BY EMILY MIBACH
Daily Post Staff Writer
Gov. Jerry Brown yesterday (Dec. 22) named Amber Rosen, the wife of Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen, to be a judge in the same county where her husband is the top prosecutor.
Amber Rosen, 50, of Los Altos, is slated to replace Judge Philip Pennypacker, who presided over family law cases this year. It was not clear as of last night whether Rosen will also be a judge at the Family Justice Center Courthouse in San Jose.
Rosen, a Democrat, has been an attorney since 1992 after receiving a law degree from UC-Berkeley.
Since 2011 she has been a deputy chief at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Jose. She has been with the U.S. Attorney’s Office since 1995 and before that she was an attorney with the tax division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Rosen will be beginning her tenure as a judge in Santa Clara County next year, the same year her husband runs for his third term as DA.
The Rosens did not return the Post’s calls yesterday.
Brown yesterday also named Mary Greenwood, 60, of Menlo Park, to the 6th District Court of Appeal in San Jose. Greenwood has been a judge in Santa Clara County since 2012 and before that was head of the public defenders office in the county.
Also named to the bench yesterday was Palo Alto resident Robert Hawk, 59. Hawk has been a partner at international law firm Hogan Lovells U.S. since 2008. And Danny Chou, 48, of Millbrae, was named to the San Mateo County Superior Court. Chou will replace Judge Barbara Mallach, who is retiring. Chou has been assistant county counsel in Santa Clara County since 2012.
The appointments of Rosen, Chou, Hawk and Greenwood were a part of Brown’s appointment of 35 judges yesterday. All of the Peninsula appointees are Democrats.
