 2003 to 2006 and at Buchalter, Nemer, Fields & Younger from 1998 to 2003.

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2 comments for "Six new judges appointed in L.A. County"

  1. Does the Governor have that ”authority” to appoint Judges? We vote on Judges at every election, so where does he get this power?? Were there ”resignations, death or what?? Are these ”Interim Judges”??

    • According to Ballotpedia: In California, vacancies are filled via gubernatorial appointment. Nominees to the supreme court and courts of appeal must be confirmed by the California Commission on Judicial Appointments. Appointed appellate judges stand for retention in the gubernatorial election following appointment; judges of the superior courts run for the seat in the next general election.[1]