SACRAMENTO – Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the appointment of Judge Alison M. Tucher as associate justice, Division Four of the First District Court of Appeal; Judge Halim Dhanidina as associate justice, Division Three, Justice Nora M. Manella as presiding justice, Division Four, Judge Dorothy C. Kim as associate justice, Division Five and Judge Maria E. Stratton as associate justice, Division Eight of the Second District Court of Appeal; and the appointment of Judge Michael J. Raphael as associate justice, Division Two of the Fourth District Court of Appeal.
First District Court of Appeal
Alison M. Tucher, 55, of Berkeley, has been appointed associate justice, Division Four of the First District Court of Appeal. Tucher has served as a judge at the Alameda County Superior Court since 2014. She was a partner at Morrison and Foerster from 2004 to 2014, where she was a litigator from 1998 to 2004. She served as a deputy district attorney at the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office from 1995 to 1998 and was assistant director of the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s White House Security Review Team from 1994 to 1995. Tucher served as a law clerk for the Honorable David H. Souter at the U.S. Supreme Court and for the Honorable William A. Norris at the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from Stanford Law School, a Master of Arts degree from the University of Cambridge and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Williams College. Tucher fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Maria P. Rivera. This position requires confirmation by the Commission on Judicial Appointments. The Commission consists of Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Senior Presiding Justice J. Anthony Kline. Tucher is a Democrat.
Second District Court of Appeal
Halim Dhanidina, 45, of Irvine, has been appointed associate justice, Division Three of the Second District Court of Appeal. Dhanidina has served as a judge at the Los Angeles County Superior Court since 2012. He served as a deputy district attorney at the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office from 1998 to 2012. Dhanidina earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Pomona College. He fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Richard D. Aldrich. This position requires confirmation by the Commission on Judicial Appointments. The Commission consists of Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Senior Presiding Justice Arthur Gilbert. He will be the first American-Muslim justice and the first South Asian American justice in the history of the California Courts of Appeal, if confirmed. Dhanidina is a Democrat.
Nora M. Manella, 67, of Los Angeles, has been appointed presiding justice, Division Four of the Second District Court of Appeal. Manella has served as an associate justice in Division Four of the Second District Court of Appeal since 2006. She was appointed by President Clinton to serve as a judge of the U.S. District Court, Central District of California from 1998 to 2006 and appointed by President Clinton to serve as U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California from 1994 to 1998. Manella served as a judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court from 1992 to 1994 and of the Los Angeles Municipal Court from 1990 to 1992. She served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California from 1982 to 1990. She was an associate at O’Melveny and Myers in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles from 1978 to 1982. Manella was counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution from 1976 to 1978. She served as a law clerk for the Honorable John Minor Wisdom on the U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit from 1975 to 1976. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Southern California School of Law, Order of the Coif and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wellesley College, Phi Beta Kappa. Effective August 22, 2018, she will fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Presiding Justice Norman L. Epstein. This position requires confirmation by the Commission on Judicial Appointments. The Commission consists of Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Senior Presiding Justice Arthur Gilbert. Manella is a Democrat.
Dorothy C. Kim, 45, of Los Angeles, has been appointed associate justice, Division Five of the Second District Court of Appeal. Kim has served as a judge at the Los Angeles County Superior Court since 2014. She served in several positions at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California Criminal Division from 2001 to 2014, including deputy chief and Assistant U.S. Attorney. Kim was a litigation associate at Irell and Manella LLP from 2000 to 2001 and served as a law clerk for the Honorable Norman H. Stahl at the U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit from 1998 to 1999. Kim earned a Juris Doctor degree from Columbia Law School and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University. She fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Sandy R. Kriegler. This position requires confirmation by the Commission on Judicial Appointments. The Commission consists of Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Senior Presiding Justice Arthur Gilbert. She will be the first Korean American justice in the history of the California Courts of Appeal, if confirmed. Kim is a Democrat.
Maria E. Stratton, 65, of Los Angeles, has been appointed associate justice, Division Eight of the Second District Court of Appeal. Stratton has served as a judge at the Los Angeles County Superior Court since 2006. She served as Federal Public Defender for the Central District of California from 1993 to 2006 and held several positions at Talcott, Lightfoot, Vandevelde, Woehrle and Sadowsky from 1985 to 1993, including managing partner, partner and associate. She was an associate at Overland, Berke, Wesley, Gits, Randolph and Levanas from 1984 to 1985. Stratton served as a deputy federal public defender at the Office of the Federal Public Defender, Central District of California from 1981 to 1984 and as a law clerk for the Honorable Harry Pregerson at the U.S. District Court, Central District of California and at the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit from 1979 to 1981. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Southern California. She fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Madeleine I. Flier. This position requires confirmation by the Commission on Judicial Appointments. The Commission consists of Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Senior Presiding Justice Arthur Gilbert. Stratton is a Democrat.
Fourth District Court of Appeal
Michael J. Raphael, 50, of Los Angeles, has been appointed associate justice, Division Two of the Fourth District Court of Appeal. Raphael has served as a judge at the Los Angeles County Superior Court since 2012. He served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California from 1999 to 2012. Raphael served as investigative counsel in the Office of U.S. Representative Henry Waxman from 1997 to 1999 and was associate counsel at Sidley and Austin from 1994 to 1997. He served as a law clerk for the Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones at the U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit from 1993 to 1994. Raphael earned a Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Rice University. He fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Thomas E. Hollenhorst. This position requires confirmation by the Commission on Judicial Appointments. The Commission consists of Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Senior Presiding Justice Manuel A. Ramirez. Raphael is a Democrat.
The compensation for each of these positions is $228,918.
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