Five King Hall Alumni Appointed as California Superior Court Judges

California Governor Jerry Brown announced the appointment of 33 California superior court judges on December 22, including five UC Davis School of Law alumni. The new King Hall alumni judges include:

• Cynthia P. Smith ’98 (Napa County Superior Court): Since2008, Smith has been a partner at Coombs and Dunlap LLP, where she was of counsel from 2006 to 2007. Prior to that, she was a shareholder at Clement, Fitzpatrick, and Kenworthy, and a partner at Stein and Smith.
• Victoria D. Wood ’97 (Napa County Superior Court): Wood has served as a commissioner at the Napa County Superior Court since 2013, where she was a court counsel from 2004 to 2013.
• Lauri A. Damrell ’05 (Sacramento County Superior Court): Since 2016, Damrell has been a partner at Orrick, Herrington, and Sutcliffe LLP, where she was an associate from 2006 to 2016.
• Shama Mesiwala '98 (Sacramento County Superior Court): Mesiwala, who was appointed as a commissioner of the Sacramento County Superior Court in 2017, was a judicial attorney at the Third District Court of Appeal from 2004 to 2017. She has also served as a visiting lecturer at King Hall.
• Kellee C. Westbrook ’99 (Stanislaus County Superior Court): Westbrook has been an associate at Perry and Associates since 2008. She was an instructor at Heald College from 2011 to 2013 and served as a deputy public defender at the Stanislaus County Public Defender's Office from 2000 to 2008.