With open trial court seats dwindling, California Governor Jerry Brown on Friday looked to his staff and several government lawyers to fill superior court positions around the state.

Among the slate of six appointments announced Friday, the governor named Kristina Lindquist, a longtime deputy legal affairs secretary on his staff, to the Sacramento Superior Court bench. Lindquist, 37, previously served as staff counsel at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation from 2008 to 2011 and as tax counsel at the State Board of Equalization in 2009.

Another veteran of the Corrections Department, Patrick McKinney II, was appointed the Alameda County Superior. McKinney, 45, an assistant secretary for legal affairs and chief counsel in the department since 2015, previously spent about a decade in private practice at Farella Braun + Martel.

In Los Angeles County, the governor appointed two court commissions to the trial bench, James Blancarte, 65, and Timothy Martella, 70. Among other positions, Blancarte has had stints in private practice at Carlsmith BallJeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell, and Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp. Both Blancarte and Martella fill vacancies created by the conversion of a court commissioner position to a judgeship.

In Riverside County, the governor tapped sole practitioner Cheryl Murphy, 56, and deputy district attorney Samah Shouka, 46.

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Read Governor Brown's full announcement here:

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