Two Appointed to Superior Court

Gov. Pete Wilson has appointed Municipal Judge Joy W. Markman and Newport Beach attorney Derek W. Hunt to the Orange County Superior Court bench, the governor’s office announced Monday.

Hunt, 54, has been a member of Troy & Gould Professional Corp. since 1981. He will replace Judge James L. Smith, who has retired.

Markman, 47, has been a judge at the Municipal Court in Westminster since 1993. She also has been a prosecutor for the Orange County district attorney’s office and an attorney for the Federal Communications Commission. She replaces Judge William W. Bedsworth, who was elevated to the California 4th District Court of Appeal.

Markman’s appointment brings the number of women on the 59-member Orange County Superior Court bench to nine. Last fall there were only four, and their increasing presence is “encouraging,” said Kate Rinaldi, president of the Orange County Women Lawyers Assn.

“We still have a ways to go in Orange County,” Rinaldi said. “I feel there are a lot of very qualified women that need to be recognized.”

Also on Monday, officials announced the appointment of Salvadore Sarmiento as Superior Court commissioner. Sarmiento has managed his own law firm in Santa Ana since 1981. He previously was a deputy public defender for the state and a staff attorney for the Legal Aid Society.