Governor Newsom Appoints Gia Kim as Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge

Deputy Federal Public Defender Gia Kim

Governor Gavin Newsom today announced the appointment of Gia Kim, a Deputy Federal Public Defender with the Federal Public Defender’s Office for the Central District of California, as Los Angeles County Superior Court judge.

Gia Kim, 48, of Los Angeles, has been appointed to serve as a Judge in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. She has served as a Deputy Federal Public Defender at the Federal Public Defender’s Office, Central District of California since 2008, where she worked as a Research and Writing Attorney from 2007 to 2008. She worked at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP as an Associate from 2006 to 2007, at Yale Law School as an Academic Fellow from 2005 to 2006, and for Judge William A. Fletcher at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit as a Law Clerk from 2004 to 2005. Kim earned a Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in English from the University of California, Berkeley. She fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Rolf M. Treu. Kim is a Democrat.

Read the official announcement from the California Governor’s office here.

Judge Kim joins an impressive list of former FPD-CDCA alumni who have become judges, including:

Rudolph Diaz Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge
Michael L. Stern Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge
Drew E. Edwards Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge
Teresa Sanchez-Gordin Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge
Maria E. Stratton Presiding Justice, California Court of Appeal
Dennis J. Landin Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge
John P. Martin Administrative Law Judge
Denise Meyer Administrative Law Judge
Olivia W. Karlin Administrative Law Judge
Jesus G. Bernal United States District Judge
Paul L. Abrams United States Magistrate Judge
Stephen J. Hillman United States Magistrate Judge
Brian Q. Robbins United States Magistrate Judge
Victor B. Kenton United States Magistrate Judge
Oswaldo Parada United States Magistrate Judge
K. Kiya Kato United States District Judge
Alicia Y. Blanco Los Angeles County Commissioner
Steve Cochran Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge
Michael D. Abzug Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge
Georgina Rizk Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge
James R. Dunn Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge
Michael Garcia Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge
Kerry Bensinger Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge
Yolanda Orozco Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge
Elizabeth Macias Orange County Superior Court Judge
Firdaus Dordi Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge
Ashfaq (Ron) Chowdhury Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge
Stephanie Thornton-Harris San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge
Christopher Dybwad Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge
Emily Garcia Uhrig Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge
Mary E. Kelly Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge
Anne Hwang Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge
Pedro Castillo United States Magistrate Judge
Alicia Y. Blanco Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge
Ronald O. Kaye Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge
Margo Rocconi United States Magistrate Judge
Patricia A. Young Los Angeles Superior Court Judge
Gia Kim Los Angeles Superior Court Judge
Brianna Fuller Mircheff United States Magistrate Judge
David Wasserman Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge
Gary Rowe Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge
Michael Weinstein Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge