NEWS RELEASE

GOVERNOR APPOINTS NEW JUDGE TO RIVERSIDE COUNTY

Release Date: December 27, 2017

Contact: Marita C. Ford, Public Information Officer

RIVERSIDE COUNTY:

On December 22, 2017, Governor Edmund G. Brown announced the appointment of Emma C. Smith to a vacant judgeship in the Superior Court of California, County of Riverside.

Emma C. Smith, 37, of San Clemente has been an assistant public defender at the Riverside County Public Defender's Office since 2017, where she served as a senior deputy public defender from 2009 to 2017. She was an attorney at the California Appellate Project from 2007 to 2008. Smith earned a Juris Doctor degree from the Santa Clara University School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from American University. She fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge James S. Hawkins.

A state Judicial Needs Assessment has found that the Riverside Superior Court is in dire need of judgeships to help process the growing caseloads in its communities. The filling of this vacancy by Ms. Smith will greatly assist the Court’s goal in continuing to provide access to justice for court litigants. She will be assigned to the Hall of Justice in downtown Riverside and begin hearing matters on January 3, 2018.

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Electronic version available at: www.riverside.courts.ca.gov under Media Center.