By Greg Mitchell

With 26 years of judicial experience, Mike Hanlon has gained the reputation of a seasoned professional. Appointed at various times by Ronald Reagan, Jerry Brown and Pete Wilson, Hanlon's fairness and integrity are beyond reproach. It's small wonder he's been assigned the thankless task of serving on the Commission on Judicial Performance -- the watchdog agency that disciplines unethical judges.

A centrist, Hanlon is seems slightly to the left of the California Supreme Court. One of his two depublications came in a case where he reversed a trial court's denial of a motion to suppress evidence. Hanlon also pleased criminal defense lawyers in August when he reversed a conviction because a judge had removed a holdout juror during deliberations. On the other hand, Hanlon also has ruled that a judge could order a sex offender to undergo an AIDS test even after losing jurisdiction over the case.

Last year Hanlon inherited the presiding justice post of what has been one of the First District's most efficient divisions. It will be interesting to see if he can keep appeals moving through the court as rapidly as his predecessor, Carl Anderson, did. With Hanlon serving as an associate justice, Division Four was the fastest on the court in fiscal year 1996-97, with a median of 119 days from briefing to decision on civil appeals, and only 66 days for criminal appeals.