News Release

Commission Confirms Appointments to Courts of Appeal

Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye, chair of the Commission on Judicial Appointments, announced that the commission today confirmed three appointments to the second and sixth appellate districts.
Apr 17, 2018

LOS ANGELES—Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye, chair of the Commission on Judicial Appointments, announced that the commission today confirmed the following appointments by Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. to the Courts of Appeal Second Appellate District and Sixth Appellate District:

  • Justice Mary J. Greenwood, as Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeal, Sixth Appellate District (San Jose). She will fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Presiding Justice Conrad L. Rushing.
  • Judge Helen I. Bendix, as Associate Justice of the Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division One (Los Angeles). She will fill the vacancy created by the elevation of Justice Elwood G. Lui to presiding justice.
  • Judge Carl H. Moor, as Associate Justice of the Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division Five (Los Angeles). He will fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Richard M. Mosk.

The appointments were approved by a unanimous vote at the public hearings held today in the Supreme Court Courtroom, 300 South Spring Street, Los Angeles.


Appointee Biographies

Justice Greenwood would fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Presiding Justice Conrad L. Rushing. Greenwood was confirmed as an associate justice to the Court of Appeal, Sixth Appellate District in 2017. Previously, Greenwood served as a Santa Clara County Superior Court judge since 2012. She was public defender of Santa Clara County from 2005 to 2012, and was an assistant public defender and supervising attorney in the county’s Alternate Defender’s Office from 2002 to 2005. Greenwood was an attorney at Coblentz, Patch, Duffy and Bass LLP in 2001. She served as an assistant public defender at the Santa Clara County Public Defender’s Office from 1994 to 2001, where she was a deputy public defender (1982-1987 and 1988-1994). She was an associate at the Boccardo Law Firm in 1987. Greenwood earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Grinnell College.

Judge Bendix would fill the vacancy created by the elevation of Justice Elwood G. Lui to presiding justice of the Second District Court of Appeal, Division Two. Bendix has served as a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge since 2000. She served as a judge at the Los Angeles Municipal Court from 1997 to 1999, and was general counsel at KCET from 1996 to 1997. Bendix was a partner at Heller, Ehrman, White and McAuliffe from 1989 to 1996; of counsel at Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher from 1986 to 1989; and a visiting professor at the University of California, Los Angeles Law School from 1985 to 1986. She was a partner at Leva, Hawes, Symington, Martin and Oppenheimer from 1983 to 1985, where she was an associate from 1980 to 1983. Bendix was an associate at Wilmer, Cutler and Pickering from 1978 to 1979 and law clerk to the Honorable Shirley M. Hufstedler at the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University.

Judge Moor would fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Richard M. Mosk. Moor has served as a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge since 2014. He was a partner at Munger Tolles and Olson LLP from 2003 to 2014, where he was an associate from 2001 to 2003. Moor served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California from 2000 to 2001 and from 1994 to 1999. He was litigation counsel at the National Broadcasting Company Inc. in 2000 and an associate and public interest fellow at Hall and Phillips from 1989 to 1994. He was a law clerk for the Honorable Mariana R. Pfaelzer at the U.S. District Court, Central District of California from 1988 to 1989. Moor earned a Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Swarthmore College.