California Bar Journal
OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE STATE BAR OF CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 2001
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Board member Erica Yew named to Santa Clara bench
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Erica R. Yew, a second-year member of the State Bar Board of Governors, was named to the Santa Clara County Superior Court last month by Gov. Gray Davis.

Yew, 41, is one of two representatives of District 3, which includes Santa Clara, San Mateo, Alameda and Contra Costa counties.

Erica YewShe was one of four appointments to northern California courts announced by the governor.

San Jose lawyer Randolf Rice also was named to the Santa Clara bench, Santa Rosa City Attorney Rene A. Chouteau was named to the Sonoma County bench and Monterey County deputy district attorney Lydia Villareal will re-join the Monterey County Superior Court after losing her seat in a special election.

Yew has been a partner with the San Jose law firm of McManis, Faulkner & Morgan since 1999. From 1985 to 1999, she was an associate and shareholder with Robinson & Wood Inc., also in San Jose.

Her practice has emphasized insurance defense work, including the defense of personal injury, defamation, legal and medical malpractice, civil rights, wrongful termination, and patent and trademark infringement. Yew also has served as a volunteer judge pro tempore in the Superior Court and as a court-appointed arbitrator in civil cases. Since 1997, she has participated as a faculty member in the Stanford Law School Trial Advocacy Program.

In addition to her work with the State Bar, Yew is active in a variety of civic and professional groups, including serving on the boards of the Asian Law Alliance, Santa Clara County Law Library and Pro Bono Project of Silicon Valley. She is a past president of the Asian Pacific Bar Association of the Silicon Valley and was honored in the early 1990s for her pro bono work. In 1991, the California State Bar presented her with the Wiley Manuel Award for pro bono legal services.

A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, where she earned a bachelor of arts degree with honors, Yew received her law degree from Hastings Law School. She will receive a salary of $133,051.

It was not immediately clear how her seat on the bar board would be filled.