Municipal Judge James Poole Elevated to Superior Court : Jurisprudence: Gov. Wilson appoints the Republican jurist, who is well-regarded by colleagues and lawyers alike. He will be sworn in Monday.

James H. Poole, a municipal court judge with a background in government service and civil law, was appointed to the Orange County Superior Court Wednesday.

“I’ve been working hard at the municipal court level, and enjoying it, but it’s the logical next step,” said Poole, 48, who has lived in Santa Ana for 15 years. “I expect it will be a new and different challenge.”

Poole said he was “kind of awe-struck” by the news. “It doesn’t happen every day. It’s a great day.”

Poole, a registered Republican, was one of five judicial appointments Gov. Pete Wilson made Wednesday. He will be sworn in Monday at 1:30 p.m.

Virtually unknown in the courts before his appointment to the municipal bench in 1989, Poole is well regarded by colleagues and lawyers as a fair judge who is pleasant and cooperative.

Jennifer Keller, secretary of the Orange County Bar Assn., described Poole as “unfailingly courteous” with “a very high boiling point” and said he has “the ideal temperament for the bench.”

“For lawyers, he’s a pleasure to appear in front of no matter what side you’re on,” she said, calling Poole a “settlement judge.”

“He’s a real lawyers’ judge. He’s a good guy.”

Although he has only been on the bench for three years, Poole’s colleagues in Municipal Court in Westminster recently elected him as presiding judge for 1993.

Upon his appointment in 1989 by then-Gov. George Deukmejian, Poole handled the court’s preliminary hearings and misdemeanors, often several hundred cases a day. Since then, he has presided over the civil calendar, handled the felony calendar for about four months and spent the last year doing mostly trial work. During his first year as a judge, Poole swapped spots with another judge in the Fullerton courthouse to get a more diverse experience.

“It was real nice to have him around,” said Judge Michael Beecher, a 10-year veteran of Westminster Municipal Court.

“When he was appointed, I had not ever even heard his name--I don’t think any of the other judges had either,” Beecher said, explaining that civil lawyers are often unknown in the court system. “He came out and introduced himself, and within a week, everybody was very happy to have him aboard.”

Poole, who was born in Ohio, graduated from San Diego State University in 1967 and finished Hastings College of Law three years later.

He served in the Navy for three years and then worked for President Gerald R. Ford on cases involving draft evaders and military personnel who were absent without leave. He spent three years at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, first in Washington and then in Santa Ana.

In 1978, Poole entered private practice, opening law offices in Tustin where he handled mostly civil cases. In an interview Wednesday, he said being a judge “is a very enjoyable thing to do.”

“If the attorneys on both sides can walk out of my court, win or lose, and feel they got a fair trial in my court, than I think I’ve done my job well,” he said.