Coto De Caza Lawyer Appointed Superior Court Judge

COTO DE CAZA, CA — Gov. Jerry Brown Monday announced the appointments of three Los Angeles County Superior Court judges and another in Orange County.

Half of the judges are Democrats and the other half are registered to vote without party preference.

Maurice Sanchez, 62, of Coto de Caza, was appointed to an Orange County Superior Court judgeship. Sanchez has been a partner at Nelson, Mullins, Riley and Scarborough since 2017 and previously was a partner at Baker and Hostetler from 2005 to 2017 and was affiliated with Alvarado, Smith and Sanchez from 1993 to 2005. Prior to that, he worked as managing counsel at Mazda Motor of America Inc. and senior counsel at Hyundai Motor America. He graduated from the UC Berkeley School of Law and earned an undergraduate degree from UC Irvine. He fills the vacancy created by the conversion of a court commissioner position on Aug. 28 and is registered without party preference.

Scott R. Herin, 51, of Long Beach, has served as a deputy public defender in Los Angeles County since 1999 and worked with Dependency Court Legal Services, Legal Aid and the Defender Association of Detroit prior to that. He earned his law degree from the Detroit College of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Michigan State. A Democrat, Herin fills the vacancy created by the elevation of Judge Michael J. Raphael to the Court of Appeal.

Michael C. Kelley, 64, of Pasadena, has been a partner at Sidley Austin LLP since 1987. Prior to that, he was a partner at Kadison, Pfaelzer, Woodard, Quinn and Rossi, a firm he first joined as an associate in 1979. Kelley completed his law degree at Yale and earned an undergraduate degree at USC. ADemocrat, Kelley fills the vacancy created by the conversion of a court commissioner position on Aug. 28.

Theresa R. McGonigle, 55, of Santa Monica, has been managing research attorney in Los Angeles County Superior Court since 2014. She previously held several other positions at the court dating back to 1989, including supervising research attorney, research attorney and law clerk. McGonigle is a graduate of Notre Dame Law School and Santa Clara University. She fills the vacancy created by the elevation of Judge Dorothy C. Kim to the Court of Appeal and is registered without party preference.

Each of the new appointees will be paid $200,042 annually.

City News Service, with Patch Editor, Ashley Ludwig

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