U.S. Magistrate Judge Rita Coyne Federman, who has served on the U.S. District Court’s central district of California since 2004, was appointed as a San Luis Obispo Superior Court judge Thursday by Gov. Jerry Brown.

Federman, 50, fills a vacancy created when Judge Teresa Estrada-Mullaney retired last January. Federman, a Democrat, will earn $178,789 annually, according to a news release.

She currently serves on the board of directors for the San Luis Obispo Legal Alternatives Corp., where she has been a member since 2004.

She previously served as a judicial staff attorney and a judge pro tempore at the San Luis Obispo Superior Court from 1999 to 2004; a judicial staff attorney for the U.S. District Court’s central district from 1991 to 1999; and an associate attorney at Shearer Lanctot Walsh and Knorp from 1989 to 1990.

Federman earned a juris doctorate degree from the California Western School of Law and a bachelor’s degree from Boston College.