Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero, chair of the Commission on Judicial Appointments, announced that the commission today confirmed Judge Martha Gooding as an associate justice of the Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division Three (Santa Ana).

The nominee was confirmed by a unanimous vote of the three-member commission, which includes: Chief Justice Guerrero (Chair); Attorney General Rob Bonta, who appeared remotely; and Presiding Justice Manuel A. Ramirez.

Appointee Biography

Judge Martha Gooding would fill the vacancy created by the retirement of the late Justice Richard D. Fybel. Judge Gooding has served as an Orange County Superior Court judge since 2013. Judge Gooding was a partner at Jones Day from 2011 to 2013, and a partner at Howrey LLP from 2000 to 2011. Judge Gooding was also a partner at Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk and Rabkin from 1989 to 2000, where she was also an associate from 1983 to 1989. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.

Read the official press release here.