Four Corners: 2024 Annual Family Law Case Update

Geanene M. Yriarte serves as a judge on the Superior Court of Los Angeles County in California. She was appointed to the bench by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2009 and has since been re-elected. Her current term extends until January 8, 2029.

In the June 7, 2022, primary election, Yriarte secured re-election unopposed, leading to the cancellation of both the primary and general elections.

Yriarte earned her bachelor’s degree from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and her Juris Doctor from Loyola Law School. Before her judicial appointment, she worked as a deputy district attorney for Los Angeles County.

Judge Puente-Porras was appointed on June 27, 2018. She served as Commissioner for the Los Angeles Superior Court since April 2015. She is currently assigned at Compton Courthouse in the South Central District. She has always sat in a family law assignment. Prior to her election as a Commissioner, she practiced Family Law, representing all parties and served as appointed minor’s counsel. In the contested adoption forum at Edelman Children’s Court, she was appointed on behalf of parties or to serve as minor’s counsel. Her practice also included Criminal Defense and Civil litigation. For 10 years she served on the Board of Trustees for the Southeast District Bar Association and was President in 2010. Her pro bono work included serving as a Daily Settlement Officer for the Los Angeles Superior Court [Family Law], the Alliance for Children’s Rights, Los Angeles and the Public Law Center in Santa Ana. Judge Puente-Porras was in private practice for 17 years until being elected to the Bench as a Commissioner. She is a graduate of Western State University College of Law, Fullerton.

Commissioner Amir Aharonov currently presides over Department F-50 in Chatsworth. Prior to taking the Bench, he was a Certified Family Law Specialist and practiced Family Law exclusively. He served as the Co Chair of the Family Law Executive Committee for the San Fernando Valley Bar Association for several years. He is a graduate of Stanford University and Loyola Law School.

Judge Silberman is a graduate of Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT. He received his JD/MA from the University of Southern California where, upon graduation, he was a recipient of the Shattuck Award for outstanding potential in the legal field. 

Judge Silberman was the first staff attorney hired by AIDS Project Los Angeles during the height of the AIDS pandemic. After working there for three years he became an associate at a large family law firm in the San Gabriel Valley. After six years with the firm, he returned to public interest work and became the supervising attorney for the

family law/domestic violence unit at Neighborhood Legal Services in Los Angeles. He was with Neighborhood Legal Services for six years. Judge Silberman also taught family law for four years at the University of Southern California Law School.

Judge Silberman took the bench in 2004, first as a commissioner and then as a judge. He has spent his entire eighteen-year tenure on the bench in the family law division. He has won judge of the year honors from various bar associations as well as the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. This spring, the Inn of Court will be honoring him as Judge of the Year. He has served on the executive committee of Los Angeles Superior Court and been a board member for the California section of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts as well as a board member for the San Fernando Valley Legal Foundation.

For the last ten years, Judge Silberman has sat in Department L in Pasadena. Prior to that, he sat for eight years at Stanley Mosk.