SACRAMENTO – Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the appointment of Michelle M. Ahnn, Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong, Stephen I. Goorvitch, Maurice A. Leiter, Catherine J. Pratt, Theresa M. Traber and Joshua D. Wayser to judgeships in the Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Ahnn, 42, of Redondo Beach, has served as a deputy alternate public defender at the Los Angeles County Alternate Public Defender’s Office since 2001. She was a lecturer at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law from 2004 to 2005 and an E. Barrett Prettyman Fellow at Georgetown University Law Center from 1999 to 2001. Ahnn served as a law clerk for the Honorable Napoleon A. Jones, Jr. at the U.S. District Court, Southern District of California from 1998 to 1999. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brown University. Ahnn fills the vacancy created by the elevation of Judge Lee S. Edmon to the Court of Appeal. She is a Democrat.
Frimpong, 39, of Silver Spring, Maryland, has served as vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of the Millennium Challenge Corporation since 2015. She served in several positions at the U.S. Department of Justice from 2007 to 2015, including Counselor to the Attorney General, Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General, Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Consumer Protection Branch, Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Division and Trial Attorney in the National Courts Section of the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch. Frimpong was an associate at Morrison and Foerster LLP from 2002 to 2007 and served as a law clerk for the Honorable Stephen Reinhardt at the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit from 2001 to 2002. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University. Frimpong was born and raised in the Los Angeles area. She fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Thomas R. White. Frimpong is a Democrat.
Goorvitch, 43, of South Pasadena, has served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California since 2007. He was counsel at O’Melveny and Myers LLP from 2003 to 2007 and served as a law clerk for the Honorable Rosemary S. Pooler at the U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit from 2002 to 2003 and for the Honorable Nora M. Manella at the U.S. District Court, Central District of California from 2001 to 2002. Goorvitch served as an attorney at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Division of Enforcement from 1998 to 2001. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, San Diego. Goorvitch fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge James A. Steele. He is a Democrat.
Leiter, 57, of Los Angeles, has been a partner at Arnold and Porter LLP since 1994, where he was counsel from 1991 to 1993. He served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and assistant chief of the Criminal Division at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California from 1986 to 1991. Leiter was an associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison from 1982 to 1985. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from the Georgetown University Law Center and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University. Leiter fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Antonio Barreto. He is a Democrat.
Pratt, 53, of Long Beach, has served as a commissioner at the Los Angeles County Superior Court since 2006. She served as senior deputy county counsel at the Los Angeles Office of the County Counsel from 1999 to 2006 and was an attorney at Auxiliary Legal Services Inc. from 1996 to 1999. Pratt was corporate vice president and senior litigation attorney at the PaineWebber Legal Department from 1993 to 1996 and an associate at Keesal, Young and Logan from 1987 to 1993. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Southern California School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley. Pratt fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Leslie A. Dunn. She is a Democrat.
Traber, 59, of Pasadena, has been a founding partner at Traber and Voorhees since 1991. She was a partner from 1989 to 1991 at Litt and Stormer, where she was an associate from 1984 to 1988. Traber earned a Juris Doctor degree from the Northeastern University School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Steven D. Ogden. Traber is a Democrat.
Wayser, 52, of Los Angeles, has been managing partner at Katten, Muchin and Rosenman LLP since 2011, where he has been an attorney since 2008. He was a partner at Lord, Bissell and Brook LLC from 2005 to 2008 and at Stern, Neubauer, Greenwald and Pauly PC from 1995 to 2005, where he was an associate from 1992 to 1995. Wayser was an associate at Shearman and Sterling LLP from 1990 to 1992 and served as a law clerk for the Honorable Louis L. Stanton at the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York from 1988 to 1990. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from Columbia Law School and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia University. Wayser fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Cesar C. Sarmiento. He is a Democrat.
The compensation for each of these positions is $189,041.