California Gov. Gavin Newsom Tuesday announced the appointment of five new judges in Los Angeles and Orange counties.
Those appointed to the bench in Los Angeles County are:
— Michelle E. DeCasas, 43, of Los Angeles, who has been a deputy city attorney with the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office since 2007. She was previously a civil litigation associate at Tesser & Ruttenberg from 2003 to 2007.
— Lisa R. Washington, 54, of Diamond Bar, who has been a deputy public defender at the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office since 1994. She previously worked as an associate at Dickson & Associates from 1993 to 1994 and at the law office of Leo James Terrell from 1992 to 1993 and again in 1994, along with serving as a legal redress coordinator for the NAACP Legal Redress Committee in 1992.
— John C. Weller, 39, of Inglewood, who has worked as a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney since 2007 and formerly worked as a deputy district attorney for the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office from 2005 to 2007.
Named to the bench in Orange County are:
— Robert Gerard, 64, of Newport Beach, who has been shareholder and chair of the Labor and Employment Practice Group at Friedman Stroffe & Gerard P.C. since 2000. He was previously a partner in the Labor and Employment Practice Group at Pillsbury Madison & Sutro LLP, a senior associate at Pettis Tester Kruse & Krinsky from 1990 to 1994 and an associate at Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLC.
— Thomas J. Lo, 55, of Lake Forest, who has been an assistant public defender at the Orange County Public Defender’s Office since 2001. He formerly worked as an associate at Hatton, Petrie & Stackler, Cooksey, Howard, Martin & Toolen, LaFollette, Johnson, DeHaas, Fesler & Ames, George & Shields and the law offices of Gerald Schubert.