In a county's petition for a writ of review, challenging the assignment of an ALJ by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to conduct an administrative hearing on their protests against a liquor license application by a resort and casino establishment, the court of appeals finds the Department did not proceed in a manner contrary to law or in excess of its jurisdiction when it directed the ALJ, who is not a judge with the Office of Administrative Hearings, to hear and decide the protests at issue because Bus. & Prof. Code section 24210 authorized the Department to employ its own administrative law judges for the purpose of conducting all hearings under the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act. Furthermore, the ALJ properly denied plaintiff's peremptory challenge and was not required to unilaterally disqualify himself from hearing the matter.