California Supreme Court Makes Appointments to the State Bar Court and to the Supreme Court’s Advisory Committee on the Code of Judicial Ethics

The Supreme Court of California today announced two appointments to the State Bar Court and its appointments to the court’s reconstituted Advisory Committee on the Code of Judicial Ethics.

The court appointed Judge W. Kearse McGill as the State Bar Court’s next presiding judge to succeed current Presiding Judge Richard Honn, who is retiring at the end of October 2026 after serving nearly 25 years on the State Bar Court. Judge McGill currently serves as a judge on the Review Department, which is the appellate level of the State Bar Court.

To fill the vacancy in the Review Department created by the retirement of Presiding Judge Honn, the court appointed Dennis Saab, who is currently serving as a judge on the State Bar Court’s trial-level Hearing Department in Los Angeles. The Speaker of the Assembly originally appointed Judge Saab to the State Bar Court in 2019.

Separately, the court also made appointments to reconstitute its Advisory Committee on the Code of Judicial Ethics, which considers and offers the court recommendations regarding possible amendments to the California Code of Judicial Ethics and its commentary. 

The court appointed Judge Samantha Jessner of the Los Angeles Superior Court to serve as the committee’s chair. The court appointed former Presiding Justice Laurence D. Rubin (ret.) of the Second Appellate Division, Division Five, to serve as the committee’s vice chair.

The court also appointed the following judicial officers to the reconstituted committee:

• Judge George Abdallah, Jr., San Joaquin Superior Court
• Judge James Bianco, Los Angeles Superior Court
• Judge Kevin Enright, San Diego Superior Court
• Judge Lisa Lench, Los Angeles Superior Court
• Associate Justice Tara Desautels, First Appellate District, Division Four
• Associate Justice Aimee Feinberg, Third Appellate District
• Associate Justice Charles Wilson, Sixth Appellate District

Judges Abdallah, Bianco, Enright, and Lench and Justice Rubin have served on the prior iteration of the committee, and the rest of the appointees are new members.

In June 2026, the court approved new rule 9.81 of the California Rules of Court to govern the composition, duties, and procedures for the committee.