SACRAMENTO – Gov. Gavin Newsom on Dec. 8 announced the appointment of 12 California superior court judges — three in Alameda County, three in Kern County, five in San Diego County and one in Tulare County.
Jinsook Ohta, 44, of San Diego has been appointed to serve as a judge in the San Diego County Superior Court. She has served as supervising deputy attorney general in the California Attorney General’s Office since 2019, and was a deputy attorney general from 2011 to 2019. She served as a law clerk for Judge Barry Ted Moskowitz at the U.S. District Court, Southern District of California from 2007 to 2008 and from 2001 to 2002.
Ohta was a visiting assistant professor of law at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law from 2006 to 2007; an associate at Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton from 2003 to 2006 and at O’Melveny & Myers from 2002 to 2003.
Ohta earned a Juris Doctor degree from the New York University School of Law. She fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Lantz Lewis. Ohta is a Democrat.
Keith Kern Fong, 58, of Oakland has been appointed to serve as a judge in the Alameda County Superior Court. He has served as a law clerk for Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong at the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California since 2009.
He was senior counsel and associate at Kerr & Wagstaffe LLP from 2002 to 2009 and served as a law clerk for Judge Armstrong at the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California from 2001 to 2002, from 1993 to 1998 and in 1992. He was general counsel and chief administrative officer at Discovery Foods from 1998 to 2001 and an associate at Gordon & Rees from 1990 to 1993.
Fong earned a Juris Doctor degree from the UC Davis School of Law. He fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Ronni B. MacLauren. Fong is a Democrat.