WASHINGTON (Jan. 22, 2010) –The Honorable Young B. Kim was appointed to serve as a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of Illinois on January 21.
Judge Kim’s appointment follows the recent announcement that Donna M. Ryu was appointed to serve as a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of California. Both Kim and Ryu will be the first Korean American federal judges in their respective districts. Kim will also be the first Asian American federal judge of any kind on the Seventh Circuit.
“We are exceptionally proud of Judge Kim and Professor Ryu for their accomplishments, especially given their steadfast commitment to the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities,” said Joseph J. Centeno, president of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. “Both of them will be tremendous magistrate judges and we recognize them as the next generation of role models and leaders in our legal community.”
U.S. Magistrate Judges serve for an eight-year term and are appointed by a majority vote of the federal district judges of each particular court.
In July 2001, Judge Kim accepted an appointment with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as an administrative judge. Judge Kim was previously a federal prosecutor in Chicago, a judicial clerk for Judge Charles Norgle of the Northern District of Illinois, and an Assistant Public Defender.
Judge Kim received his law degree from Loyola University of Chicago School of Law in 1991. He lives in the Chicago area with his wife and their two children.
Since 2002, Donna M. Ryu has served on the faculty of the University of California – HastingsCollege of the Law, as a professor in the Civil Justice Clinic. Before becoming a clinical instructor, Professor Ryu litigated groundbreaking employment discrimination class actions on behalf of plaintiffs, and co-founded an all-women civil rights law firm.
Professor Ryu was recognized as the 12th annual California Lawyer of the Year for Employment Law and received special recognition from the California Employment Lawyers Association for her efforts on behalf of working women and men. Professor Ryu received her law degree from Berkeley Law School and lives in Oakland, California.
“We now have 11 Asian American federal magistrate judges and a total of 23 Asian American federal judges across the country,” said Karen K. Narasaki, president and executive director of theAsian American Justice Center.
“Although Asian Americans are still woefully underrepresented in the federal judiciary, with less than one percent overall, we hope these recent appointments signal a greater recognition of the value of a more diverse judiciary,” she added.
Centeno and Narasaki congratulate both Judge Kim and Professor Ryu upon their appointments.
