Newport, Irvine residents named to Superior Court

Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday announced the appointment of a Newport Beach attorney to the Orange County Superior Court.

Martha K. Gooding, 59, is filling a vacancy left by Judge David Thompson, whom Brown appointed to the state Court of Appeal last year.

Gooding, a Democrat, is a partner at the Irvine-based Jones Day, where she specializes in intellectual property law, according to her biography on the firm’s website.

Before joining Jones Day in 2011, she ran her own practice and from 2000 to 2011was a partner at Howrey LLP.

Gooding earned a bachelor’s degree in arts from Cal State Long Beach before getting her juris doctor degree from UC Berkeley.

“I am honored to join this very fine bench and grateful to the governor for giving me this opportunity to serve the people of California,” Gooding wrote in an email.

She, her husband, Bob, and their two children have lived in the Port Streets neighborhood in Newport for 11 years. They previously lived in the Bayshores community at Newport Harbor.

The couple’s daughter attends Sage Hill School in Newport, and their son attends Haverford College in Pennsylvania, Gooding said.

Brown’s announcement also included the appointment of Robert A. Knox, 57, of Irvine, who will fill another vacancy on the Orange County Superior Court.

He will take a space created when a court commissioner position was converted to a judgeship in October, according to the announcement.

Knox, now a private practice attorney, had worked as an assistant public defender at the Orange County public defender’s office from 1984 until this year.

The Democrat earned a bachelor’s degree in arts from UC Davis and his law degree from Pepperdine University.

Brown also announced a third judicial appointment: Democrat Thomas A. Glazier, 53, of Lake Forest, who is an assistant district attorney in Orange County.

Each will earn $181, 292 annually, according to the governor’s statement.