Judicial Officer of The Year

Honorable
Thomas Garza

2024-2025
Judicial Officer of the Year

Judge Tom Garza was born in Santa Monica, California and grew up in San Bernardino attending San Bernardino High School. Judge Garza is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles where he earned his Bachelor of Arts Degree in History. Following graduation at U.C.L.A., he enrolled at Western State College of Law where he obtained his Juris Doctor and was admitted to practice law in 1993.

Judge Garza practiced law with his father, Florentino Garza and former attorneys, the Honorable Donna Garza, the Honorable John Pacheco and California State Representative, Eloise Reyes. He was appointed as Judge to the San Bernardino Superior Court on October 3, 2007 by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Past affiliations in the community have included serving as Deacon and Elder with First Presbyterian Church, San Bernardino; San Bernardino County Bar Association, Board of Directors; SBCBA Legal Aid, Redlands; U.C.L.A. Alumni Association; President U.C.L.A. Inland Empire Bruins; Chairman of the U.C.L.A. Alumni Freshman Scholarship Committee, Inland Empire; Board of Directors Goodwill Industries, San Bernardino; Board of Directors National Orange Show; Breakfast Rotary Club San Bernardino; St. Bernardine Medical Center Board of Trustees; Consumer Attorneys of California; American Trial Lawyers Association; American Inns of Court; Inland Empire Hispanic Leadership Counsel and Redlands High School Aquatics Booster Club.

Past awards and honors include 2020 Consumer Attorneys of The Inland Empire Judge of The Year Award; Benevolent Barrister Award from the San Bernardino County Bar Association Legal Aid; Service Awards from American Inns of Court and Goodwill Industries; Senate, Assembly, County and City of San Bernardino Service Resolutions and Victorville District Attorney’s and Public Defender’s Office Judicial Service Recognition.

Judge Garza is the proud husband to the Honorable Donna Garza, Ret., who presently sits on assignment with a Criminal calendar at the San Bernardino Justice Center. Judge Garza is blessed with two daughters, Jenna and Danielle. Jenna is married to Brad Schneider.

Video coming soon!

Honorable
R. Glenn Yabuno

2023-2024
Judicial Officer of the Year

Judge Yabuno currently serves as the Presiding Judge of the Superior Court of San Bernardino County, the trial court providing access to justice in the 5th most populous county in California and the largest geographic county in the continental United States.

Judge Yabuno was raised in Fresno, CA, the heart of the Central Valley.  He graduated from Bullard High. He attended Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and graduated from California State University at Fresno in 1979.   During his college years he worked as a Group Counselor with the Fresno County Probation Department, which sparked his interest in the justice system.

He attended Santa Clara University School of Law and received his juris doctorate degree and was admitted to the California State Bar in 1983.

He joined the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s office as a Deputy District Attorney in 1984.  He handled preliminary hearings and misdemeanor and felony trials for over four years.

He transitioned to private practice in 1988 with Wilson, Borror, Dunn and Scott in San Bernardino with a practice focused on Civil and family law trials.

He returned to the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office in 1991 to lead their Environmental and Consumer Fraud Unit, which combined his civil and criminal experience.  He served as the lead Deputy District Attorney over environmental and consumer fraud crimes county-wide for over 19 years.

Judge Yabuno was appointed judge of the Superior Court of San Bernardino County in 2010.  During his tenure at the court, he has handled a variety of calendars, including criminal, civil, family law, traffic, small claims, and landlord tenant. He has worked in several court districts, including the Barstow, San Bernardino, Rancho Cucamonga, and Victorville courthouses.  He served as a Supervising Judge from 2015 until 2020 in the San Bernardino, Rancho, and Victorville Districts. He was elected Presiding Judge of the Superior Court by his fellow judges in 2021 after serving two years as the Assistant Presiding Judge.  As Presiding Judge, he chairs the Court’s Executive Committee and provides leadership for 101 judicial officers and over 1000 court staff and is responsible for the court’s $190 million dollar budget. He has demonstrated state-wide leadership as a member of the Judicial Council’s Trial Court Presiding Judges Advisory Committee and its Executive Committee. He has demonstrated a strong ability to collaborate with the state-wide presiding judges, judicial council, and justice system stakeholders across the state to improve the administration of justice.

Prior to his judicial appointment, Judge Yabuno served his community through his active participation in several community organizations including the local AYSO soccer program, over 15 years as a Reserve Deputy with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, the California District Attorney’s Association Board of Directors and as a Board Member of the local chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League.  He served as an instructor at San Bernardino Valley College and the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Academy.

Glenn and his wife, Chris, have two children, Michael and Allyssa and they enjoy traveling in their spare time.

Watch online here!

Honorable
Ingrid Uhler

2022-2023
Judicial Officer of the Year

Judge Ingrid Louise Adamson Uhler was born July 15, 1958 to Richard F. Adamson and Ingrid Heuzeroth in Taipei, Taiwan.  At the time, her father was working for the CIA as a physician.  He is now 97 years old and doing amazingly well.  Her mother was a German war bride and became a US citizen after her arrival to the US.  Unfortunately, she passed in 2020 at age 95.  Judge Uhler primarily grew up in Arizona with her two brothers and sister.  She attended ASU and graduated in 1979, summa cum laude.  She then graduated, with distinction, from the University of Arizona Law school in 1982.  She came to California in 1983 due to her marriage to her husband of 39 years, Jerry.    She has lived since that time in Upland, and has two sons, Jerrod, age 28, and Lukas, age 22.

Judge Uhler was a deputy district attorney for Los Angeles County from 1983 to 1995, handling all phases of criminal trial prosecutions, primarily prosecuting career criminals and crimes against children.  In November of 1995, she was appointed to San Bernardino County Municipal Court by Governor Pete Wilson, and she was later elevated to Superior Court in December1998.  From 1996 to 2007 she was the supervising criminal judge in Rancho Cucamonga District Court.  During that time she presided over misdemeanor and felony trials, including several death penalty cases, as well as handled a daily criminal calendar.  In 2005, she helped organize a Homeless Shelter Court at the Foothill Family Shelter in Upland and from 2005 to 2008 she and her staff met once a month to assist the homeless in clearing up their cases by either doing community service and/or NA/AA meetings.  Also, in 2007 to 2008 she was assigned to the Mental Health Court, and for her participation in that court she received the Award for Distinguished Service from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.  From 2008 until 2014 she was assigned to the Fontana District Court, during which she continued presiding over a high volume of misdemeanor and felony trials.  Due to the reorganization of the courts, she returned back to the Rancho Cucamonga District Court in 2014 and continued her assignment in a criminal trial court.  In 2017, with permission from the Presiding Judge, Judge John Vander Feer, she restarted the Homeless Shelter Court in Upland, expanded it to Fontana pre Covid, and continues to preside over the court to this day.  It is held on the fourth Friday afternoon of each month.  As part of the Homeless Court services, she and her staff also have participated in several Veterans Expo and Stand Down events in both Riverside and San Bernardino County.  The most recent Stand Down was held in San Bernardino County in 2021 and over 167 cases were handled, the most successful Stand Down to date.  For her work with the homeless and veterans, in 2018 she was selected by the Red Mass Steering Committee to receive the Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta Award.  In May, 2021, she was honored as the Collaborative Treatment Court Judge of the Year.

In June, 2022, Supervising judge, Judge Rogan, implemented the first and then only outdoor court in the State of California, and assigned Judge Uhler to that unique court.  Judge Uhler handles all out of custody arraignments and walk-ins, sometimes seeing over 100 defendants on a daily basis.  The primary goal is to resolve as many cases as possible during the COVID pandemic so as to alleviate court congestion and protect the safely of the courthouse staff by keeping the defendants outside.  She teamed up with DDA Marbi Burnette, and now DDA Linda Metz, with DPD Valerie Rochester-Young to make the outdoor court a huge success.   The success, in part, is also due to the hard work of all the court personnel, in particular her own court staff, Judicial Assistant Mary Flores and Deputy Kimi Alexander.

Judge Uhler has been on the bench for over 26 years and hopes to retire in July, 2023, to enjoy some traveling with her husband and hope for a few grandchildren in their future.  She enjoys hiking, and was able to do the Six Peak Challenge and Mt. Whitney in 2021, with her dear friend and hiking partner, Karen Goldstein.  She also enjoys going to the Huntington Beach Dog beach on most weekends with her Labrador retriever and Labrador mix, Stella and Annabelle.  She is a LA Kings fan(sorry Ducks fans) and has enjoyed watching both of her sons play hockey over the past many years.

Watch online here!

Honorable
Bryan F. Foster

2021-2022
Judicial Officer of the Year

The Hon. Bryan F. Foster is a judge for the Superior Court of San Bernardino County in California. He was appointed to the bench by former governor Gray Davis in 2003. Judge Foster and his wife, Nancy, have been married for 48 years. They had three children and two grandchildren.

Judge Foster was born in 1948 and raised in San Francisco, California. He attended Kindergarten, Grammar School, High School, College, Law School and post-graduate work for an MBA all within 7 miles of his home. He played football in both High School and College and had over 35 different part-time jobs during his school years. He earned a B.A. in history from the University of San Francisco in 1970. He then continued on to Law School also at the University of San Francisco, completing a J.D. in 1974.

He began his legal career working as an associate at a private law firm in the Bay Area, acting of counsel to the San Francisco Housing Authority. In 1983, he relocated to the Inland Empire, where he worked as a trial attorney in private practice. He was a partner at Foster, Driscoll & Reynolds from 1990 to 2003 prior to his appointment to the bench. As a trial attorney for almost thirty years, he had seventy-eight Superior Court Jury Trials and has presided over four hundred criminal and civil jury trials as a judge.

Judge Foster was the supervising judge of the Morongo District of the San Bernardino Court for three years and then was assigned to a criminal department in San Bernardino. He has been assigned to the civil trial department for the last nine years.

Judge Foster has numerous awards and honors. He was named Trial Judge of the Year In 2013 by the Consumer Attorneys of the Inland Empire and in 2015 received the same honor by the American Board of Trial Advocates. He received the President’s Award by the American Board of Trial Advocates in 2014 and was the recipient of the Kaufman-Campbell Award from the San Bernardino County Bar Association in 2018. He has been the President of the Riverside/San Bernardino Chapter of The American Board of Trial Advocates and has acted as a national representative for that organization. He has served on multiple committees for the San Bernardino Superior Court and has developed and presented multiple trial practice seminars to various legal and community groups.

Watch online here!

Honorable
Stanford E. Reichert

2020-2021
Judicial Officer of the Year

Judge Reichert is a graduate of the University of Utah and a graduate of Columbia Law School. For 20 years before taking the bench, years, Judge Reichert was a civil trial lawyer handling insurance defense cases. For 10 of those years, he ran his own law firm located in Ontario. He then became a trial court judicial attorney for the San Bernardino Superior Court in Rancho Cucamonga. In 2001, the Supreme Court appointed him to be one of five State Bar Court trial judges. In 2002, the Los Angeles Superior Court judges elected Judge Reichert to be a court commissioner, and he served at the Los Angeles Mosk Courthouse and in West Covina. In 2005, Gov. Schwarzenegger appointed Judge Reichert to the San Bernardino Superior Court. He has handled serious criminal cases including murder, gang violence, and child abuse. His current assignment is in probate, conservatorships, and guardianships. In 2018 the Legal Aid Society of San Bernardino County honored his work with the Access to Justice Award. He also adjudicates the Chino Valley Watermaster case in which he determines water rights for San Bernardino residents. Judge Reichert has taught extensively for California Judicial Education and Research (CJER) in many areas including probate, unlawful detainers, and small claims. He has also been a consultant for the California Judges Benchbook Small Claims and Consumer Law. He has two adult married children and one granddaughter.