Governor Newsom Announces Appointments

California State

Gov. Newsom Announces Judicial Appointments

SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today announced his appointment of 18 Superior Court Judges, which include two in Los Angeles County;

Los Angeles County Superior Court

Victor Avila, of Los Angeles County, has been appointed to serve in an interim appointment as a judge in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Avila has been a senior deputy district attorney in the major crimes division of the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office since 2012 and has served the office in several other roles since 1999. He served as a deputy district attorney at the Ventura County district attorney’s office from 1997 to 1999. Avila earned a Juris Doctor degree from Boston College Law School. He fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Malcolm H. Mackey. The Governor’s appointment allows him to immediately assume the position he was otherwise elected to begin in January 2025. Avila is a Democrat.

Allison Westfahl Kong, of Los Angeles County, has been appointed to serve as a judge in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Westfahl Kong has served as chief of ethics and post-conviction review at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California since 2023 and has served in several roles as an assistant U.S. attorney there since 2012. She served as a trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice, fraud section from 2016 to 2017. Westfahl Kong served as a law clerk for the Honorable Robert A. Katzmann at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 2011 to 2012 and for the Honorable Jed S. Rakoff at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York from 2010 to 2011. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from the New York University School of Law. She fills the vacancy created by the retirement of judge Zaven V. Sinanian. Westfahl Kong is a Democrat.

Gov. Newsom Announces Appointments

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Gavin Newsom May 3 announced the following appointment:

Patrick Allard, of Los Angeles, has been reappointed to the Developmental and Reproductive Toxicant Identification Committee, where he has served since 2017. Allard has been a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles since 2012. He was a Post-Doctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School from 2005 to 2012. Allard is a member of the Society of Toxicology. He earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Biology from McGill University, a Master of Science degree in Biology from Paris Descartes University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Universite Toulouse Paul Sabatier. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Allard is registered without party preference.