Nicole Quintana Winter, formerly of the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office, will join the court as a judge following Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Aug. 18 appointment.
Quintana Winter joined the bar in 2000, and has worked in both state and private practice since.
She joined the District Attorney’s Office in 2001, and worked there until 2013, according to the public records site Transparent California.
She started Gaspard Castillo Winter Harper APC, now known as Castillo Harper APC, in 2013.
Co-founder Kasey Castillo said she was happy to hear of Quintana Winter’s appointment.
“She is very fair, thorough and knowledgeable. We are excited for her. The citizens of that county will be well-served by her,” Castillo said by email.
Quintana Winter left the firm to work as a sole practitioner in criminal defense from 2014 to 2015.
In 2016, she joined Immigration and Customs Enforcement as assistant chief counsel.
In 2017, Quintana Winter worked as tax counsel at the State Board of Equalization, the state’s tax administration agency.
She left to join the California Labor Commissioner’s Office in 2018, where she worked until 2020.
California’s Office of the Inspector General, which oversees state prisons, hired Quintana Winter in 2020. She has worked there as special assistant inspector general, senior assistant inspector general, and senior assistant inspector general.
“We are enthusiastic with the Governor’s appointment and look forward to filling critical vacancies within our county,” said Presiding Judge R. Glenn Yabuno in a press release. “Judge Quintana Winter will be a tremendous asset to our bench.”
Quintana Winter received her law degree from the University of Southern California School of Law in 2000, where she received the Edward and Eleanor Shattuck Awards for outstanding service in elected or appointed positions.
San Bernardino has five judicial vacancies following this appointment, and needs 30 more judicial officers to meet its caseload, according to the court.
