Manella Confirmed for U.S. Attorney Job : Courts: L.A.’s new federal prosecutor has served on Municipal, Superior benches. Sen. Dianne Feinstein recommended her for post.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Nora M. Manella has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the new U.S. attorney in Los Angeles.

“It’s real sweet,” Manella said Thursday when she heard the news. “It’s a wonderful job, and I’m looking forward to it with great enthusiasm. My only regret is that I’m giving up a job that I adore.”

Manella, 42, was nominated for the post last month by President Clinton on the recommendation of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). The Senate confirmation came Wednesday night on a voice vote.

“She’s smart, dedicated and ethical,” Loyola University law professor Laurie Levenson, who served with Manella in the U.S. attorney’s office during the 1980s, said when Feinstein’s choice was announced. “She’ll do a great job.”

As U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, Manella will be the top federal law enforcement official in seven Southern California counties from Riverside to San Luis Obispo.

A Democrat, she succeeds Terree A. Bowers, a Republican who was appointed as interim U.S. attorney a year ago to succeed Lourdes G. Baird when Baird became a federal judge.

Manella, a native of Studio City, is the daughter of Arthur Manella, founder of the Los Angeles law firm of Irell & Manella.

After graduating from Wellesley College in Wellesley, Mass., and the USC School of Law, she served as a clerk for U.S. District Judge John Minor Wisdom in Louisiana and as legal council for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.

In 1978, she went to work for the Washington offices of the prestigious Los Angeles-based legal firm of O’Melveny & Myers. Four years later, she became an assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles.

Among her victories in federal court was the conviction of anti-war activist Susan (Katya) Komisaruk in 1987 for the destruction of a million-dollar computer that Komisaruk mistakenly believed was a key part of the U.S. military’s NAVISTAR global positioning system for military hardware.

In 1990, Gov. George Deukmejian appointed Manella a judge in the Los Angeles Municipal Court system, and two years later she was elevated to the Superior Court.

She generally has received high marks by attorneys who have appeared before her, with lawyers saying she is fair, courteous and well prepared.

In addition to her legal skills, Manella is known for her fine singing voice and her skills as a songwriter.

“No one is better at adapting Cole Porter tunes to songs about lawyers,” said Los Angeles lawyer Richard B. Kendall, a former federal prosecutor.

“I always like a variety of things,” Manella told a reporter in an interview published in 1990. “I’ve always said, all I ever really wanted to be was a dilettante.”

She sang music from “Madame Butterfly” at her high school graduation ceremony at the Hollywood Bowl.

“That was the apex of my musical career,” she said with a chuckle.

Profile: Nora M. Manella

* Born: Jan. 22, 1951

* Residence: Studio City

* Education: Bachelor’s degree from Wellesley College, 1972; law doctorate from USC, 1975.

* Career highlights: A federal prosecutor from 1982 to 1990 and chief of the criminal appeals unit of the U.S. attorney’s office from 1988 to 1990. Previously served as legal counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee. A Democrat, she was appointed to a Los Angeles Municipal Court judgeship by Republican Gov. George Deukmejian in 1990 and elevated to the Superior Court in 1992.

* Interests: Singing and songwriting.

* Quote: “Its real sweet. It’s a wonderful job, and I’m looking forward to it with great enthusiasm. My only regret is that I’m giving up a job that I adore.”