4 Fil-Am lawyers appointed as new judges in California --- By DAVE LLAVANES JR.

NEW YORK CITY - California Governor Gavin Newsom has appointed four distinguished Filipino-American judges to serve in the Los Angeles and Orange County Superior Court. As part of the 16 judicial appointments issued by Newsom this month, three accomplished lawyers, namely Christina Legaspi, Lowrie Mendoza, and Bryan Clavecilla, will now serve as judges in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Additionally, Clavecilla has been appointed as a Superior Court judge in Orange County. Los Angeles County Superior Court Commissioner Christine Gonong was appointed as a judge last month. Legaspi, who is from Los Angeles County, has been a senior deputy county counsel in the Los Angeles County Counsel’s Office since 1999. She has also been an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California, Gould School of Law since 2022. Legaspi previously worked as an associate at Weissman and Associates from 1998 to 1999 and at Ivie, McNeil, and Wyatt in 1998. She earned her Juris Doctor degree from the University of West Los Angeles School of Law. Legaspi fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Monica Bachner and is registered without party preference. Mendoza, hailing from Los Angeles County, has been serving as assistant head deputy district attorney at the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office since 2023. She has held various roles there since 2005. She earned her Juris Doctor degree from Loyola Law School Los Angeles. Mendoza fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Terry A. Green and identifies as a Democrat. Clavecilla, based in Orange County, has been serving as a commissioner at the Orange County Superior Court since January 2024. Prior to this role, he served as a senior deputy district attorney and assistant head of court at the Orange County District Attorney’s Office Central Justice Center from 2022 to 2024. Clavecilla has also been a life/health insurance agent independent contractor at the World Financial Group since 2019. He served at the Orange County District Attorney’s Office from 2007 to 2023, holding positions such as senior deputy district attorney and deputy district attorney. Clavecilla earned a Juris Doctor degree from Chapman Law School. He fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Linda Marks and is affiliated with the Democratic Party. Gonong, representing Los Angeles County, was a member of the State Bar of California Board of Trustees from 2020 to 2022. She was an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law from 2017 to 2022 and at Los Angeles Valley College in 2017. Gonong served as the director of law and motion at Nguyen Lawyers ALC from 2016 to 2022 and held the position of law clerk for the Honorable Jacqueline H. Nguyen at the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 2012 to 2014. She earned her Juris Doctor degree from the University of California College of Law, San Francisco. Gonong fills the vacancy created by the elevation of Judge Wesley Hsu to the federal bench and is affiliated with the Democratic Party. In 2021, Newsom appointed Robert Andres Bonta as the first Filipino-American attorney general of California. —KG, GMA Integrated News

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