SACRAMENTO – Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the appointment of Patricia Guerrero and Michael J. Popkins to judgeships in the San Diego County Superior Court.
Patricia Guerrero, 41, of San Diego, has served as a partner at Latham and Watkins LLP since 2007, where she was an associate from 1997 to 2001 and 2003 to 2006. She worked as an Assistant U.S. Attorney at the Southern District of California, U.S. Attorney’s Office from 2002 to 2003. Guerrero earned a Juris Doctorate degree from Stanford Law School and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley. She fills the vacancy created by the appointment of Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel to the Federal Court. Guerrero is a Democrat.
Michael J. Popkins, 62, of San Diego, has served as a deputy public defender at the San Diego County Public Defender’s Office since 1985. He has been an adjunct professor at the California Western School of Law since 2009 and was a deputy public defender at the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office from 1978 to 1985. Popkins earned a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of San Diego School of Law and a Bachelor of Science degree from Villanova University. He fills the vacancy created by the conversion of a court commissioner position on November 13, 2012. Popkins is a Democrat.
The compensation for each of these positions is $178,789.