Inside California's Judicial Appointments Process with Secretary Céspedes

Adam Hofmann serves as Deputy Judicial Appointments Secretary in the Office of California Governor Gavin Newsom, where he works alongside Judicial Appointments Secretary Luis Céspedes to vet candidates, manage the application process, and lead judicial mentorship outreach across the state. Prior to joining the Governor’s office, he built a distinguished appellate law career as a partner and co-chair of the appellate practice at Hanson Bridgett, arguing cases before the Ninth Circuit and state appellate courts as a State Bar of California Certified Appellate Specialist, and chaired the State Bar’s Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluations (JNE). A dedicated advocate for judicial diversity, Hofmann regularly speaks at bar association events statewide to demystify the judicial application process and encourage a broad range of attorneys to pursue careers on the bench.

Luis Céspedes was sworn in as Governor Gavin Newsom’s Judicial Appointments Secretary on December 10, 2020, bringing decades of legal, legislative, and public service experience to the role. A Santa Maria native who joined United Farm Workers strike lines at age 15, he went on to earn his B.A. and M.A. from Occidental College and his law degree from U.C. Berkeley School of Law, and built a distinguished career as a Sacramento attorney, co-founder of the Unity Bar Association of Sacramento, and Pro Tem judge and arbitrator for the Sacramento County Superior Court. Named “Distinguished Attorney of the Year” by the Sacramento County Bar Association in 2018 and included in the Daily Journal’s “Top 100 Lawyers” in 2021, Secretary Céspedes has also served in key legislative roles and on numerous boards and commissions, including as chair of the Sacramento Housing & Redevelopment Commission.

Helen Zukin is the Presiding Justice of the California Court of Appeal, Second District, Division Four, having joined the court in July 2023 and assumed the Presiding Justice role in 2025 after previously serving as an Associate Justice of the same division. Before her appointment to the Court of Appeal, she served five years as a Los Angeles Superior Court judge following her appointment by Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. in 2018, where she presided over family law and civil matters and championed initiatives in judicial mentorship and diversity and inclusion. A Los Angeles native and graduate of Loyola Law School, Justice Zukin built her legal career in plaintiffs’ complex civil litigation and remains deeply engaged in the legal community through her leadership on numerous judicial selection, mentorship, and bar association committees.