New appointments announced, including an ACBA member!

Alameda County Superior Court

Somnath Raj Chatterjee 

Raj Chatterjee, 47, of Oakland, has been a partner at Antolin Agarwal and Chatterjee LLP since earlier in 2017. He was a partner at Morrison and Foerster LLP from 2006 to 2017, where he was an associate from 1997 to 1999 and from 2000 to 2005. He served as a deputy public defender at the Contra Costa County Public Defender’s Office from 1999 to 2000 and was an associate at Sonnenschein, Nath and Rosenthal from 1995 to 1996. Chatterjee served as a law clerk for the Honorable A. Andrew Hauk at the U.S. District Court, Central District of California, from 1994 to 1995. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Chatterjee fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Steven A. Brick. 

Contra Costa County Superior Court

Benjamin T. Reyes II, ACBA member

Benjamin Reyes, 51, of Alameda, has been a principal at Meyers, Nave, Riback, Silver and Wilson PLC since 2005, where he was an associate from 2001 to 2005. He has been City Attorney for Union City since 2010 and for the City of Pinole since 2004. Reyes was general counsel of Utility.com from 2000 to 2001 and an attorney at the East Bay Municipal Utility District, Office of General Counsel from 1997 to 2000. Reyes served as a deputy city attorney at the San Jose City Attorney’s Office in 1997 and was an associate at Boornazian, Jensen and Garthe PC from 1993 to 1997. Reyes served in the U.S. Army Reserves from 1983 to 1987. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Francisco School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley. Reyes fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Thomas M. Maddock. 

Wade M. Rhyne

Wade Rhyne, 41, of San Ramon, has served as a trial attorney at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission since 2016. He served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Criminal Division at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of California from 2007 to 2016 and as a law clerk for the Honorable Martin J. Jenkins at the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California from 2006 to 2007. Rhyne was an associate at Morrison and Foerster LLP from 2004 to 2006 and served on active duty as a staff judge advocate in the U.S. Air Force Judge Advocate General’s Corps (JAG Corps) from 2002 to 2004. Rhyne has continued to serve in the JAG Corps as a military reservist since 2004. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California, Davis. Rhyne fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Trevor S. White.