Senate Judiciary Committee Approves Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Lucy Koh for U.S. District Court

Press Release

Senate Judiciary Committee Approves Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Lucy Koh for U.S. District Court

U. S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) today praised the Senate Judiciary Committee for approving the nomination of Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Lucy Koh to be a U.S. District Court Judge for the Northern District of California. Senator Boxer recommended Judge Koh to President Obama following a thorough interview and vetting process by the Senator's judicial advisory committee for the Northern District. The committee approved Judge Koh's nomination on a unanimous voice vote. If confirmed by the full Senate, she would make history as the first female Korean-American District Court Judge in the country.

Senator Boxer said, "I am pleased that the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved Lucy Koh's nomination to serve as a federal judge for the Northern District of California. Judge Koh's wide range of experience as a federal prosecutor, a litigator in private practice and a Superior Court Judge will make her an outstanding addition to the federal bench."

Judge Koh currently serves on the Santa Clara County Superior Court, and was nominated by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Before taking her seat on the Santa Clara County Superior Court, she was a litigation partner at McDermott, Will and Emery in Palo Alto representing technology companies in patent, trade secret and commercial civil cases.

She served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California from 1997 to 2000, where she handled financial fraud, narcotics, public corruption and violent crime cases and received a Sustained Superior Performance Award and an award from then-FBI Director Louis Freeh for her prosecution of a $54 million securities fraud case.

Previously, she served as a Special Assistant to the U.S. Deputy Attorney General in Washington, D.C., and as Special Counsel for the U.S. Department of Justice.

Judge Koh got her bachelor's degree from Harvard University in 1990 and her J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1993.

She is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Korean American Bar Association of Northern California and the Board of Governors of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Los Angeles.

Source