Newest San Diego Superior Court judge has long history in federal public defense

A longtime public defense attorney just became the newest judge in San Diego Superior Court.

Judge Shereen J. Charlick, 54, was sworn-in to her judicial office on Friday, court officials announced. She was appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown and fills the vacancy created when Judge Kerry Wells retired.

Charlick has a long history of defense work in federal and state court.

Most recently, Charlick was the interim executive director of Federal Defenders of San Diego Inc., a nonprofit that provides defense services for poor people facing federal charges.

She had been the organization’s chief trial attorney since 2005. Her work included serving as the appellate attorney for Brent Wilkes, who in 2007 had been convicted of bribing now-former Congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham.

Charlick stepped into Federal Defenders’ top spot on an acting basis earlier this year, according to Superior Court officials. She has a long history with Federal Defenders, having served as the supervisory attorney and trial team leader for the group from 1999 to 2004.

Charlick’s time in the San Diego offices was interrupted briefly when she served a stint in the Office of the Federal Public Defender in the Southern District of Florida.

It was the same district where Charlick had worked as a law clerk for U.S. District Judge William J. Zloch from 1989 to 1991.

After the clerking job, she went on to be a trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice Honors Program from 1991 to 1994.

She spent the next few years, from 1994 to 1998, as a deputy public defender in the Office of the Federal Public Defender, Southern District of Florida.

Also in 1998, Charlick served as a deputy public defender at the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office.

From 1998 to 1999, she was an associate at the Law Office of Tarlow and Berk, and joined Federal Defenders in San Diego in 1999.

Charlick earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her law degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.

Superior Court judges make $200,042 annually.

teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com

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