Superior Court Judge Appointed to Appeals Post : Jurisprudence: Governor names William F. Rylaarsdam to 4th District panel. He will take a self-described conservative approach.

Gov. Pete Wilson on Tuesday named Orange County Superior Court Judge William F. Rylaarsdam to fill a year-old vacancy on the state appeals court in Santa Ana.

Rylaarsdam, 58, who has served on the Superior Court bench since 1986, was assigned temporarily last year to fill the same vacancy on the 4th District Court of Appeal after the death of Justice Henry T. Moore Jr.

“I’m very happy. I really appreciate the confidence shown in me by Gov. Wilson,” said Rylaarsdam, who lives in Irvine.

Rylaarsdam said he looked forward to rejoining the five-member appeals panel. “I came to appreciate the quality of the justices and the collegiality of the panel,” he said.

In nearly nine years on the bench in Orange County, Rylaarsdam presided over a string of complex civil cases, including a thicket of lawsuits filed against a manufacturer of a potentially fatal artificial-heart valve.

The Dutch-born Rylaarsdam earned a reputation as a studious and intellectual jurist, well-liked among business lawyers because he remained active with lawyers’ groups.

“Great guy--real knowledgeable about civil stuff. A very intellectual approach to the law,” said Gary Pohlson, a Laguna Hills lawyer who is president of the Orange County Bar Assn.

Rylaarsdam was named judge of the year in 1991 by the business-litigation section of the Orange County Bar Assn., and in 1992 by the Orange County chapter of the American Board of Trial Lawyers.

“Judge Rylaarsdam is an outstanding judge. . . . I’ve heard only praise over the years--especially among my fellow practitioners,” said Irvine attorney Jeffrey W. Shields, who heads the local bar association’s business-law group. “He’s a very popular judge--no question about that.”

Rylaarsdam was known to start his court day an hour earlier than other judges and skip lunch to let jurors out by early afternoon and the usual 4:30 p.m.

He described his legal philosophy as “strict constructionist,” a conservative approach at interpreting law.

“I don’t think it’s the role of judges to make the law,” he said.

Before moving to Orange County, Rylaarsdam served as Los Angeles Superior Court judge for more than a year and previously practiced law in Los Angeles and Orange counties for 20 years, specializing in civil litigation.

Rylaarsdam has taught business law at UC Irvine Graduate School of Business and taught in the 1970s at Loyola University School of Law, where he graduated top in his class in 1964.

“His credentials were very, very impressive,” said Wilson spokesman Paul Kranhold.

Appointment to the post, which pays about $123,000 a year, still must be confirmed by the state Commission on Judicial Appointments.