News Release

Supreme Court Appoints Members to State Bar Trustees Nominating Committee

The Supreme Court of California today announced the appointments of three new members and two re-appointments to the committee that assists the court in soliciting and evaluating potential appointees to the State Bar Board of Trustees.
Feb 22, 2019

The Supreme Court of California today announced the appointments of three new members and two re-appointments to the committee that assists the court in soliciting and evaluating potential appointees to the State Bar Board of Trustees.

Sacramento Superior Court Judge Emily Vasquez has been reappointed to serve as a member and has been elevated from Vice-Chair to Chair of the State Bar Trustees Nominating Committee through Feb. 20, 2022.

Judge Vasquez was appointed to the bench in 2001 having been in private practice. She had previously served as commission counsel for the California Fair Employment and Housing Commission, an appellate attorney for the California Public Employment Relations Board, a Sacramento assistant public defender, and began her legal career as an attorney with California Rural Legal Assistance.

Judge James Herman of the Santa Barbara Superior Court has been appointed to serve as Vice Chair. Judge Herman was appointed to the bench in 2005 and is currently serving as assistant presiding judge. He joined the bench with more than 20 years of experience in private law practice, specializing in complex commercial litigation. He was a deputy public defender in Riverside, San Diego, and Santa Barbara Counties for seven years. He is a past member of the Judicial Council of California, and previously served as President of the State Bar of California from 2002 to 2003.

The new attorney members are:

  • Jamon Hicks, appointed as a member through Feb. 6, 2021. He fills the vacancy created by the resignation of committee member Terrance Flanigan. Hicks is partner at Douglas/Hicks Law in Los Angeles, where he practices civil litigation and criminal defense law and represents plaintiffs in state and federal court. Before that, he was senior associate with the Cochran Firm in Los Angeles. In addition to practicing law, Hicks teaches as an adjunct professor at both Loyola Law School and West Los Angeles Law School.
  • Kelly Robbins, appointed to a three-year term through Feb. 20, 2022. She is prinicipal attorney at Robbins Family Law in San Francisco specializing in family law cases. She assists the San Francisco Superior Court as a volunteer meeting the needs of self-represented litigants, and has trained and served as Judge Pro Tem for the San Francisco Court's family law division.

Attorney Bryant Yang, an assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, will continue his service on the seven-member committee through Feb. 20, 2022.

The Supreme Court of California created the State Bar Trustees Nominating Committee in 2013 following legislation that changed the governance of the State Bar of California to include five attorney member trustees appointed by the Supreme Court.

Rule 9.90 describes factors the committee should consider in soliciting, reviewing and recommending potential appointees to the board, as well as the committee’s general operation.