CAPAJA Past Presidents

Coming together from a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences, our historic leadership is the backbone of CAPAJA.

Hon. Elwood Liu

1981-1982

Justice Elwood Lui served as CAPAJA’s first President in 1981-1982. He currently serves as Administrative Presiding Justice of Division Two of California’s Second District Court of Appeal, to which position he was appointed in November, 2017. His appointment as an Associate Justice of the Second DCA in 2015 was the second time that he was appointed to the appellate court by Governor Jerry Brown, as he was appointed by Governor Brown in his first terms of office to the Los Angeles Municipal Court forty years before in 1975, to the Los Angeles Superior Court in 1980, and to Division Three of the Second District Court of Appeal in 1981. Justice Lui received his law degree from the UCLA School of Law and his MBA from the UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Business Administration. Before his second appointment to Division Two, he was Of Counsel since 2014 at Jones Day, where he had been a partner for over two decades. He was a founding member of the Southern California Chinese Lawyers Association (SCCLA) and he has received many awards for his service to the profession, including the Beacon of Justice Award in 2020, the Los Angeles County Bar Association Outstanding Jurist Award for 2019, the Witkin Medal from the State Bar of California, SCCLA’s Judge Delbert E. Wong Distinguished Service Award, the Judicial Council’s Bernard E. Witkin Amicus Curiae Award, the UCLA Professional Achievement Award, and Alumnus of the Year from UCLA Law School. Justice Lui was born and raised in Los Angeles. He is married to Crystal Lui and has two sons, one of whom, Judge Christophe Lui, now serves on the Los Angeles Superior Court.

Hon. Patricia A.Y. Cowett

1982-1983, 1986-1987 and 1989-1990

When she was appointed to the San Diego Municipal Court by Governor Jerry Brown in 1979, she became the first Chinese-American female judge in the United States. In 1991, Judge Cowett was the second of only two women to serve as the Presiding Judge of the San Diego Municipal Court, where she helped establish the specialized criminal domestic violence court. Judge Cowett was elevated to the San Diego Superior Court upon court consolidation in 1999. She received her law degree from the U.C. Davis School of Law in 1972. Before her appointment to the bench, she worked as a litigation attorney for the San Diego Gas & Electric Company. Judge Cowett previously served as president of the Lawyers Club of San Diego and of the Pan-Asian Lawyers of San Diego. She was also a member of the National Association of Pan Asian Bar Associations and California Women Lawyers. Additionally, Judge Cowett sat on the Lawyers Club Fund for Justice, the Lawyers Club Diverse Women’s Task Force, the San Diego Mayor’s Advisory Board on Women, and the International Outreach Committee for the National Association of Women Judges. She is a recipient of the Trial Judge of the Year Award from the Consumer Attorneys of San Diego in 2008, the Judge of the Year Award from the San Diego County Bar Association in 2006, the Judicial Achievement Award from the California Probation Officers Association in 1997, and the Phenomenal Woman Award from the Ethnic Minority Bar Associations of San Diego County. Judge Cowett retired from the bench in April 2008.

Hon. Kathryn Doi Todd

1983-1984

Appointed to the Los Angeles Municipal Court by Governor Jerry Brown in 1978, she became the first female Asian American judge in the United States. She was elevated to the superior court in 1981, and Governor Gray Davis appointed her to Division Two of the Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, in August 2000. Justice Doi Todd, born and raised in Los Angeles, was interned with her family during World War II. She received her Bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and her law degree from Loyola Law School. Before being appointed to the bench, she practiced civil law in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles. Justice Doi Todd served on several Judicial Council advisory committees, including as a chair of the Appellate Advisory Committee and as a trustee of the California Judges Foundation and the Los Angeles County Law Library. She was a member of the Japanese-American Cultural and Community Center Board of Directors and also co-founded the Japanese American Bar Association (JABA). Justice Doi Todd retired from the bench in January 2013.

Hon. Hiroshi Fujisaki

1984-1985

Judge Hiroshi Fujisaki was appointed by former Governor Jerry Brown to the Los Angeles County Municipal Court in 1977 and elevated to the Superior Court in 1980. Fujisaki retired from the bench in 1997.

Judge Fujisaki attended the University of California, Los Angeles, where he earned both a B.A. and a J.D. After graduating from law school in 1963, he joined the Los Angeles County Public Defender's Office and served as a deputy public defender until 1970. He then worked in private practice and later as a court commissioner.

Judge Fujisaki was born in West Los Angeles and interned at the Manzanar Relocation Center during World War II. He was happily married to his wife Misako for over 64 years, and proud of his children, including his daughter the Honorable Carin Fujisaki who serves on the First District Court of Appeal. He passed away on October 10, 2021, at the age of 85.

Hon. Lilian K. Sing

1985-1986, 1987-1988 and 1993-1994

Judge Sing, who was the first Asian American woman to serve as a judge in Northern California, was appointed in 1981 to the Municipal Court by Governor Jerry Brown and was later appointed to the Superior Court. She received her law degree from U.C. Hastings. Judge Sing helped launch San Francisco’s Drug Court and was a founding member of the Asian American Bar Association, Chinese for Affirmative Action, and the Rape of Nanking Redress Coalition. Among her colleagues, she achieved the distinction of being the only sitting judge who had presided in every Court division. Further, as a result of her commitment to public service and community involvement, Judge Sing received, among many awards, the Outstanding Contribution Award from the San Francisco Commission on the Status of Women in 1982; the Trial Judge of the Year Award from the Trial Lawyers Association in 1989; the Outstanding Jurist Award from the San Francisco Women Lawyers Alliance in 1993; the Profile of Excellence Award from American Broadcasting Communications in 1999; and the Civil Rights 2001 Award from the Organization of Chinese Americans, San Francisco Chapter. After serving as a judge for over three decades in San Francisco, she retired from the bench in September 2015 and now serves as the co-chairwoman of the Comfort Women Justice Coalition.

Hon. David Isamu Doi

1988-1989

Judge Doi was appointed to the Los Angeles Municipal Court by then-Gov. Jerry Brown just before Brown left office in 1983, after joining with other members of the Japanese American Bar Association to encourage the appointment of more judges of Japanese descent.

He became a Superior Court judge through unification in 2000 and retired in 2006 after serving over 23 years on the bench. Judge Doi had recently been sitting in juvenile court in Compton. He previously heard civil cases downtown.

A native Californian—he was born in a World War II relocation camp for Japanese Americans—Doi graduated from Los Angeles High School, where he played football. He earned degrees from what is now California State University, Los Angeles in 1969 and from what is now Loyola Law School in 1973.

He began his career as a deputy public defender, but was in private practice from 1975 until his appointment to the bench. Most of his private experience was as a sole practitioner, with an office in Little Tokyo, although he had a short-lived partnership with his sister, Kathryn Doi Todd, who retired as a justice of the Court of Appeal.

Hon. Vern Nakahara

1991-1992

He was appointed to the Alameda County Municipal Court in 1989 by Governor George Deukmejian and subsequently to the Superior Court in 1995 by Governor Pete Wilson. After serving almost thirty years as a judge, Judge Nakahara retired from the bench in 2018. He received his law degree from U.C. Berkeley. Prior to his appointment to the bench, Judge Nakahara served as a prosecutor for the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office for fourteen years.

Hon. Lillian Y. Lim

1992-1993

Judge Lillian Y. Lim is a retired Judge of the San Diego Superior Court.

She was appointed to the Municipal Court in January 1986 and following her retirement in 2007 continued to serve as a visiting Judge in Courts throughout California until March of 2012. She served on two task forces for the California Chief Justice between 2008 and 2012 where she either settled or tried complex criminal and civil cases. Thereafter she served as a mediator and arbitrator for ADR Services, Inc. As a judge she served on the California Judicial Council’s Access and Fairness Advisory Committee, chairing the subcommittees on Women of Color and on Racial and Ethnic Fairness. She organized the first judicial conference held on tribal lands between California State Judges and American Indian Judges. She organized the Community based Committees that advocated for and successfully secured the establishment of The Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution in both California and Hawaii, first commemorative day named after an Asian American.

She was the first of her extended Filipino family to be born in the United States and a founding member of Asian American Students Association of Brown University, California Asian Pacific American Bar, Pan Asian Lawyers of San Diego and Filipino American Lawyers of San Diego. She currently resides in Hawaii.

Hon. Owen Lee Kwong

1994-1995

Appointed to the Los Angeles Municipal Court in 1989 by Governor George Deukmejian and subsequently elevated to the Superior Court in 1993 by Governor Pete Wilson, Judge Kwong was the first judge to be assigned to the Central Civil Settlement Program of the Los Angeles Superior Court. He also served as the Supervising Judge for the Central Arraignment Courts in the Municipal Court and the East District Juvenile Court in the Superior Court. Prior to his appointment to the bench, Judge Kwong served as a deputy attorney general for the California Department of Justice. He received his J.D. degree from UCLA in 1973. After 26 years on the bench, Judge Kwong retired in April 2015.

Hon. John Nho Trong Nguyen

2002-2003, 2003-2004, 2010-2011

Judge Nguyen served on the Orange County Superior Court from 2000 to 2015, primarily in criminal law courts. As a lawyer, he served as a California Deputy Attorney General.

Before becoming a refugee in the U.S. in 1975, Judge John Nho Trong Nguyen was a member of the House of Representatives of Vietnam. He was elected by his colleagues to serve as an Associate Justice on the Constitutional Special Supreme Court of South Vietnam. Prior to his election to the Congress of Vietnam, he served in the Army of the Republic of Viet Nam as an infantry officer.

Nguyen began his new life in the U.S. as a handyman's helper. Never giving up on his hopes and dreams, while working full time he went to school at night and earned his M.B.A. from California Polytechnic University in Pomona in 1981 and his Juris Doctor from Western State University College of Law in 1988. He passed the Bar that same year.

Hon. Julie Tang

1995-1996 and 2004-2005

She was elected to the San Francisco County Municipal Court in 1990 and subsequently elevated to the Superior Court in 1997 upon court unification. Judge Tang received a master’s degree in counseling education from Stanford University and worked as a counselor for Canada Community College, the San Francisco Unified School District, and the San Francisco County Community College District for six years before receiving her law degree from U.C. Hastings in 1983. Prior to her appointment to the bench, she served as an assistant district attorney for the San Francisco County District Attorney’s Office for eight years. Judge Tang was a member of the Asian American Bar Association, the Trial Lawyers Association, the Bar Association of San Francisco, and the National Judicial College; she also served as vice president of the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee. Judge Tang launched and presided over the Court’s first Domestic Violence Court, and many of the procedures and processes that she developed remain in use today. She was honored as an Outstanding Chinese American by the Women’s Auxiliary of the Chinese Benevolent Association in 2003. She retired from the bench in September 2014, and currently serves as a co-chairwoman of the Comfort Women Justice Coalition.

Hon. Mel Red Recana

1996-1997

Born in the Philippines, Judge Recana was appointed to the Los Angeles Municipal Court in 1981 by Governor Jerry Brown and thereby became the first Filipino-American judge in the country. He has also served as Chair of the Los Angeles County Municipal Court Judges’ Association. Judge Recana took a temporary leave from the Municipal Court to further his education, earning a Masters in Public Administration at Harvard University. To do so, he drafted and successfully sought the passage of the Judges’ Sabbatical Leave Act. In 2000, Judge Recana was elevated to the Superior Court upon court unification. He received his law degree from the University of the East, Manila, in 1964. After practicing law in Manila for a few years, he moved to California, where he was admitted to the bar in 1974. Prior to his appointment to the bench, Judge Recana served as a deputy district attorney for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. In 2015, Judge Recana swore in his son, Judge Julian Recana, who became Los Angeles Superior Court’s 10th Filipino-American judge.

Hon. Ken Kawaichi

1997-1998

He was appointed to the Oakland-Piedmont-Emeryville Municipal Court in 1975 and subsequently elevated to the Alameda County Superior Court in 1980. Judge Kawaichi was honored as Judge of the Year by the Alameda-Contra Costa Trial Lawyers Association and received the Benjamin Aranda III Access to Justice Award from the Judicial Council, the State Bar of California, and the California Judges Association in 2003 for his commitment to equal access to the judicial system. He was a founder of the Asian Law Caucus and helped establish the first Race and Gender Bias Policy for the Alameda County courts, as well as a court-wide policy for improving access for people with disabilities. Judge Kawaichi served on the bench for almost three decades before retiring in 2003. Prior to his appointment to the bench, Judge Kawaichi was a partner at Yonemura, Yasaki & Kawaichi from 1969-1975 and an Assistant Professor at U.C. Berkeley from 1970-1973.

Hon. Tammy Ryu

2005-2006

In 2002, Judge Tammy Chung Ryu became the first Korean-American female judge in the State of California when she was appointed to the Los Angeles Superior Court by then Governor Gray Davis. Since then, Judge Ryu has presided over misdemeanor and felony trials, juvenile delinquency matters, and felony preliminary hearings, and currently presides over felony calendar and trials at the Compton Courthouse. From 1988 until her appointment to the bench, Judge Ryu worked in the Civil Division of the California Attorney General’s Office and was a Supervising Deputy Attorney General in the Health, Education and Welfare Section when she was appointed to the bench.

Judge Ryu was the president of the Korean American Bar Association of Southern California, a founding member of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Los Angeles, and on the Commission of Judicial Nominees Evaluation of the State Bar. Since becoming a judge, Judge Ryu has served on the board of the California Asian Pacific American Judges Association and was its president in 2006.

Judge Ryu is a recipient of the Special Recognition Award by the Asian Pacific American Legal Center in 2002, Centennial Hero by the Korean American Centennial Committee in 2003, the Inaugural Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Award for Judicial Excellence by the California Asia Pacific Islander Joint Legislative Caucus, and the Trailblazer Award from the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association in 2005.

Hon. Russell L. Hom

2006-2007

He was appointed to the bench in 2002 by Governor Gray Davis. After he received his law degree from U.C. Hastings in 1981, Judge Hom joined the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office as a deputy district attorney, then entered into private practice in 1984. Judge Hom served as a Commissioner for the Human Rights and Fair Housing Commission for the City and County of Sacramento. He has also served as the president of the Asian Pacific Bar Association of Sacramento, and as a member of the Sacramento Bar Association, the Criminal Defense Attorneys of Sacramento, the National Asian Pacific Bar Association, and the Court’s Working Group, a subcommittee of the State Bar Diversity Pipeline Committee. Judge Hom currently serves as the Presiding Judge of the Sacramento County Superior Court and is assigned to civil trials, PJ, and civil harassment. According to records dating back to 1961, Judge Hom is the Court’s first Asian-American presiding judge.

Hon. Erica R. Yew

2007-2008

Born and raised in San Jose, California, Judge Yew was appointed to the Santa Clara Superior Court by Governor Gray Davis in October 2001. She is the first Asian-American female judge to serve on Santa Clara County’s bench. Judge Yew received her law degree from U.C. Hastings and began her legal career as an associate at Robinson & Wood. She later joined McCanis, Faulkner & Morgan, where she worked as a partner until her appointment to the bench. Judge Yew served as President of the Asian Pacific Bar Association of the Silicon Valley and as Chairperson for the State of California Commission on Judicial Performance. She has also been a member of the Pro Bono Project of Silicon Valley, the Asian Law Alliance, the Legal Aid Society, and the Silicon Valley Campaign for Legal Services. Further, Judge Yew is the recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the Judicial Council of California, the John W. Gardner Leadership Award from the American Leadership Forum, and the Legal Impact Award from the Asian Law Alliance. She was honored as Outstanding Jurist of the Year by the Santa Clara County Bar Association and Trial Judge of the Year by the Santa Clara County Trial Lawyers Association. As a judge, she chaired her court’s Community Outreach Committee and the Legislative Liaison Committee. Judge Yew established Domestic Violence Information and Resources (DVIR), Santa Clara County’s first county-wide collaborative workshop program serving families dealing with domestic violence. She currently presides over a trial calendar in the Civil Division.

Hon. John Ing

2008-2009

Judge Ing was appointed Judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court in 2007, after serving as a Commissioner in Los Angeles 2000-2007 and in Long Beach from 1997-2000. Previously he was a Juvenile Referee from 1989-1997. As an attorney, we served as a Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney from 1979-1983. He received his B.S. from University of Southern California in 1974 and his J.D. form University of San Francisco in 1977.

Hon. Carrie A. Zepeda

2009-2010

Judge Zepeda is currently assigned to the Family Law Division at the Superior Court of Santa Clara County. She was appointed to the bench by Governor Gray Davis in 2003. She began her legal career as a research attorney for the Superior Court of Santa Clara County in 1990. Two years later, she joined the Office of County Counsel of Santa Clara as deputy county counsel. Judge Zepeda received her bachelor’s degree from Stanford and her law degree from U.C. Hastings.

Hon. Helena R. Gweon

2011-2012

She is currently assigned to criminal assignment calendars at the Superior Court of Sacramento County. Prior to her appointment to the bench in 2006 by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Judge Gweon joined the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office as a deputy district attorney. During her eleven-year tenure there, she helped prosecute sexual assault, child abuse, and domestic violence cases. She also worked briefly as a consultant for Conflict Management, Inc. and then for Business Design Associates. Judge Gweon is a graduate of U.C. Berkeley and Harvard Law.

Hon. Nathan Mihara

2012-2013

Justice Mihara received his B.A. degree from the University of Washington, Seattle, and his J.D. degree from U.C. Hastings. He began his legal career in private civil practice in Menlo Park and later joined the California State Attorney General’s office as a Deputy Attorney General, prosecuting appeals and writs in the criminal division. Justice Mihara was appointed to the Santa Clara County Municipal Court by Governor George Deukmejian in 1985, and he was thereafter elevated to the Superior Court in 1988. Five years later, he was appointed to be an Associate Justice on the California Court of Appeal, Sixth Appellate Division, by Governor Pete Wilson. After serving over three decades as a judicial officer, Justice Mihara retired from the bench in 2020. He is a member of the California Judges Association and the Asian Pacific Bar Association of Silicon Valley. He has also co-chaired the Santa Clara County Bar Association’s Appellate Section and has served as part of its Law Related Education Committee and Minority Access Committee.

Hon. Elaine Lu

2013-2014

Elaine Lu was appointed to the Los Angeles Superior Court in 2007. She currently presides over Department 26, one of the Independent Calendar courts at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse. She was appointed as one of two Assistant Supervising Judges of the civil courts as of January 1, 2021. From 2016 through 2018, Judge Lu was assigned to a non-collections limited civil court, then to one of the personal injury hubs. Prior to her civil assignments, Judge Lu presided over a felony preliminary hearing calendar in the Pasadena courthouse and misdemeanor calendars at the Metropolitan and East Los Angeles Courthouses. Judge Lu has taught seminars for fellow bench officers on such topics as privileges, speedy trial rights, default judgments, judicial demeanor, and new legislation affecting civil courts. As Co-Chair of the L.A. Superior Court’s Power Lunch Committee, Judge Lu helps organize Power Lunches to bring high school students, lawyers, judges, and court staff members together at courthouses throughout the county to discuss career choices and the legal system. Judge Lu also presides over a Teen Court every month, where juvenile offenders are questioned, judged, and sentenced by a jury of Pasadena High School students.

Prior to joining the bench, Judge Lu served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Central District of California where she was assigned to the Major Frauds section, prosecuting white-collar, securities fraud, and bank fraud cases, and then served as Deputy Chief of the General Crimes Section. Earlier in her legal career, Judge Lu served as a law clerk to the Honorable Rudi M. Brewster of the United States District Court in the Southern District of California, and also to the Honorable A. Wallace Tashima of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Judge Lu is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Stanford University.

Hon. Andrew Y.S. Cheng

2014-2015

Judge Cheng was appointed to the San Francisco Superior Court in 2009 by Governor Schwarzenegger. As a lawyer, he worked from 2003-2009 as an Assistant United States Attorney and then Deputy Chief of the Civil Division. This was preceded by service from 1997 as a Deputy City Attorney for the City and County of San Francisco. In his twelve years as a judge, he served four years in criminal assignments, three years in the probate division, three years in civil trials, and two years in complex litigation (his current assignment). He is the first Asian American to be assigned to the complex litigation department of his court.

Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan and grew up in Muncie, Indiana, he is the son of Chinese immigrants. Judge Cheng graduated from Columbia University in 1989 and Yale Law School in 1992, clerked for a federal district court judge, and practiced at law firms for three years. In 2018, he ran successfully in a contested judicial election and won by 28 percentage points.

Judge Cheng has taught at University of California Berkeley School of Law, University of California Hastings School of Law, Stanford Law School, and the National Institute of Trial Advocacy.

Hon. Howard L. Halm

2015-2016

He was appointed to the bench by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2009. A graduate of UCLA and the University of San Diego School of Law, Judge Halm joined the California Department of Justice’s Office of the Attorney General as a deputy attorney general. He served in their Tort and Condemnation Section for six years, then entered private practice as a civil trial lawyer with an emphasis on toxic tort/asbestos, legal malpractice, business, and complex personal injury cases until his appointment to the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Judge Halm retired from the bench in August 2018. He has served as the president of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Los Angeles, and the Korean American Bar Association of Los Angeles. Judge Halm has also been honored as Judge of the Year by numerous bar associations.

Hon. Kirk Nakamura

2016-2017

A well-respected jurist, Judge Nakamura was appointed to the Orange County Superior Court in 2001 by Governor Gray Davis. He recently completed his term as the Court's Presiding Judge. Prior to his appointment, Judge Nakamura served as a partner at Beam, DiCaro and its successor firms. Judge Nakamura has over 20 years of experience in all aspects of complex civil litigation. He handled complex multiple party construction cases, insurance coverage and bad faith litigation. Judge Nakamura earned his undergraduate degree at the University of California at Irvine and his Juris Doctor at Duke University School of Law.

Hon. Richard Sueyoshi

2017-2018

Judge Richard K. Sueyoshi was appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in September 2009. Judge Sueyoshi is currently the Supervising Judge for the Civil Division of his court. He presides over a Complex Civil Case Management Department and a general trial department, hearing both civil and criminal cases. Judge Sueyoshi previously presided over civil writ of mandate and CEQA cases and served in the court’s high-volume criminal felony and misdemeanor “home courts.” Judge Sueyoshi is a Past President of CAPAJA. Before joining the bench, as an attorney, Judge Sueyoshi was an officer and board member for the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. He is a Past President of the Asian/Pacific Bar Association of Sacramento and former board member of the Sacramento Asian/Pacific Chamber of Commerce (SACC) and the SACC Scholarship Foundation.

Hon. Teresa Magno

2018-2019

In 2014, Judge Magno was elected to the Los Angeles Superior Court, and became not only the first Filipino American to be elected to the bench but also the first Filipino American to successfully run in a Los Angeles county wide race. Prior to being elected, she served as a Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney for 15 years. As a deputy district attorney, she served in several elite units including the Hardcore Gang Division, where she prosecuted exclusively gang homicide cases. She has a criminal law assignment and is assigned to the Compton Courthouse. Judge Magno received her bachelor’s and Juris Doctorate degrees from UCLA.

Hon. Roberta Hayashi

2019-2020

Roberta S. Hayashi previously served as CAPAJA's President (2019-2020) and Treasurer. She is currently assigned to Civil Trials. Her prior assignments were in Family and Criminal Misdemeanors. Before her appointment to the bench by Gov. Jerry Brown in December 2014, Roberta was a business and employment law litigation attorney in Silicon Valley for 32 years. She is a past President of the Santa Clara County Bar Association and the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley. She obtained her undergraduate degree from Stanford University (1979) and her law degree from U.C. Davis Law School (1982), where she was Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review. She is a third-generation Japanese-American who was born and raised in Santa Clara County.

Hon. Holly Fujie

2020-2021

Judge Holly J. Fujie was appointed to the Los Angeles Superior Court in 2011 by Governor Jerry Brown and sits in an Independent Calendar Civil Courtroom in the Mosk Courthouse in L.A. She serves as Chair of the LASC Community Outreach Committee, and as a member of Governor Newsom's Judicial Selection Advisory Committee for Los Angeles County and Senator Dianne Feinstein's Judicial Selection Advisory Committee for the Central District of California. Judge Fujie received both her A.B. and her J.D. degrees from U.C. Berkeley. In 2008-2009, she was the first Asian to be elected President of the State Bar of California. She sits on the Boards of Asian Pacific American Women Lawyers Alliance, the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles and California Continuing Education of the Bar, as well as on the Advisory Boards of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association and the Japanese American Bar Association, and is a Senior Advisor to the Multicultural Bar Association of Los Angeles County. Judge Fujie is married to Lee Cotugno, and has two grown children, Sabrina and Thomas.

Hon. Audra Ibarra

2021-2022

Judge Audra Ibarra is the first Filipino American judge on the Santa Clara County Superior Court and the first female Filipino American trial court judge in the Bay Area. Before appointment, she was counsel at the firm California Appellate Law Group in San Francisco. She was a supervising Assistant U.S. Attorney and Deputy Chief of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of California, and an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of California. She was a litigator at Pillsbury Madison & Sutro in San Francisco, and a Deputy District Attorney at the Solano County District Attorney’s Office. Judge Ibarra serves on the Criminal Law Advisory Committee of the California Judicial Council, the advisory board of Continuing Education of the Bar, and the Executive Committee of the California Bench-Bar Coalition. She served as a member of the Judicial Council, as well as the Committee on Appellate Courts for both the State Bar of California and the California Lawyers Association. Judge Ibarra co-writes the book California Objections Civil and Criminal, which is distributed by James Publishing and currently in its 17th edition, with Judge Gregory H. Ward (ret.). She was certified as an appellate specialist by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization. She earned a J.D. from New York University School of Law and a B.A. from the University of California at Berkley.