Six vie for state appeals court vacancy
State District Court Judge Jennifer Attrep, who mainly presides over Rio Arriba County cases, is one of six applicants for an appeals court vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Jim Wechsler.
Wechsler, the second-longest-serving judge on the New Mexico Court of Appeals, retired last month after more than 22 years on the bench. Wednesday was the deadline to apply for an appointment to the seat.
Gov. Susana Martinez, a Republican, appointed Attrep, a Santa Fe lawyer and a Democrat, to the First District Court bench in 2015 to fill a vacancy created when then-Judge Sheri Raphaelson failed to get enough votes to be retained in the 2014 general election.
That was the second time Martinez appointed Attrep to a judicial post. In 2014, Martinez appointed her to fill a new district judge position that had been created by the Legislature.
Attrep, 40, was elected to the First District Court in 2016, running unopposed.
A native of Los Alamos, she earned her law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 2006.
The other applicants for the appeals court seat are:
Daniel Jose Gallegos Jr., who works as a staff attorney for the state Court of Appeals. He’s also been a prosecutor with the 2nd Judicial District Attorney’s Office in Albuquerque and the 13th Judicial District. He’s a former U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General lawyer, who earned his law degree from the Notre Dame Law School in 2005. Gallegos is a Republican.
Lauren Keefe, a lawyer with Albuquerque’s Peifer, Hanson & Mullins firm. She’s a former clerk for Supreme Court Justice Petra Maes and appeals court Judge Lynn Pickard. Keefe specializes in commercial and civil law. She earned her law degree at The University of New Mexico School of Law in 2001. There she was editor-in-chief of the New Mexico Law Review.
Emil J. Kiehne, an appellate lawyer at the Albuquerque office of Modrall Sperling who focuses on commercial litigation, health care and employment law. A 2000 graduate of the Notre Dame Law School, he previously worked in the appeals division of the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office and at the Philadelphia firm Fox Roths-
child. Kiehne has applied for the state Court of Appeals at least once before. He’s a Republican.
Kerry Kiernan, who ran for a seat on the Court of Appeals as a Democrat in 2014 but lost to Martinez appointee Miles Hanisee. He practices at the Albuquerque-based firm Sutin, Thayer and Browne, focusing on appellate law, commercial litigation, Indian gaming, civil litigation and constitutional law. He’s a 1982 graduate of the UNM School of Law.
Edward W. Shepherd, who practices at the Allen, Shepherd, Lewis & Syra firm in Albuquerque, focusing on insurance defense and general tort litigation. He earned his law degree at the Texas Tech University School of Law in 1982.
The Judicial Nominating Commission will meet Aug. 25 to evaluate the applications. The commission will come up with a short list of applicants to send to the governor, who will make the appointment.
If the appointee wishes to keep the seat, he or she must run as a candidate in the next general election, in November 2018. A successful appeals court candidate faces a retention vote every eight years, in which voters decide whether the judge will continue to serve, but does not have to run again in a partisan election.
The appeals court considers all criminal and civil appeals originating from the state’s judicial systems, except those involving life sentences, and it handles about 9,000 cases per year.
Appellate court judges are paid about $125,000 per year.