Municipal Judge, Lawyer Named to Superior Court

Gov. George Deukmejian on Tuesday appointed a Municipal Court judge and a Santa Ana divorce lawyer to two open seats on the Orange County Superior Court.

Deukmejian promoted Municipal Court Judge Hugh Michael Brenner, whom he appointed to the Muncipal Court bench less than a year ago, to replace Judge Harmon G. Scoville, who was elevated late last year to the 4th District Court of Appeal.

The governor appointed lawyer Robert D. Monarch to replace Judge Philip E. Schwab, who retired.

Was a Deputy D.A.

Brenner, 47, of Villa Park, was a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney from 1970 until May, 1987, when Deukmejian appointed him to the Municipal Court. From 1967 until 1970, he was a partner in the Redondo Beach law firm of Needle & Brenner.

Before that, he served two years as a deputy public defender for Los Angeles County.

Brenner graduated from UCLA in 1963 and received his law degree from the same school three years later.

Brenner could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Monarch, 54, has had his own practice in Santa Ana since 1970, with 60% or more of his work devoted to family law, he said.

From 1966 until 1970, Monarch was a partner in the Orange law firm of Cramer & Monarch, and from 1964 through 1968, he was the company lawyer for the Maltby Co. of Culver City, an automotive chemical-distributing company.

Monarch graduated from UCLA in 1960 and received his law degree there in 1963.

In an interview, Monarch described himself as a “settlement-oriented” person who believes that “the overwhelming majority” of civil law suits could be resolved without a trial.

“Considering the ‘psyco-dynamics’ involved, the way people become intractable, it snowballs and you get this polarity where nothing else is going to work except a court battle,” Monarch said. “My philosophy is to try to mitigate that feeling and to get to the heart of the controversy in terms of costs, fees, time and aggravation and resolve the dispute accordingly.”

In addition to family law, Monarch has practiced general civil law but has not handled liability or personal injury cases, tax law or criminal cases, he said.