Jacqueline H. Nguyen

Judge Nguyen was confirmed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on May 7, 2012. She received her commission on May 14, 2012, becoming the first Asian American woman to serve on a federal court of appeals. Prior to her confirmation to the Ninth Circuit, Judge Nguyen was a district judge on the United States District Court for the Central District of California. She also served previously as a trial judge on the Los Angeles County Superior Court, from 2002 to 2009. Prior to taking the bench, Judge Nguyen spent seven years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, where she was also a Deputy Chief in charge of training new AUSAs. Judge Nguyen began her legal career in private practice.

Judge Nguyen received her A.B. from Occidental College in 1987 and earned her J.D. from UCLA Law School in 1991.

Judge Nguyen has long been actively engaged in the legal community. As a lawyer, she served on various boards including the Women Lawyers’ Association of Los Angeles County, the Southern California Chinese Lawyers’ Association, and the Japanese American Bar Association. She co-founded and served as the President of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association from 1999 to 2000. As a judge, she continues to be engaged in a number of organizations, including the ABA’s Appellate Judges Conference, the Appellate Judges Education Institute, the American Law Institute, and the Federal Judges Association. She also serves on the Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Criminal Rules, the Judicial Council for the Ninth Circuit and a number of committees, including the Ninth Circuit Standing Committee on Federal Public Defenders and the Ninth Circuit Criminal Rules Committee.