County’s 2 Newest Judges Receive Official Welcoming

Most of Ventura County’s Superior courtrooms were in recess Friday afternoon as the judges officially welcomed two men to their ranks.

Judges Kevin McGee and Glen Reiser, who have been sitting on the bench since last month, retook their judicial oaths and donned their robes again before about 300 people at the county’s Hall of Justice.

For McGee, a former assistant district attorney who was elected to the bench in November, and Reiser, a civil attorney appointed in December by former Gov. Pete Wilson, moving to the other side of the courtroom has been an adjustment.

“The job is completely different from being a lawyer,” said Reiser, who oversees civil cases at the East County Courthouse in Simi Valley. “It has been great.”

“You’re just somewhat in awe of the work that you do in this position and the effect you have on people’s lives,” said McGee, who has been handling family law and other civil cases.

There was only standing room in the Hall of Justice’s jury assembly room Friday, as the new judges’ families, colleagues old and new, government and law enforcement officials and attorneys turned out to congratulate McGee and Reiser.

Ronald George, chief justice of the California Supreme Court, administered the oath.

The Board of Supervisors, Ventura County Bar Assn., state Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley) and representatives for Assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara), Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Northridge), Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) and Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) all offered their congratulations to the new judges.

“You are certainly joining the best of teams,” said Jo Ann Wedding, president of the county Bar Assn., referring to Ventura County’s 24 other Superior Court judges. (There is one vacancy.)

Before his election, McGee was the county’s chief assistant district attorney, overseeing the D.A. office’s operations. In his 16 years as a prosecutor, he also led the D.A.’s juvenile and sexual-assault divisions.

“He is a tough-minded person but a tender-hearted one,” Dist. Atty. Michael Bradbury said of his former deputy. “He is disciplined without being rigid.”

McGee, 45, lives in Newbury Park with his wife, Shelley, and their two sons and daughter. He replaced Judge Robert Bradley, who was suspended last year for a number of alcohol-related arrests.

Reiser, before becoming one of Wilson’s final appointments, was an attorney with a Ventura law firm specializing in environmental and land-use litigation. Reiser, also 45, is divorced, has two sons and lives in Camarillo. He fills a seat left vacant by the retirement of Judge Allan Steele.