Gov. Jerry Brown Friday announced the appointment of three new justices to the 2nd District Court of Appeal, which includes Los Angeles County, and one to the 4th District Court of Appeal, which includes Orange, Riverside and San Diego counties.
Halim Dhanidina, Dorothy Kim and Maria Stratton were named to the 2nd District, while Michael Raphael was appointed to the 4th District.
Dhanidina, 45, of Irvine, has served as a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge since 2012. He was a deputy district attorney at the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office in 1998-2012. He obtained a law degree from the UCLA School of Law and a bachelor’s degree from Pomona College.
He fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Richard D. Aldrich.
Kim, 45, of Los Angeles, has served as a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge since 2014. She served in several positions at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including deputy chief and assistant U.S. Attorney. Kim was an associate at Irell & Manella LLP in 2000-01 and served as a law clerk for the Honorable Norman H. Stahl at the U.S. Court of Appeals in 1998-99.
Kim obtained a law degree from Columbia Law School and a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University. She fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Sandy R. Kriegler.
Stratton, 65, of Los Angeles, has served as a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge since 2006. She served as federal public defender in 1993-06 and held several positions at Talcott, Lightfoot, Vandevelde, Woehrle & Sadowsky in 1985-93, including managing partner, partner and associate.
She obtained a law degree from the UC Berkeley School of Law and a bachelor’s degree from USC. She fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Madeleine I. Flier.
Raphael, 50, of Los Angeles, has served as a judge at the Los Angeles County Superior Court judge since 2012. He served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in 1999-2012 and as investigative counsel in the Office of Rep. Henry Waxman in 1997-99. He was associate counsel at Sidley and Austin in 1994-97.
Raphael obtained his law degree from Yale Law School and a bachelor’s degree from Rice University. He fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Thomas E. Hollenhorst.
In another appointment, Nora M. Manella, 67, of Los Angeles, has been appointed presiding justice of Division Four of the 2nd District Court of Appeal, where she has served as an associate justice since 2006. She fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Presiding Justice Norman L. Epstein.
All of the appointees will have confirmation hearings before the Commission on Judicial Appointments, which consists of state Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Senior Presiding Justice Manuel A. Ramirez.