SAN FRANCISCO — The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Friday announced the selection of a new magistrate judge to handle cases in its Eureka division.

Magistrate Judge Nandor Vadas, who has presided over cases in both Eureka and the Bay Area since his appointment in 2004, will be retiring in November, the court said in a release. Filling his shoes will be Robert Illman, who currently serves as a law clerk to Vadas.

In contrast to Vadas, who was a prosecutor at the district attorney's office in Humboldt County before taking the bench, Illman previously practiced law as an assistant federal public defender, representing poor clients in Montgomery, Alabama.