Asian American Bar Association calls attention
to need for bench diversity

By Elizabeth Daley, Bay City News Service

March 15, 2007

The Asian American Bar Association has joined with public defender Jeff Adachi and District Attorney Kamala Harris to speak out against a lack of Asian American representation on the Superior Court bench throughout the Bay Area, the organization announced yesterday.

"Recent Judicial Council data clearly shows that the Bay Area bench fails to reflect our communities," said David Chiu, President of the Asian American Bar Association.

"Now the judicial applicant pool has been increased, we look forward to seeing the Governor take the next step to select judges that come from our diverse Bay Area communities."

However, according to Sabrina Lockheart, a spokeswoman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, "they are making unfair comparisons because we are only allowed to appoint judges that have been on the state bar for 10 years."

Lockheart said while the bar may be diverse today, judges from minority groups who have 10 years of experience are either not applying for appointments or are scarce.

Still, data from the Judicial Council of California show some Bay Area counties such as Napa, don't have a single judge from a minority group and Caucasian judges outnumber judges from all other ethnic groups combined in every Bay Area county.

"The Governor recognizes bench must reflect diversity and he wants to achieve this goal," said Lockheart.

"The under-representation of Asian Americans on the bench, especially in the Bay Area, is cause for alarm and concern. The Governor's rhetoric on this issue bears scant resemblance to reality," said Vincent Pan, executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action.

"Every day, our local courtrooms - attorneys, plaintiffs, defendants and jurors - reflect our local communities," said Victor Hwang, managing attorney for Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach. "It is critical that our judges also reflect our communities, so that Bay Area residents will have trust and faith that our legal system is fair and just."

Citing progress made by the Governor, Lockheart mentioned the appointment of Sharon Majors Lewis, the first African American woman in history to advise the Governor on judicial appointments.

Lockheart said Lewis "does outreach to ethnic bar associations," and that the Governor's office is "looking at ways to change the online application to encourage diverse applicants to apply."

However according to Patrica Kim, president of the Korean American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area, "There are a number of well-qualified Asian American attorneys who have submitted their names to be considered for judicial appointment. At present, there are no Korean American judges in the Bay Area."

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