Santa Maria Judge Confirmed for Spot on State Court of Appeal

A Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge who has spent her career on the bench in Santa Maria is moving up to the state's appellate ranks. Denise Hippach was confirmed last week by the Commission on Judicial Appointments as an associate justice of the California Court of Appeal, Second District, Division Six, based in Ventura, according to a report by Noozhawk.

Hippach's elevation is a milestone for the county in more ways than one. She made history in 2022 when she joined the Superior Court bench as the first African-American judge to serve in Santa Barbara County, the Noozhawk reported. Her confirmation now takes one of the North County's sitting judges off the local docket and creates a vacancy that Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to fill in the coming months.

A Local Bench Career Rooted in Santa Maria

Hippach has served on the Santa Barbara County Superior Court since 2022, spending most of her tenure in the criminal courts before more recently taking on civil cases — assignments she handled at the courthouse in Santa Maria, the county's second-largest city and the seat of its North County legal operations.

Her familiarity with the appellate side of the system predates this appointment. According to the Noozhawk, Hippach spent roughly two months last year on a temporary assignment with the very court she will now join — the Second District, Division Six — giving her direct experience with the appellate review work that will define her new role.

Division Six is one of the divisions of the Second Appellate District, which reviews trial court decisions from a swath of Southern California counties, including Ventura and Santa Barbara. For local residents, that means a jurist with deep roots in this county's courtrooms will now help decide appeals arising from cases that begin in communities up and down the Central Coast.

A Career Spanning Prosecution, County Counsel, and Appellate Work

Before donning the robe, Hippach built a résumé that stretches across both public-sector legal work and multiple states. From 2018 to 2022, she served as a senior deputy county counsel in the Santa Barbara County Counsel's Office, representing the county in civil matters before her appointment to the bench.

Her earlier posts included service as a deputy attorney general in the Idaho Attorney General's Office from 2015 to 2018 and as a deputy prosecuting attorney in the Canyon County Prosecutor's Office in Idaho from 2016 to 2018, the Noozhawk reported. She also worked as a panel attorney for the California Court of Appeal's Court-Appointed Counsel Program from 2014 to 2018 — another early brush with appellate practice — and as a deputy county counsel for Los Angeles County from 2008 to 2014. Her career began in prosecution as a deputy district attorney in Riverside County from 2004 to 2006.

Hippach's academic path runs through the 805 region itself. She attended UC Santa Barbara from 1994 to 1996 before transferring to UCLA, where she earned a bachelor's degree in political science in 1998. She received her law degree from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law.

The Nomination and Confirmation

The path to the appellate bench moved quickly. Newsom nominated Hippach on Aug. 7 as one of eight nominees for Court of Appeal justicehips across California, according to the Noozhawk. Last week, the three-member Commission on Judicial Appointments — made up of Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero, Attorney General Rob Bonta, and Senior Presiding Justice Francis Rothschild — approved her confirmation after hearing from supporters.

That support came from close to home. Several of Hippach's colleagues spoke on her behalf at the confirmation hearing or submitted letters urging the commission to approve her appointment, the Noozhawk reported. Testimony from fellow jurists and members of the local bar is a traditional feature of California's confirmation process for appellate justices, and backing from colleagues who have seen a nominee's work firsthand often carries particular weight.

What It Means for Santa Barbara County

For the Santa Maria legal community, Hippach's departure is both a point of pride and a practical challenge. The North County courthouse loses an experienced judge who handled both criminal and civil calendars, and the Superior Court now faces another vacancy in its ranks. The governor, who appoints California superior court judges to fill mid-term openings, is expected to nominate her replacement in the coming months, after which the appointee typically faces evaluation by the local bar and a JNE Commission review before taking the bench.

In the meantime, court operations continue — vacancies are typically covered through commissioner assignments and judicial reshuffling, but backlogs in both criminal and civil departments can grow when benches sit open, particularly in busy jurisdictions like Santa Barbara County's, which spans both the South Coast and North County.

Hippach's confirmation also marks a broader moment of representation. As the first African-American judge in county history, her rise from the Santa Maria criminal calendar to the appellate bench in Ventura is a trajectory that local court observers say reflects both her range of experience — prosecution, county counsel, appellate panel work — and the depth of legal talent that has developed within the county's own institutions.

Her story began in part at UC Santa Barbara, and now, decades later, it returns to the region in a position of statewide significance: an associate justice reviewing the appeals of cases that began in the very courtrooms where she once presided.

This article is based on reporting by [Noozhawk](https://www.noozhawk.com/santa-maria-judge-confirmed-for-spot-on-state-court-of-appeal/), Noozhawk North County Editor Janene Scully.