News Release

Commission Confirms Six Appointments to Courts of Appeal

Six appointments were confirmed to the First and Second Appellate Districts.
Dec 21, 2018

SAN FRANCISCO—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.:

  • Gordon B. Burns, as Associate Justice of the Court of Appeal, First Appellate District, Division Five (San Francisco)
  • Judge Tracie L. Brown, as Associate Justice of the Court of Appeal, First Appellate District, Division Four (San Francisco)
  • Judge Ioana Petrou, as Associate Justice of the Court of Appeal, First Appellate District, Division Three (San Francisco)
  • Justice Laurence D. Rubin, as Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division Five (Los Angeles)
  • Judge Brian S. Currey, as Associate Justice of the Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division Four (Los Angeles)
  • Judge John Shepard Wiley Jr., as Associate Justice of the Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division Eight (Los Angeles)

The appointments were approved by a unanimous vote in the Supreme Court Courtroom, 350 McAllister Street in San Francisco.

 

Appointee Biographies

Gordon B. Burns fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Terence L. Bruiniers. Burns has served as undersecretary at the California Environmental Protection Agency since 2011. He was an attorney at the Resources Law Group LLC from 2010 to 2011 and served as deputy solicitor general at the California Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General from 2006 to 2010, where he was also a deputy attorney general from 1997 to 2006. Burns was an associate at Downey, Brand, Seymour and Rohwer from 1994 to 1997. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Judge Tracie L. Brown fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Timothy A. Reardon. Brown has served as a judge at the San Francisco County Superior Court since 2013. She served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of California from 2002 to 2013 and was an associate at Cooley Godward Kronish LLP from 1997 to 2002. Brown served as a law clerk for Judge M. Margaret McKeown at the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit from 1998 to 1999 and was an associate at Morrison and Foerster LLP from 1996 to 1997. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard College.

Judge Ioana Petrou fills the vacancy created by the elevation of Justice Stuart R. Pollak. Petrou has served as a judge at the Alameda County Superior Court since 2010. She served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of California from 2004 to 2010 and was counsel at O’Melveny and Myers LLP from 2002 to 2004. Petrou served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of New York from 2000 to 2002. She was an associate at Foley and Lardner LLP from 1996 to 1999, at Weissburg and Aronson from 1995 to 1996 and at Proskauer Rose LLP from 1994 to 1995. Petrou served as a judicial extern for the Honorable Sheila Prell Sonenshine at the Fourth District Court of Appeal in 1992. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law and two Bachelor of Arts degrees from the University of California, Berkeley.

Joshua P. Groban fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Associate Justice Kathryn M. Werdegar on Aug. 31, 2017. Groban has served as senior advisor to Governor Brown since 2011. As senior advisor, Groban has overseen the appointment of approximately 600 judges throughout the state. Groban has also advised the Governor in high-profile litigation and policy issues involving education, the judiciary, criminal justice, national security and constitutional interpretation. Groban was legal counsel for the Jerry Brown for Governor Campaign in 2010. He was an attorney at Munger, Tolles and Olson LLP from 2005 to 2010 and at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison LLP from 1999 to 2005. Groban served as a law clerk for Judge William C. Conner at the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York from 1998 to 1999. Groban has been a lecturer in state appellate practice at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law since 2015. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School, where he graduated cum laude and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford University, where he graduated with honors and distinction.

Justice Laurence D. Rubin fills the vacancy created by the death of Presiding Justice Paul A. Turner. Rubin has served as an associate justice at the Second District Court of Appeal since 2001. He served as a judge at the Los Angeles County Superior Court in 2001 and at the Santa Monica Municipal Court from 1982 to 2001. Rubin was of counsel at Mitchell, Silberberg and Knupp in 1982 and a partner at Kaplan, Livingston, Goodwin, Berkowitz and Selvin from 1978 to 1982, where he was an associate from 1973 to 1978. He served as a law clerk for the Honorable Stanley Mosk at the California Supreme Court from 1971 to 1972. Rubin earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Judge Brian S. Currey fills the vacancy created by the elevation of Justice Nora M. Manella.Currey has served as a judge at the Los Angeles County Superior Court since 2014. He was of counsel at O’Melveny and Myers LLP from 2013 to 2014. Currey was deputy mayor for economic and business policy in the Office of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in 2013 and counsel to the mayor from 2010 to 2013. He was a partner at O’Melveny and Myers LLP from 1989 to 2010, where he was an associate from 1981 to 1989. Currey earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Davis.

Judge John Shepard Wiley Jr. fills the vacancy created by the elevation, subject to confirmation, of Justice Laurence D. Rubin to presiding justice. Wiley has served as a judge at the Los Angeles County Superior Court since 2002. He was a policy consultant at the Federal Trade Commission in 2001 and special master at the U.S. District Court, Central District of California from 2000 to 2001. Wiley was a teacher at the Federal Judicial Center from 1995 to 2008, an examiner for the Commission on Judicial Performance and of counsel at Mayer Brown from 1995 to 1999 and a visiting professor at Harvard Law School in 1998. He served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California from 1990 to 1994 and was counsel for the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary in 1993. He was a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law from 1983 to 2005 and served as a law clerk for the Honorable Lewis F. Powell, Jr. at the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 1982 and for the Honorable Frank M. Coffin at the U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit from 1980 to 1981. Wiley earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, a Master of Arts degree in economics from the University of California, Berkeley and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Davis. He is a member of the American Law Institute.

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