Governor Newsom Appoints Judicial Appointments
Secretary and Legal Affairs Staff

Published: Jan 14, 2019

SACRAMENTO — Governor Gavin Newsom today
announced the appointment of his Judicial
Appointments Secretary and Legal Affairs
Secretary, and other members of his legal affairs
team in the Governor’s Office.

Justice Martin Jenkins, 65, of, San Francisco,
has been appointed Judicial Appointments
Secretary in the Office of the Governor. Justice
Jenkins currently serves as an Associate Justice
on the California Court of Appeal, First
Appellate District, and was appointed to this
position in 2008. Prior to this court
appointment, Justice Jenkins served as a judge on
the U.S. District Court for the Northern District
of California from 1997 to 2008. From 1992 to
1997, he served as a judge on the Alameda County
Superior Court and previously served on the
Oakland Municipal Court from 1989 to 1992. From
1986 to 1989, he was a trial attorney with the
Pacific Bell Legal Department of San Francisco
and from 1983 to 1986, he worked in the U.S.
Department of Justice as a trial attorney. From
1980 to 1983, he worked as a prosecutor for the
Alameda County District Attorney’s Office. He
earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University
of San Francisco School of Law. This position
does not require Senate confirmation and the
compensation is $185,004. Jenkins is a Democrat.

Catherine E. Lhamon, 47, of Takoma Park,
Maryland, has been appointed Legal Affairs
Secretary in the Office of the Governor. Lhamon
is the Chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil
Rights and was appointed to the role in 2016 by
President Barack Obama. From 2013 to 2017, she
served as the Assistant Secretary for Civil
Rights in the U.S. Department of Education. From
2009 to 2013, she served as the Director of
Impact Litigation at Public Counsel, the nation’s
largest pro bono law firm. From 1999 to 2009, she
practiced law at the ACLU of Southern California,
eventually rising to the position of Assistant
Legal Director. She earned a Juris Doctor degree
from Yale Law School. This position does not
require Senate confirmation and the compensation
is $200,004. Lhamon is a Democrat.

Analea Patterson, 47, of Washington, D.C., has
been appointed Chief Deputy Legal Affairs
Secretary in the Office of the Governor.
Patterson was a partner in the law firm of
Orrick, Herrington, and Sutcliffe from 2005 to
2018. She previously served as Special Assistant
for Policy and Planning for California Attorney
General Bill Lockyer and as Policy and
Legislative Director for Lieutenant Governor Gray
Davis. She also served as a law clerk for the
Honorable Frank C. Damrell (ret.) on the U.S.
District Court for the Eastern District of
California. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from
the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of
Law. This position does not require Senate
confirmation and the compensation is $184,992. Patterson is a Democrat.

Kelli Evans, 49, of Oakland, has been appointed
Deputy Legal Affairs Secretary for Criminal
Justice in the Office of the Governor. From 2017
to 2019, she served as Special Assistant to the
Attorney General at the California Department of
Justice. From 2014 to 2017, she served as Senior
Director for the Administration of Justice at the
California State Bar. She has served as a member
of federal court-appointed monitoring teams for
the Oakland and Cleveland Police Departments.
 From 2010 to 2013, she was the Associate
Director of the ACLU of Northern California, and
previously served as a Senior Trial Attorney in
the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department
of Justice. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from
the University of California, Davis School of
Law. This position does not require Senate
confirmation and the compensation is $175,008 Evans is a Democrat.

Rei Onishi, 37, of Sacramento, has been appointed
Deputy Legal Affairs Secretary in the Office of
the Governor. He previously served as Deputy
Legal Affairs Secretary in the Office of Governor
Edmund G. Brown Jr. from 2017 to 2019. From 2015
to 2017, he served as a Senior Policy Advisor and
White House Fellow in the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development. From 2012 to 2015,
he served as a Deputy Attorney General at the
California Department of Justice, Office of
Attorney General, and from 2011 to 2012 was a law
clerk for the Honorable Beverly Martin of the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
 From 2004 to 2006, he was a legislative aide and
Senate fellow in the Office of State Senator Joe
Simitian. Onishi is a co-founder of the Buck
Fellows Program and past board member of the
American Constitution Society Bay Area Lawyer
Chapter. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from
Harvard Law School and a Master of Public Policy
degree from the Harvard Kennedy School of
Government. This position does not require Senate
confirmation and the compensation is $155,004. Onishi is a Democrat.

Shubhra Shivpuri, 36, of Oakland, has been
appointed Deputy Legal Affairs Secretary in the
Office of the Governor. Shivpuri has served as
Deputy Attorney General of the Civil Rights
Enforcement Section at the California Department
of Justice, Office of the Attorney General since
2017. She was a trial attorney at the U.S.
Department of Justice, Criminal Division from
2015 to 2017 and an assistant U.S. attorney at
the U.S. Attorney’s Office from 2011 to 2015.
Shivpuri was a litigation associate at Debevoise
& Plimpton LLP from 2007 to 2010. She earned a
Juris Doctor degree from Stanford Law School.
This position does not require Senate
confirmation and the compensation is $160,008. Shivpuri is a Democrat.

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