2000-10-17

PRESS RELEASE
October 17, 2000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Judge William A. McKinstry Re-elected as Presiding Judge,

Superior Court of California,

County of Alameda for the Year 2001

The Superior Court of California, County of Alameda, announces, on October 16, 2000, Judge William A. McKinstry was elected by the Judges of the Court to continue as Presiding Judge commencing January 1, 2001. The unified Superior Court includes 68 judges, 16 commissioners, 6 assigned judges and over 800 personnel in 16 locations in Alameda County.

Upon his re-election, he stated "the year 2001 will find the court continuing action on key strategic projects. Some of these include providing for adequate public access to the courts in all locations; continued implementation of the Community Focused Court Plan; pursuit of possible avenues of redress to provide for critically needed suitable and necessary court facilities for the public; development of the unified court's information technology to provide common access, case processing and records to the public and continued business process re-engineering of court operations."

Judge McKinstry has held the Office of Superior Court Judge since 1989. Prior to being elected Presiding Judge for the year 2000, he served as the Supervising Judge, Hayward Hall of Justice. He has held a variety of assignments in the Superior Court, including civil, criminal and probate departments.

Before his elevation to Superior Court Judge, he held the office of Municipal Court Judge for four years in the former Oakland-Piedmont-Emeryville Municipal Court District.

Prior to his judicial career, he served as the President of the Alameda County Bar Association in 1982. In 1987, he was the Chair, Continuing Education of the Bar Governing Committee and is currently Chair of the California Judicial Council Task Force on Probate/Mental Health. He has been active in a number of professional and judicial educational and policy committees.

Judge McKinstry graduated from Hastings College of Law in San Francisco in 1967 and has a BA degree in Business Administration from St. Mary's College in Moraga.

The contact for this release is Barbara J. Fox, Chief Assistant Executive Officer at (510) 272-6504.