A “feeder judge” is commonly thought of as one who frequently sends their clerks to subsequent clerkships for U.S. Supreme Court justices. In a twist, Justice Goodwin Liu this week saw two of his former clerks appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom to the superior court.
Kathleen Vermazen Radez was appointed to the Alameda Superior Court. She’s currently a Deputy City Attorney at the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office. Before that, however, she served as Justice Liu’s supervising chambers attorney from 2018 to 2024, and also as a Liu annual clerk from 2012 to 2013. In between her stints at the Supreme Court, Radez was a Deputy Attorney General and an Associate Deputy Solicitor General. Radez was quoted in an article about her annual clerk experience, saying it was like “jumping into a very high-level game where everyone knew what was going on. There was no starting at the basics and working your way up.”
Christopher Hu was appointed to the San Francisco Superior Court. He’s now a Deputy Solicitor General, but he was a Justice Liu annual clerk from 2014 to 2015 after serving a Ninth Circuit clerkship. Following his clerkships and before joining the Solicitor General’s office, Hu was an attorney at several law firms, including Horvitz & Levy. While at the firm, Hu was my primary supervising attorney on a successful California Supreme Court case that earned a CLAY Award. (See here and here.)
We’ve noted when other Supreme Court attorneys have been appointed to the bench. (See, e.g., here.) But we haven’t compiled a comprehensive compendium.
