Three judges reappointed to State Bar Court

The California Supreme Court has reappointed judges Judith A. Epstein and Richard A. Honn to the State Bar Court, and the Senate Rules Committee reappointed Lucy Armendariz.

Judith A. Epstein

Epstein, 67, serves in the San Francisco office of the review department, the appellate level of the State Bar Court. Honn, 58, is a hearing judge in Los Angeles and Armendariz, 40, is a hearing judge in San Francisco. The State Bar Court, which consists of three review judges and five hearing judges, adjudicates attorney discipline matters.

The review judges and two of the hearing judges are appointed by the Supreme Court and the remaining hearing judges are appointed by the governor, speaker of the Assembly and the Senate Rules Committee.

Richard A. Honn

First appointed to the State Bar Court in 2002, Epstein began her career as a clerk for California Supreme Court Associate Justice Wiley Manuel. She has a background in media, corporate and environmental law and also has taught ethics at the University of San Francisco (USF) School of Law. A graduate of UC Berkeley and the USF School of Law, she also has a master’s degree in government from USF.

Honn, a former business attorney and business and economics lecturer at the University of Southern California, has been a hearing judge with the State Bar Court since 2002. A graduate of UC Santa Barbara and Loyola Law School, he also has a master’s degree in public administration from UCLA.

Lucy Armendariz

Armendariz was first appointed to the court in 2007. She has extensive experience in Sacramento and served as chief of staff for then-Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero at the time of her appointment. She also had been counsel to the Assembly public safety committee and was appointed by Gov. Gray Davis as the ombudsman for California’s women’s prisons. She graduated from UCLA and obtained her law degree from UC Hastings.

The State Bar Court hears charges filed by the State Bar’s Office of Chief Trial Counsel and has the power to recommend discipline — from private reproval to disbarment — to the California Supreme Court.