Sacramento, California - Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the appointment of Gustavo E. Lavayen and Pauline Maxwell to judgeships in the Santa Barbara County Superior Court.

Lavayen, 55, of Solvang, has served as senior deputy county counsel at the Santa Barbara Office of County Counsel since 2013, where he has served in several positions since 1990, including chief deputy county counsel and deputy county counsel. Lavayen served as a deputy district attorney at the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office from 1985 to 1990 and was an attorney in private practice from 1984 to 1985. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge James F. Iwasko. Lavayen is registered without party preference.

Maxwell, 59, of Santa Barbara, has served as a commissioner at the Santa Barbara County Superior Court since 2010, where she was a staff research attorney from 2006 to 2010. She was an adjunct professor at the Santa Barbara College of Law from 2007 to 2009, a senior litigation associate at Grokenberger and Smith from 2002 to 2006, in-house counsel at Tenet Healthcare from 2001 to 2002 and a litigation associate at Foley and Lardner from 1997 to 2001. Maxwell earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Denise de Bellefeuille. Maxwell is a Democrat.

The compensation for each of these positions is $184, 610.