Trump names judicial nominees for the Central District

LOS ANGELES – President Donald Trump Wednesday nominated three new federal judges to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, which covers the Los Angeles County area.

Two of the nominees are Superior Court judges, and one is a partner at a Los Angeles law firm.

Fernando L. Aenlle-Rocha has been a Los Angeles Superior Court judge since 2017. Before taking the bench, he was a partner at White & Case in Los Angeles, where his practice focused on business litigation, white-collar defense, and business crimes investigation.

Aenlle-Rocha also previously served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District. He received his bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law.

Sandy Nunes Leal has been an Orange County Superior Court judge since last year, Before that, Leal was a deputy chief in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in downtown Los Angeles, where she had served as a federal prosecutor since 2004.

Prior to joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Leal was an assistant district counsel in the Department of Justice’s Immigration and Naturalization Service. Leal is a graduate of the University of Washington and Boston College Law School.

Attorney Rick Richmond is a partner at Jenner & Block in Los Angeles. Before entering private practice, he served on the appellate staff of the civil division of the DOJ.

Upon graduation from the George Washington University law school, where he was the senior managing editor of the law review, Richmond was a law clerk for Judge Harlington Wood Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Richmond earned his undergraduate degree from Brigham Young University.

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