Gov. Jerry Brown has made four changes to the Second District Court of Appeal, the state appeals courts based in Los Angeles, his office announced today.
Associate Justice Frances Rothschild has been elevated from associate justice in the district’s Division One to presiding justice of Division Two.
Rothschild, 73, has been a judge in Municipal Court, Superior Court and the Appeal Court since 1975, is a UCLA law graduate and is a Los Angeles resident.
She replaces retiring Presiding Justice Robert M. Mallano.
Superior Court Judge Lee S. Edmon has been named as presiding justice in the district’s Division Three. She was the first female presiding judge of the L.A. Superior Court and is a former L.A. County Bar Association president, and is a graduate of the University of Illinois law college.
She replaces retiring Presiding Justice Joan Dempsey Klein.
Judge Brian M. Hoffstaft, 43, has been named as an associate justice in the district’s Division 2. He has been a Superior Court judge since 2010, had clerked for Sandra Day O’Connor and is a UCLA law graduate.
He replaces retiring Justice Kathryn D. Todd.
And U.S. District Court Audrey B. Collins has been named as an associate justice in the district’s Division 4. She has been a federal judge in Los Angeles since 1994, and was the federal court’s chief judge from 2009 to 2012.
She is a UCLA law graduate and replaces retiring Justice Steven Suzukawa.
All the appointments are subject to confirmation by the Commission on Judicial Appointments, the governor’s office announced.
The Second District Courts of Appeal hear cases coming from the Superior Courts in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, and has six divisions.
