JUDGE GETS NEW TERM BY DEFAULT.

Byline: Stacy Brown Daily News Staff Writer

Newhall Municipal Court Judge Alan Rosenfield will maintain his seat because nobody filed before a Wednesday deadline to challenge him on the June 2 ballot, an official with the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder's Office said.

``No one filed against him, so he will be here,'' said court secretary Mary Martinez.

Rosenfield, who is known for his no-nonsense style and by-the-book rulings, was named the Newhall court's presiding judge last month, succeeding Judge Floyd Baxter, who had been in that position since 1996.

Court Administrator Earl Bradley said last month that presiding judges are facing a period of significant transformation in the state's trial courts.

With the Lockyer-Isenberg Trial Court Funding Act of 1997 having been enacted, the entire budget and funding process for the courts will be dramatically altered, placing significantly more responsibility on presiding judges, Bradley said.

He said the change in court funding relieves counties of operating costs now assumed by the state.