First Korean American Elected to Bench in NY

Rebecca Baker, New York Law Journal

November 10, 2016    | 0 Comments 

Judy Kim

An attorney for the New York Liquidation Bureau has become the first Korean-American to be elected to the bench in New York state, according to two bar groups.

Judy Kim, 45, was elected Tuesday to a Civil Court seat in Manhattan's 4th Municipal District. She currently is associate counsel in the legal division of the Liquidation Bureau, a quasi-state agency that assists the state's Superintendent of Financial Services as receiver of insolvent insurance companies.

"Being the 'first,' I feel a tremendous responsibility to be the best judge I can be, because I know that I will be serving as a role model to many younger attorneys in the Korean American community," she said in an email. "I hope that my election serves as an inspiration to other attorneys like me."

Kim is vice-chair of the Korean American League for Civic Action and a board member of Judges and Lawyers Breast Cancer Alert (JALBCA). She has held leadership positions with the Asian American Bar Association of New York and the Korean American Lawyers Association of Greater New York.

"With her historic and courageous achievement, she has and will continue to pave important paths for generations of Korean and Asian Americans," Bridgette Ahn, president of the Korean American bar group, said in a statement.

Asian American bar president Susan Shin issued a statement saying Kim's election "brings us one step closer to a bench that reflects the diversity of New York City."

Prior to joining the Liquidation Bureau, Kim was an associate at Manhattan litigation firms Snitow Kanfer & Holtzer and Kennedy Lillis Schmidt & English. She has a J.D. from the Tulane University School of Law.