Governor Gavin Newsom today announced the appointment of Alicia Blanco, former supervising attorney with the Federal Public Defender’s Office for the Central District of California, and Ronald Kaye, former Deputy Federal Public Defender with FPD-CDCA, as Los Angeles County Superior Court judges.

Alicia Y. Blanco, 54, of Burbank, has been appointed to serve as a Judge in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Blanco has served as a Commissioner at the Los Angeles County Superior Court since 2015. She was a Sole Practitioner from 2014 to 2015. Blanco served as a Supervising Deputy Federal Public Defender at the Office of the Federal Public Defender, Central District of California from 2003 to 2014 and as a Deputy Federal Defender there from 1991 to 2003. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from the Southwestern University School of Law. She fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Leslie A. Swain. Blanco is a Democrat.

Ronald O. Kaye, 59, of Los Angeles, has been appointed to serve as a Judge in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Kaye has been a Partner and Co-Founder at Kaye, McLane, Bednarski & Litt LLP since 2003. He served as a Deputy Federal Public Defender at the Office of the Federal Public Defender, Central District of California from 1995 to 2003 and was an Attorney at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles from 1992 to 1995. Kaye was an Associate at Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe from 1991 to 1992 and the Staff Attorney at the Central American Refugee Center, Los Angeles from 1990 to 1991. He earned a Juris Doctor degree and a Master of Arts degree in urban planning from a joint program of the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law and the Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Planning. He fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Richard E. Rico. Kaye is a Democrat.

Read the official announcement from the California Governor’s office here.

Judges Blanco and Kaye join an impressive list of former FPD-CDCA alumni who have become judges, including: