Although there are several San Diego Superior Court judicial seats on the ballot in the June primary, the vast majority feature only one candidate — nearly all are judges running unopposed for re-election. The real races to watch are the two contested seats — three candidates vying for one office, two candidates vying for another.
In the race for Office No. 31, an administrative law judge is squaring off against a senior assistant state attorney general. In the race for Office No. 32, the candidates are a civil litigator, a chief deputy city attorney and a probate attorney who is also a law professor.
If a candidate draws more than 50% of the vote in the primary, they will win that judicial office outright and avoid a November runoff — an outcome that seems likely for Office No. 31, given that there are only two candidates in that contest.
If no candidate reaches that 50% threshold, the two who drew the most votes will move on to compete in the November election.
Aside from those two contested seats and the many judges running for re-election, there are three open seats that drew only one candidate. Court Commissioner Leah Boucek is running unopposed, as are Tracy Prior and Laurie Hauf, both of whom are longtime deputy district attorneys. Since they are unopposed, each is presumed likely to win an open judicial seat.
Office No. 31
Two candidates are running for Office No. 31: Jodi Cleesattle and Adam Noakes.
Cleesattle is a supervising deputy attorney general with the California Department of Justice in the civil division.
Jodi Cleesattle. (Courtesy of Jodi Cleesattle)
Cleesattle, 57, has been a trial attorney for 32 years, although she started out as a newspaper reporter covering politics and legal issues. She decided to go to American University Washington College of Law to learn more about those topics — not to become an attorney. “I wrote every paper on a First Amendment topic, regardless of what class it was,” she said.
But the law bug bit. Cleesattle worked as a law clerk in the District of Columbia before landing at a firm that handled media law. She later became a partner and moved to the San Diego office.
About 12 years in, she went to work for the state’s Department of Justice in 2007 and is steeped in employment law. She also spent a year overseeing the office’s tort and condemnation section statewide.
Cleesattle said her judicial philosophy is “to be open-minded and fair.” A judge, she said, “is an advocate for truth, for justice.”
“My obligation is to apply the law fairly and objectively in every case,” she said.
Noakes is an administrative law judge with the Health and Human Services Agency under California’s Department of Social Services.
Adam Noakes. (Courtesy of Adam Noakes)
Noakes, 45, knew from an early age that he wanted to be an attorney after one successfully helped his mother fight an automotive company over a lemon of a car. “I want to be someone that can be an influence for good,” he said. But the route was not direct.
After graduating from high school, he served two years as a church missionary in Brazil, even learning Portuguese. After he returned, the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, prompted him to enlist in the U.S. Army.
Noakes was selected to be a part of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, known as The OId Guard, which is the Army’s official ceremonial unit and escort to the president. At night, he attended the University of Maryland. He later graduated from UCLA’s law school before securing a job as a civil litigator in San Diego.
“I was a great litigator, and I was a great advocate, but I’ve got to tell you — in my heart, I was a neutral,” Noakes said. He said he wanted to “really be someone that resolves disputes in a way that brings harmony and reconciliation — and I think judges, at their best, that’s what they do.”
“I’m going to apply the law as it is written,” he said of his judicial philosophy. “I think that’s what people want, and that’s what we should expect of our judges.”
Office No. 32
Three candidates are running for Office No. 32: Nicole D’Ambrogi, David Gallo and Tia Ramirez.
Nicole D’Ambrogi. (Courtesy of Nicole D’Ambrogi)
D’Ambrogi is an attorney whose practice has focused primarily on trust and estate law. She is also an adjunct professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, where she is the director of clinical programs and previously oversaw the Veterans Legal Clinic. She has an advanced legal degree in international tax.
D’Ambrogi, 40, is also a U.S. Navy veteran and was a master-at-arms with the Navy’s law enforcement and security arm. She took college classes with an eye toward becoming an attorney and kept her homework in her flak jacket. “I had to fit in my studies where I could.”
Her firm, San Diego Legacy Law, handles cases such as trusts, estates, probates, guardianships and conservatorships.
She said her legal practice, teaching, pro bono work and the military shaped her view of the legal system. In her written questions and answers with the Union-Tribune, she said they taught her to “be prepared, disciplined, and compassionate, while still making difficult decisions when the law requires it.”
“I’ve walked the path with clients firsthand, and I’ve seen the real impact of the courts in real lives,” she said in an interview. “I think that gives me perspective that is very unique because my clients aren’t the government. My clients are real people, and they’re paying for the system out of their pocket, and that is a big difference.”
Gallo is a certified legal specialist in civil trial advocacy, and his practice includes employment law and complex business litigation. His firm’s website indicates he has more than 20 years of experience in “wage disputes, employment law violations, and high-stakes business litigation.”
David Gallo. (Courtesy of David Gallo)
Gallo did not speak with the Union-Tribune for a personal interview but did submit responses to the written questionnaire sent to all local judicial candidates in the June primary.
In those responses, Gallo wrote that he has “successfully litigated against multi-billion-dollar companies represented by 1,000-lawyer law firms. My work has often involved representation of employees (and groups of employees) who have not been paid properly, as well as class-action and commercial litigation.” Gallo said he also volunteers to lead trial advocacy workshops.
As for his judicial philosophy, Gallo wrote, in part: “Judges — especially trial-court judges — are supposed to follow the law (i.e., not make the law).” He wrote that his objective “would be to apply my unique abilities and experience to see that litigants obtain just results according to law — and in the most timely and cost-effective way possible.”
Ramirez is a chief deputy city attorney for the city of San Diego and currently leads the City Attorney’s Office’s Gun Violence Reduction Unit.
Tia Ramirez. (Courtesy of Tia Ramirez)
She graduated from San Diego State University (she’s also a Rancho Bernardo High School alum) with a degree in criminal justice. She later joined the San Diego City Attorney’s Office as an investigator, then moved up to run a team of investigators. A chief deputy attorney encouraged her to become an attorney.
She went on to attend Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego — while still working and with two toddlers at home — and started working as a deputy city attorney after passing the bar in 2015. Her work included taking cases to trial.
Ramirez was the chief of the office’s Domestic Violence and Sex Crimes Unit when she left to work as an administrative law judge for the state of California. She said she really enjoyed the work but found it too isolating because she worked from home. Ramirez soon returned to the City Attorney’s Office and, within three months, was promoted to run the Gun Violence Reduction Unit.
“I have an unparalleled background of experience,” she said. “Most don’t have the civil experience, prosecutorial experience, judicial experience and leadership experience.”
There are 135 judicial seats in San Diego Superior Court. Terms run six years. Superior Court judges earn an annual salary of nearly $245,000.