SAN JOSE, California - President Obama today nominated The Honorable Lucy H. Koh to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Judge Koh would become the first Asian Pacific American woman to serve as a federal judge in the Northern District of California and the first Korean American federal district court judge in United States history.

“Judge Koh’s broad legal experience and integrity have earned her tremendous community support,” said Rudy Kim, President of the Asian Pacific Bar Association of Silicon Valley and Intellectual Property Litigation Partner at Morrison & Foerster in Palo Alto. “Her appointment is historic for the Asian American community in Silicon Valley.”

Over the course of her career, Judge Koh has had extensive experience at the highest levels of the legal profession and in areas such as intellectual property, criminal law, and business litigation. Before being appointed to the Superior Court of Santa Clara County by Governor Schwarzenegger, Judge Koh prosecuted violent crime and fraud cases as a federal prosecutor in California, served as an intellectual property litigator in major Silicon Valley law firms, and worked in several positions in the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. Her nomination has received bipartisan and broad community support.

Judge Koh has received strong support from leaders throughout Silicon Valley’s legal community. “Judge Koh’s balanced and careful approach has served our court well,” said Santa Clara County District Attorney Dolores Carr. “I applaud the selection of such a fine and fair jurist to sit on the federal bench.” Santa Clara County Public Defender Mary Greenwood said, “Judge Koh has a well-earned reputation for evenhandedness and integrity.”

Appointed to the Santa Clara County Superior Court by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in January of 2008, Judge Koh previously served as an intellectual property and commercial litigator in Silicon Valley as a partner at McDermott Will and Emery LLP. She litigated the In re Seagate Technology case, in which the Federal Circuit overturned the 24 year old standard for willful patent infringement. “The broad legal experience that Judge Koh would bring to the federal bench is impressive,” stated Mark A. Lemley, a pre-eminent scholar of intellectual property law at Stanford University Law School. “She is a bright legal mind who is extremely well versed in precisely the issues that are most often considered by the Northern District.”

Before joining the private sector, Judge Koh spent many years in public service. She served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Major Frauds Section of the United States Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, and also prosecuted bank robbery, narcotics, and immigration cases. A jury instruction from one of her trials is a Ninth Circuit Model Criminal Jury instruction. She has also served in various capacities in the United States Department of Justice as a Special Assistant to the Deputy Attorney General and Special Counsel in the Office of Legislative Affairs.

An American Story
Judge Koh’s life story epitomizes the American Dream. Her mother escaped North Korea as a child by walking for two weeks to cross the 38th Parallel and arrive in South Korea. Her father fought in the Korean War against the Communists. He later opposed the military dictatorship in South Korea and immigrated to the United States for a better life.

The family worked in and eventually owned a series of small businesses, in which Lucy worked on weekends and holidays. While working at the family’s small business, Judge Koh’s mother earned a Ph.D. in Nutrition from the University of Maryland, then began teaching in Lorman, Mississippi at Alcorn State University – the first African American land grant college in the United States. As young girl, Judge Koh attended predominantly African-American elementary schools in Mississippi before finishing junior and high school in Norman, Oklahoma.

Judge Koh earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard-Radcliffe Colleges and her J.D. degree from Harvard Law School. Judge Koh and her husband have two children and live in Stanford, California.