Two new judges will join the Orange County Superior Court, Gov. Jerry Brown announced.
Defense attorney Gassia Apkarian, 47, of Mission Viejo, said she is expected to be sworn in Thursday at the North Justice Center in Fullerton, where a jury was deliberating in one of her cases involving a sexually violent predator.
Apkarian, who was executive director of Democrats 2000 from 1997 to 1998, worked as a deputy public defender from 2000 to 2007, when she opened up her own firm.
Apkarian earned a law degree from the University of La Verne and a bachelor’s degree from UC Irvine. Apkarian fills the vacancy left by retiring Judge Francisco F. Firmat.
Attorney and Orange County Superior Court commissioner Craig E. Arthur will fill a vacancy left by the retirement of Judge Craig Robison.
Arthur, 53, of Tustin, is a Democrat, who has been a commissioner since 2005. Before that he was in private practice from 1999 to 2005 at the Harold La Flamme firm.
Arthur was a public defender in Orange County from 1989 to 1990. Arthur earned a law degree from Western State University College of Law, a bachelor’s degree from Cal State Long Beach and an associate’s degree from Orange Coast College.
The new judges will be paid $184,610 annually.
—City News Service