By Amy Yarbrough and Donna Domino
Daily Journal Staff Writers

SAN FRANCISCO - Just days after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's judicial appointments adviser John Davies announced his resignation, a group of legal heavy hitters have emerged as contenders to replace him.
Among the names that have surfaced are San Francisco attorneys Jeffrey L. Bleich, Angela M. Bradstreet and Elwood Lui, as well as Alberto Roldan, a longtime Sacramento prosecutor who is Schwarzenegger's deputy appointments secretary, according to two legal insiders. Rumors also have circulated that Roldan's boss, Timothy Simon, might assume the judicial appointments role even as he juggles responsibility for all the governor's other appointments.
Simon announced Davies' retirement while visiting last week with the Alameda County Bar Association.
A spokeswoman for Schwarzenegger's office declined to elaborate on Davies' departure but released a statement from the governor, thanking him for his work.
"I want to thank John for all of his meticulous and hard work to ensure the state of California has the very best judicial minds serving in our courts," the statement read. "As John begins this new chapter in his life, my office will search for someone to fill this position and carry on his tradition of appointing qualified individuals to the bench."
Davies had served as judicial appointments secretary to Gov. Pete Wilson from 1995 to 1999 before he joined the Schwarzenegger administration in July 2004.
Davies has taken plenty of heat - as has the Republican governor himself - from critics who say appointments of minorities to the bench are lagging.
Davies drew more criticism in early June when he told a State Bar diversity summit meeting in San Jose that the governor did not consider candidates' race or ethnicity when making judicial appointments.
Luz Buitrago, a board member of the East Bay La Raza Lawyers' Association and director of Berkeley-based Law Center for Families, attended Thursday's bar ceremony where Davies' resignation was announced.
Buitrago said that the news took her by surprise but that she thought it could be the start of something positive.
"I think this gives the governor the opportunity to start afresh, to find a judicial appointments secretary who can bring much-needed diversity to the bench, especially here in Alameda County," she said. "We've been disappointed."
Whoever is selected would be responsible for appointing 50 new judges as early as April 1, funding for which was approved by lawmakers on the condition that Schwarzenegger now disclose ethnic and racial data voluntarily supplied by applicants.
Christopher Arriola, chair of the judicial committee of La Raza Lawyers of California, said replacing Davies is an opportunity for Schwarzenegger to fulfill his promise of more diverse appointments and "hopefully appoint the first minority or woman judicial appointments secretary in California history."
"I think the governor is moving in the right direction to encourage more minorities to apply by replacing Mr. Davies, who I don't think had the best relationship with the minority bar associations and, consequentially, didn't have as high a number of applications that reflected the diversity of California," he said.
Neither Simon nor Roldan was available for comment Monday. A representative of the governor's office said that neither would likely to be able to comment on whether they were being considered to replace Davies, because the hiring process is confidential.
Bradstreet and Lui also could not be reached for comment. Bleich said that, although people have expressed to him that they'd like to see his name in contention, he doesn't know whether he's actively being considered.
"My sense in that the rumor mill on this is pretty active," he said.
A partner at Munger Tolles & Olson in San Francisco, Bleich clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and is a vice president of the State Bar Board of Governors.
He is also a former president of the Bar Association of San Francisco and an ex member of the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal in the Hague. Bleich ran the White House Council on Youth Violence during President Clinton's administration, has won numerous awards for his pro bono work and created Munger Tolles' pro bono program.
Lui, Jones Day's managing partner in San Francisco, is a former justice of the California Court of Appeal. A coveted litigator with numerous victories to his name, Lui and two other Republican lawyers make up the committee of Republican attorneys nominally in charge of the committee overseeing the search process to replace San Francisco U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan and San Diego U.S. Attorney Carol Lam. Lui also headed the federal judicial-selection panel for the Los Angeles-based Central District.
As special master, he helped rebuild the State Bar after the dues crisis and is leading the group deciding whether the state Supreme Court should take over attorney discipline.
Bradstreet is managing partner of S.F.-based Carroll Burdick, specializing in employment law. She is a former president of the Bar Association of San Francisco who launched a No Glass Ceiling Task Force to encourage law firms to promote more women partners and leaders.
If Simon were to handle both judicial and the governor's regular appointments, it wouldn't be unprecedented. Before Governor Jerry Brown, both roles were handled by one person.
Brown broke with that tradition by assigning the duty of judicial appointments to legal affairs secretary J. Anthony Kline, now a justice with the 1st District Court Appeal in San Francisco. Governors since then have had a separate judicial appointments secretary or, in the case of Schwarzenegger, a judicial appointments adviser.
If Simon were to take over judicial appointments, the news would sit well with Gary Farwell, president of the California Association of Black Lawyers.
"Of course, we like Timothy Simon. who was a very good advocate on behalf of the governor's office," Farwell said. "If he were to replace Davies, it would give us great optimism for the future of Governor Schwarzenegger's appointments to the bench."
In September, Simon blamed a shortage of qualified minority applicants on a State Bar screening process that he claimed weeded out many attorneys of color and women that he considered to be good candidates, according to a published report.

Daily Journal Staff Writer Tim Hay contributed to this story.

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