Court commissioners Kelly Mertsoc and Rosy Meyerowitz, and state prosecutor Kristopher Young will fill spots created by the retirements of judges
Three new judges are joining the San Diego Superior Court bench after being appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to fill vacancies.
San Diego court commissioners Kelly Mertsoc and Rosy Meyerowitz, and Supervising Deputy Attorney General Kristopher Young will fill spots created by the retirements of judges. Mertsoc and Meyerowitz were sworn in Thursday. Young’s swearing-in date has not been scheduled.
Mertsoc was already headed to the bench after she ran unopposed in the March primary for a term that starts in January. Newsom’s appointment allows her to immediately assume the position. The seat was left vacant with the retirement of Judge Robert P. Dahlquist.
Mertsoc, who earned her law degree from the Thomas Jefferson School of Law, was an associate at the Law Office of Daniel V. Burke from 2000 to 2001. She then hung out a shingle as a solo practitioner from 2001 until 2011, when she became a commissioner in San Diego Superior Court.
Meyerowitz, like Mertsoc, also won in the March primary for a seat open next year, but she too can immediately take the seat vacated by the retirement of Judge Patricia Garcia.
Meyerowitz has served as a San Diego court commissioner since 2022.
She earned her law degree from California Western School of Law and worked at the District Attorney’s Office from 2009 to 2012, serving as a graduate law clerk and deputy district attorney.
The following year, she became an associate at Woolf, Gafni & Fowler LLP. In 2015, she started working for the San Diego Superior Court as a managing attorney and research attorney.
Young earned his law degree from University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law. He also earned a master’s degree in professional military education from the Marine Corps University Command and Staff College.
From 2007 to 2010, Young was an associate at Higgs, Fletcher & Mack LLP before moving to the state’s Department of Justice to become a supervising deputy attorney general, where he stayed until this year.
He also served as a Marine Corps captain with the judge advocate general from 2002 to 2007, then was promoted to lieutenant colonel and worked as a deputy staff judge advocate from 2012 to 2024.
Young’s appointment fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Gary Bubis.
The three new judges will start their new jobs with a training rotation. It’s not clear what their assignments will be after that.
Mertsoc and Young are Democrats. Meyerowitz is registered without party preference. Annual compensation for judges in California is $238,479.