In the past several years, California has seen a slow but steady growth in the number of Korean Americans appointed to judicial positions. In Los Angeles, where KABA is based, two new Korean American judges were appointed in the last twelve months. Both with prosecutor backgrounds, Judges Charles Chung and Alan Honeycutt are the newest Korean American judges in Los Angeles County.

Promoting diversity on the bench is a goal that the Los Angeles Superior Court seems very motivated to achieve.  Recognizing the traditionally and ever more diverse ethnic and racial makeup of Los Angeles County, and to a large extent, California as a whole, the Los Angeles Superior Court has made great efforts to set forth a long-term approach of promoting diversity within the profession and on the bench at its Diversity Summit held in January 2007. KABA’s President-Elect Joanna Kim participated in the summit.

In order to become a judge in California, a person must be a member of the Bar and must have practiced as an attorney for at least ten years.  After that hurdle is passed, a lawyer who wants to be a judge can either run for office or be appointed by the governor to fill a vacancy.  Because of the sheer length of time required for an attorney to become a judge, greater diversity among judges is dependent on broadening the inclusiveness of the legal profession.  While the Los Angeles Superior Court does not control the appointment or election processes, it seeks to encourage more female and minority college students to consider law as a profession and minority and female lawyers to consider pursuing judgeships through various projects.

According to the Los Angeles Superior Court’s 2006 Annual Report:

Los Angeles Superior Court has a greater proportion of judges who are members of minority groups than any other court in California, except Alameda County.

The percentages of Los Angeles Superior Court judges who are Asian/Pacific Islander are close to the proportion in the county’s general population.

About 29.3 percent of the Los Angeles Superior Court judges are women.

In the Los Angeles Superior Court system, more than 600 interpreters help customers in 122 different languages.

Many judges with immigrant backgrounds contributed essays regarding their experiences that span the globe and reflect personal hardship and adversity to the Los Angeles Superior Court’s 2006 Annual Report.  Among them is Judge Tammy Chung Ryu, who shared her story of becoming a judge.

“There were the neighborhood kids in Guam who circled my house one day, shouting ‘Ching, Chang, Chinese, go back to where you came from.’  I also remember a few of the customers at our market [in Oakland] telling us to ‘Go back to China’ or ‘Go back to where you came from.’  Then, while I was attending UCLA Law School, there were several young kids at a bus stop who yelled at me, ‘Go back to your country!’  When I was an attorney, I did not suffer the overt discrimination that some of my fellow Asian-American women lawyers did, such as being mistaken for the court reporter, interpreter or the secretary … Realizing that there was not enough diversity in the legal profession, especially in the courtroom, I decided to apply to become a judge and submitted my application in January of 2002.  A big part of my decision was also stemmed from the Los Angeles riots of 1992, which left most local Korean Americans feeling helpless and wanting to become more empowered. For me, it meant getting more Korean Americans on the bench.  I was keenly aware that in Southern California, which has the largest population of Koreans outside of Korea, there was only one Korean-American judge. As a judge with an immigrant background, there are certain things I emphasize in my courtroom.  First, I make sure that everyone gets his or her name pronounced correctly.”