4 LA Judges Appointed To California State Superior Court

LOS ANGELES, CA — Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the appointment of 18 California Superior Court judges, including four in Los Angeles County and two in Orange County.

The Orange County Superior Court appointees are:

-- Isabel Apkarian, 44, of Newport Beach, who earlier this year began serving as an Orange County Superior Court commissioner. She was a senior deputy public defender at the Orange County Public Defender's Office from 2003- 20 and a budget management research analyst in the Orange County Executive's Office from 1998-99. Apkarian, a Democrat, obtained a law degree from Whittier Law School and fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Franz E. Miller.

-- Carmen R. Luege, 62, of Santa Ana, who has been an Orange County Superior Court commissioner since 2009. Prior to that, she was an assistant U.S. attorney in the Central District of California from 1992 to 2009, and an associate at O'Melveny & Myers from 1984-90. The UCLA School of Law graduate, who is registered without party preference, fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Geoffrey T. Glass.
The annual compensation for the judgeships is $214,601.

The Los Angeles Superior Court appointees are:

-- Alfred A. Coletta, 65, of Rossmoor, who has served as a deputy district attorney in multiple divisions at the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office since 1988, after a stint in the Los Angeles County Counsel's Office. Coletta, a Democrat, earned a law degree from Western State College of Law. He fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Lisa H. Cole.

-- Warren Masami Kato, 59, of Rancho Palos Verdes, who has served as a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney since 1999. Kato, a graduate of the University of La Verne College of Law who is registered without party preference, fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Edmund W. Clarke.

-- Susan Ser, 50, of Santa Clarita, who has been a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney since 1999. Ser, who is registered without party preference, obtained her law degree from Loyola Law School Los Angeles and fills the vacancy created by the death of Judge Vincent H. Okamoto.

-- Lowynn Y. Young, 52, of Los Angeles, who has served as a Los Angeles County deputy public defender since 1998. The Loyola University New Orleans College of Law graduate, who is a Democrat, fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Songhai Miguda-Armstead.