Commission Confirms Appointments to Courts of Appeal

Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero, chair of the Commission on Judicial Appointments, announced that the commission today confirmed four nominations to the California Courts of Appeal in Sacramento and Los Angeles.

The nominees were confirmed by vote of the three-member commission, which includes: Chief Justice Guerrero (Chair); Attorney General Rob Bonta; and Acting Presiding Justice Ronald Robie (for the Third Appellate District hearing), and Presiding Justice Arthur Gilbert (for the Second Appellate District hearings).

The nominees confirmed were:

• Justice Laurie Earl as presiding justice of the Third District Court of Appeal (Sacramento)
• Gonzalo Martinez as associate justice of the Second District Court of Appeal, Division Seven (Los Angeles)
• Justice Brian Currey as presiding justice of the Second District Court of Appeal, Division Four (Los Angeles)
• Judge Helen Zukin as associate justice of the Second District Court of Appeal, Division Four (Los Angeles)

Appointee Biographies

Justice Laurie Earl fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Presiding Justice Vance W. Raye. Justice Earl has served as an associate justice of the Third District Court of Appeal since 2022. She served as a Sacramento County Superior Court judge from 2005 to 2021. Justice Earl was senior assistant inspector general at the California Office of Inspector General from 2004 to 2005 and a deputy district attorney at the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office from 1995 to 2004. She served as an assistant public defender at the Sacramento County Public Defender’s Office from 1989 to 1995. Justice Earl earned a Juris Doctor degree from the Lincoln Law School of Sacramento.

Gonzalo Martinez fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Laurie D. Zelon. Martinez has served as deputy judicial appointments secretary in the Office of Governor Gavin Newsom since 2019. He served as a deputy solicitor general in the California Attorney General’s Office from 2017 to 2019 and was a partner in the Appellate and Supreme Court Practice Group at Squire Patton Boggs from 2007 to 2017 and in 2019. Martinez served as a law clerk at the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California in 2010 and at the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California in 2007. Martinez was an associate at Coblentz Patch Duffy and Bass from 2005 to 2007 and at Morrison & Foerster LLP from 2003 to 2005. Martinez earned a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School and a Master of Arts degree in English from Stanford University.

Justice Brian Currey fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Presiding Justice Nora Manella. Justice Currey has served as an associate justice of the Second District Court of Appeal, Division Four since 2018. He previously served as a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge from 2014 to 2018. Justice Currey was of counsel at O’Melveny and Myers LLP from 2013 to 2014. He served as deputy mayor for economic and business policy in the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office in 2013 and was counsel to the mayor from 2010 to 2013. Justice Currey was a partner at O’Melveny and Myers LLP from 1989 to 2010, where he was also an associate from 1981 to 1989. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Judge Helen Zukin fills the vacancy created pending confirmation of Justice Brian Currey as presiding justice of the Second District Court of Appeal, Division Four. Judge Zukin has served as a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge since 2018. Judge Zukin was a partner at Kiesel Law LLP from 2010 to 2018, where she was of counsel from 2006 to 2010. She was a sole practitioner from 1995 to 2006 and a partner at Simke, Chodos, Silberfeld and Anteau Inc. from 1992 to 1995, where she was also an associate from 1990 to 1992. Judge Zukin was an associate at Greene, O’Reilly, Agnew and Broillet from 1985 to 1990. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles.