2 S.D. Lawyers Selected for U.S. Magistrate Posts

San Diego’s federal judges tabbed two local trial lawyers with expertise in civil lawsuits to be the court’s new magistrates, selecting them Wednesday for posts that traditionally have meant an immersion in criminal cases.

Louisa Porter, 44, and Leo S. Papas, 46, both solo trial lawyers, beat out seven other finalists for the eight-year positions, Chief U.S. District Judge Judith N. Keep said. The job typically has involved setting bail in criminal cases, trying minor criminal cases and, to a lesser extent, settling civil disputes.

Though the San Diego court still remains short three full-fledged trial judges, it must, under a new federal project, put into place by the end of 1991 a plan to streamline its civil system. Magistrates will be expected to play an increased role in settling those civil cases, and that’s why the court sought experienced civil lawyers, Keep said.

Both Porter and Papas “can hit the ground running, no doubt about it,” Keep said.

Before either is sworn in, the FBI must first run background checks. Keep said she hopes Porter and Papas will be approved by July.

Keep said Wednesday she also hoped that Marilyn Huff, a San Diego attorney who has been nominated by President Bush for one of the three open judgeships, will be on the bench by the summer. Huff is awaiting confirmation hearings before the U.S. Senate.

Another local lawyer, Jim McIntyre, reportedly has been recommended to Bush for the second vacant slot. No candidates have emerged for the third spot.

Judges, nominated by the President, are confirmed by Congress and enjoy life tenure. Magistrates, recommended by a committee of area lawyers, are picked by a court’s judges for eight-year terms. When full, the San Diego court has five magistrates and eight judges.

All three judge vacancies arose last year. Judge William B. Enright took senior, or part-time, status, and Judge J. Lawrence Irving resigned over frustration with rigid new sentencing rules in criminal cases. Then Congress created one new spot.

The two magistrate vacancies arose earlier this year when former Magistrate Irma Gonzalez left to become a Superior Court judge and when a new magistrate post was created. The post pays $118,000 a year.

The magistrate selection process sparked controversy earlier this month when minority lawyers complained that no black, Latino or Asian attorney had been named among the nine finalists recommended to the court’s judges. Five minority lawyers from the original pool of 62 failed to make the cut.

At an April 5 meeting with the protesting minority lawyers, Keep defended the process, saying she believed it was fair. She also said it was guided by federal rules, not by the District Court judges, and could not be changed in midstream to accommodate qualified minority candidates.

District Court is the formal name for the federal trial courts.

The names of the seven other finalists were not disclosed. Keep has said previously that the selection process operates in secret.

Neither Porter nor Papas could be reached Wednesday for comment.

Papas, a former Marine Corps captain, has been in private practice since 1974. He is a 1966 graduate of Northwest Missouri State University and a 1969 alumnus of Drake University law school.

Porter has been in private practice since 1978. She graduated from Indiana University in 1969 and from the University of San Diego law school in 1977.