LAKEPORT, Calif. – The race to become the next judge of Lake County Superior Court’s Department 1 has another candidate.
Judy Conard of Lakeport said she has taken out papers to run for the seat currently held by Judge David Herrick, who is retiring.
“Obviously, it was a big decision,” Conard told Lake County News in a Monday interview.
She said her campaign is still in the planning stages, with a campaign committee forming and kickoff events being planned. So far she said she’s receiving a lot of offers of help and support.
Conard joins a field that so far includes Kelseyville attorney Michael Friel, Lakeport attorney Michael Lunas and Susan Krones, also of Lakeport, who is a senior deputy district attorney with the Lake County District Attorney’s Office, as Lake County News has reported.
Conard, 61, has lived in Lake County since 1993, and has been practicing law since she passed the bar exam in 1985.
Born in Pontiac, Mich., her family moved to San Diego when she was 10 years old.
Conard received a bachelor’s degree from California State University, San Diego, with the goal of becoming a school teacher.
While going through her three-semester teacher training program, she also taught adult education classes, including English as a second language and citizenship courses to immigrants.
Some of her students included Vietnamese and Cambodians fleeing their countries in the wake of the Vietnam War. Conard recalled teaching some of the courses to those students with the assistance of a French interpreter.
After receiving her teaching credential, Conard taught middle school for a time, which she called a “very valuable experience.”
While she was teaching, she began attending law school at night at Western State University College of Law in San Diego.
She graduated in 1985, took the bar exam, passed it and immediately went to work as a prosecutor in the San Diego City Attorney’s Office’s criminal division.
By the time she left that agency, she said she was heading the unit that handled prosecutions for child abuse.
She later went into private practice in San Diego, working both in civil and criminal law. When she left San Diego, she was working mostly on casework involving juvenile delinquents.
Conard and her husband, Evan, had visited Lake County on vacation, and through a friend who had connections to the area learned that a public defender contract was open. She applied, got the contracted and moved to the county in 1993.
Later, Conard moved back into private practice, working in criminal defense, civil cases and family law.
Recently, Conard has pursued training to represent disabled veterans in efforts to get adequate compensation and health benefits. “That’s something I have just done and something I’m very interested in,” she said.
Conard feels she has the experience and qualifications for the job.
She said her experience applying for a judicial appointment also convinced her she has what it takes.
When Judge Arthur Mann announced his retirement from Lake County Superior Court’s Department 3 in 2009, Conard was one of several local attorneys who applied to then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to be appointed to the bench.
She would become one of two candidates who made it through the process and were recommended to the governor. “The appointment is absolutely discretionary,” she said.
Andrew Blum ultimately was appointed to succeed Mann, but Conard said the process was positive.
“It was that process that made me realize that I could be a judge,” she said.
Conard acknowledges that pursuing the chance to become a judge is a “very big step,” which will bring significant changes and new responsibilities.
She said she believes she can contribute to the community in that position, and that she is fair, smart and has the right temperament to take the bench.
“The fact that I have been exposed to so many different kinds of people has taught me to stop and really listen to what people are saying and not to make assumptions, just to really listen,” she said.
Conard said she believes she has good working relationships with members of the local legal system, and would work well with the sitting judges – Blum, Stephen Hedstrom and Richard Martin.
When she’s not practicing law, Conard is involved with a number of community organizations, sitting on the boards of the Friends of the Taylor Observatory, Lake County Friends of Mendocino College and Mendo-Lake Alternative Service.
She also volunteers at the Soper-Reese Community Theatre in Lakeport and holds membership in the Rotary Club of Kelseyville Sunrise.
Her latest project is performing in the new “Lake County Live!” radio variety show, which debuted on Sunday.
“I’m very proud of it,” said said.
Conard’s husband, Evan, died in 2006, after 33 years of marriage.
She has an adult son who lives with his wife and 8-year-old daughter in Healdsburg.
Conard said her young granddaughter “really tipped the scales” when it came to making the decision to run for judge.
“I just want all little girls to know that they can do anything they want when they grow up,” she said.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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