O.C. Judicial Candidates

A look at the candidates for Orange County Superior Court judge:

OFFICE NO. 1.

Marc Kelly

Personal: 39, married, two children

Law degree: University of San Diego School of Law

Career highlights: A California native, Kelly has been a prosecutor for the Orange County district attorney’s office for more than 12 years. He is a senior deputy district attorney who heads a unit that works closely with police and specializes in gang crimes.

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John Michael Gullixson

Personal: 51, married, two children

Law degree: Pepperdine University Law School

Career highlights: A California native, Gullixson is mayor of Yorba Linda. He has been in private practice for more than 20 years, and successfully represented his city and others in a lawsuit brought against Orange County in the wake of the 1994 bankruptcy.

OFFICE NO. 6

John Conley

Personal: 58, married, two children

Law degree: University of Michigan

Career highlights: An Orange County prosecutor for more than 27 years, Conley also served in the Marine Corps and the Army during the Vietnam War. He is a senior deputy district attorney, and has handled 55 felony trials, including three death-penalty cases. In 1988, he was named California’s Outstanding Prosecutor by the California District Attorney’s Assn.

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Erick L. “Rick” Larsh

Personal: 42, married, three children

Law degree: Western State University

Career highlights: Before taking the bench in 1997 as a Superior Court commissioner, he practiced law for nine years and was a prosecutor for the city of Anaheim for two years. He teaches classes on criminology and helped pioneer a program that emphasizes rehabilitation of drug offenders as part of their sentence.

OFFICE NO. 7

Michael A. Leversen

Personal: 52, married with three children

Law degree: University of San Diego

Career highlights: After graduating in 1973, Leversen worked as a public defender for three years before becoming a private defense attorney. He handled more than 100 felony trials, including 12 homicide trials, before a yearlong stint with the Orange County district attorney’s office. He was appointed to the bench in 1995 as a Superior Court commissioner.

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Tom Dunn

Personal: 45, married, four children

Law degree: Southwestern University

Career highlights: A senior judicial attorney for the California Court of Appeal, Dunn reviews civil and criminal cases for the appellate court. He teaches law at Trinity, Whittier and Western State University law schools. He was a senior prosecutor when he left the Orange County district attorney’s office after 12 years. Also spent two years as a deputy attorney general for the state.

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Sheila Fell

Personal: 58, married, two children

Law degree: Western State University

Career highlights: A judicial commissioner since 1994, Fell is chairwoman of the Orange County Family Violence Council, dedicated to eradicating family violence. Also a licensed nurse. Worked nearly 14 years as an attorney specializing in bankruptcy and debtor-creditor cases.

OFFICE NO. 10

Terese S. Oliver

Personal: 47, married, two children

Law degree: Western State University

Career highlights: An attorney for more than two decades, Oliver has been a prosecutor for 15 years and has brought more than 125 cases before juries, with a focus on drunk driving and family violence. She also spent two years as a public defender and four years in private practice.

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Gary Paer

Personal: 42, married

Law degree: California Western School of Law, San Diego

Career highlights: A former police officer-turned-FBI agent, Paer worked as an Orange County prosecutor for 12 years before moving to the bench in 1997 as a Superior Court commissioner, presiding over civil and felony cases. Teaches criminal justice at Goldenwest College.

OFFICE NO. 24

Michael R. Capizzi

Personal: 60, married, two children

Law degree: University of Michigan

Career highlights: Capizzi has spent nearly 30 years prosecuting crimes in Orange County. First elected as the county’s top prosecutor in 1990, he brought charges against more than 60 political figures accused of wrongdoing. He is past president of the Orange County Bar Assn. and the California District Attorney’s Assn.

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Stephanie George

Personal: 41, married, three children

Law degree: Whittier Law School

Career highlights: A former Judge Advocate General--a military lawyer--and commander in the U.S. Navy Reserves, George left the service after 15 years. She has worked for the last 10 years as an Orange County prosecutor and currently works in the sexual assault unit, focusing on rape and child molestation cases.

OFFICE NO. 26

H. Warren Siegel

Personal: 60, married, two children

Law degree: University of Chicago

Career highlights: Before becoming an Orange County Superior Court judge in 1993, Siegel was in private practice for more than 20 years, specializing in commercial business litigation. Before that, he worked for the state attorney general’s office for eight years, prosecuting business fraud and investment crimes.

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Mark E. Farrar

Personal: 50, one child

Law degree: Western State University

Career highlights: In private practice for more than 23 years, Farrar has also specialized in defending insurance companies against fraud cases. He is a volunteer arbitrator of civil cases in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

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Fred W. Anderson

Personal: 57, married, four children

Law degree: Vanderbilt University

Career highlights: A consumer law attorney specializing in consumer rights, Anderson has been in private practice for nearly 30 years. He worked briefly as a prosecutor before that. He received a 1991 State Bar President’s Pro Bono Service Award for his work on the Homeless Defense Project.

OFFICE NO. 30

Michael J. Cassidy

Personal: 46, married, three children

Law degree: Western State University

Career Highlights: Currently a Superior Court referee overseeing juvenile crime cases. Spent 10 years in private practice handling criminal, civil and family law cases. He was a police officer for 10 years before that.

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Jamie Duarte

Personal: 42, one child

Law degree: UC Davis School of Law

Career highlights: A former San Francisco cable-car operator, Duarte has been a private attorney for the last 15 years, specializing in complex civil litigation. Formerly, vice president and president-elect of the Hispanic Bar Assn. of Orange County. A past chairman of the insurance law section of the Orange County Bar Assn.

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Dan McNerney

Personal: 47, married, two children

Law degree: Western State University

Career highlights: A prosecutor for more than 14 years with the Orange County district attorney’s office. He is currently a senior deputy district attorney in the homicide unit, and has handled more than 20 homicide cases. Previously, he spent four years as a spcial assistant U.S. attorney. He is also a former law professor.

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Jan Nolan

Personal: Mother of four

Law degree: Western State University

Career highlights: When she recently retired from the Orange County district attorney’s office after 22 years, Nolan was an assistant district attorney. Her felony trial work involved drugs, fraud and career criminal cases. She also specialized in consumer law and environmental protection cases. She led the grand jury investigation into the county’s bankruptcy.

Source: Information supplied by the candidates.

Researched by SANDY YANG/Times Staff Writer