Appellate Appointments!

Governor Brown Appoints Three District Court of Appeal Justices
SACRAMENTO – Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the appointment of Judge Helen I. Bendix as associate justice, Division One and Judge Carl H. Moor as associate justice, Division Five of the Second District Court of Appeal, and the appointment of Associate Justice Mary J. Greenwood as presiding justice of the Sixth District Court of Appeal.

Second District Court of Appeal

Helen I. Bendix, 65, of Los Angeles, has been appointed associate justice, Division One of the Second District Court of Appeal. Bendix has served as a judge at the Los Angeles County Superior Court since 2000. She served as a judge at the Los Angeles Municipal Court from 1997 to 1999 and was general counsel at KCET from 1996 to 1997. Bendix was a partner at Heller, Ehrman, White and McAuliffe from 1989 to 1996, of counsel at Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher from 1986 to 1989 and a visiting professor at the University of California, Los Angeles Law School from 1985 to 1986. She was a partner at Leva, Hawes, Symington, Martin and Oppenheimer from 1983 to 1985, where she was an associate from 1980 to 1983. Bendix was an associate at Wilmer, Cutler and Pickering from 1978 to 1979 and law clerk to the Honorable Shirley M. Hufstedler at the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University. Bendix fills the vacancy created by the elevation of Justice Elwood G. Lui to presiding justice, Division Two of the Second District Court of Appeal. This position requires confirmation by the Commission on Judicial Appointments. The Commission consists of Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Senior Presiding Justice Arthur Gilbert. Bendix is registered without party preference. 


Carl H. Moor, 56, of Los Angeles, has been appointed associate justice, Division Five of the
Second District Court of Appeal. Moor has served as a judge at the Los Angeles County Superior Court since 2014. He was a partner at Munger Tolles and Olson LLP from 2003 to 2014, where he was an associate from 2001 to 2003. Moor served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California from 2000 to 2001 and from 1994 to 1999. He was litigation counsel at the National Broadcasting Company Inc. in 2000 and an associate and public interest fellow at Hall and Phillips from 1989 to 1994. He was a law clerk for the Honorable Mariana R. Pfaelzer at the U.S. District Court, Central District of California from 1988 to 1989. Moor earned a Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Swarthmore College. He fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Richard M. Mosk. This position requires confirmation by the Commission on Judicial Appointments. The Commission consists of Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Senior Presiding Justice Arthur Gilbert. Moor is a Democrat.

Sixth District Court of Appeal
Mary J. Greenwood, 61, of Menlo Park, has been appointed presiding justice of the Sixth District Court of Appeal, where she has served as an associate justice since 2017. Greenwood served as a judge at the Santa Clara County Superior Court from 2012 to 2017. She served as public defender of Santa Clara County from 2005 to 2012 and was an assistant public defender and supervising attorney in the Santa Clara County Alternate Defender’s Office from 2002 to 2005. Greenwood was an attorney at Coblentz, Patch, Duffy and Bass LLP in 2001 and an associate at the Boccardo Law Firm in 1997. She served as an assistant public defender at the Santa Clara County Public Defender’s Office from 1994 to 2001, where she was a deputy public defender from 1982 to 1994. Greenwood earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Grinnell College. She fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Presiding Justice Conrad L. Rushing. This position requires confirmation by the Commission on Judicial Appointments. The Commission consists of Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Senior Presiding Justice Franklin D. Elia. Greenwood is a Democrat.

The compensation for each of these positions is $228,918.