Civil Lawyer Is Named by Governor to Judgeship : Superior Court: The surprise move by Deukmejian will elevate Richard D. Aldrich, 52, of Westlake to the 15-member county bench. The appointee has been an attorney for 27 years.

In a move that caught the county’s legal community by surprise, Gov. George Deukmejian on Friday passed over local prosecutors and Municipal Court judges and named a Westlake civil lawyer to a vacant Ventura County Superior Court judgeship.

Richard D. Aldrich, who has lived in the Ventura County portion of Westlake for 12 years, is scheduled to be sworn in as one of the county’s 15 Superior Court judges before Deukmejian leaves office Jan. 7.

The appointment of the 52-year-old attorney--viewed as one of the top trial lawyers in the state--caught many local attorneys off guard.

“We hear he has a good reputation, but we really don’t know much about him,” said Kevin McGee, chief deputy district attorney.

“It is very unusual that someone who has not served as a judge before would be put on the bench. But since the governor is coming to the end of his term it is not surprising that he might deviate from the normal process.”

Aldrich, a graduate of the UCLA Law School and the father of three, said he sent a letter to the governor two years ago indicating that he was interested in a Superior Court judgeship in Ventura County.

“I’ve been a lawyer for 27 years and thought it would be time to give something back to the profession,” Aldrich said. “The governor’s office contacted me and said my name would be considered but unfortunately there were no vacancies.”

Aldrich said he was “elated and pleasantly surprised” to learn Friday that he had been appointed to the position recently vacated by Kenneth R. Yegan, who was sworn in this week as an associate justice of the 2nd District Court of Appeal.

Aldrich describes himself as a moderate Republican. He said he has never contributed to Deukmejian’s campaigns. “I’ve never even spoken with the governor,” he said.

The appointee said he believes his experience as a civil trial attorney will help him in his new job.

“I’ve tried all types of cases from all over the state and the country,” Aldrich said. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Aldrich served as a counsel to several saving and loan associations and financial corporations. Eventually he went into private law practice, specializing in general civil litigation, including business fraud, attorney malpractice, medical malpractice and personal injury.

He moved his practice from Sherman Oaks to Westlake several years ago.

Aldrich was recently named the 1990 California trial lawyer of the year by the American Board of Trial Advocates. And California Lawyer magazine listed him as one of the state’s most respected lawyers.

The magazine described Aldrich as a “smart and aggressive trial attorney” rated by other lawyers as “brilliant and resourceful in trial” and tenacious.

Previously, a small group of Ventura County Republicans, including Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury, has played a pivotal role in the selection of new judges in the county.

The group has helped secure judicial appointments for eight assistant prosecutors out of the 11 municipal and superior court judgeships that have opened up since Deukmejian’s election in 1982.

Paul Leavens, one of the members of the influential judicial review group, said Friday that Aldrich was not on a list of five contenders submitted by the group to the governor. He said that list rated Deputy Dist. Atty. Vince O’Neill, a top aide to Bradbury, as the top choice for a judgeship.

Leavens added that he has never heard of Aldrich.

“I’ll be darned,” Leavens said. “Sometimes the governor comes off the wall with persons like this one. He obviously has to have good credentials.”

Bradbury could not be reached for comment Friday.

Nevertheless, Ventura County Bar Assn. President Wendy Lasher, who also had not heard of Aldrich, said the local legal community will probably welcome someone with a civil law background to the local judiciary because it is so heavily stocked with former prosecutors.