Anne Hwang, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge and former federal public defender, was confirmed Monday to a seat on the Central District of California bench.
Hwang, who was nominated to the bench by President Joe Biden, will preside over matters in downtown Los Angeles in the federal court's Western Division.
Want to get caught up on what's happening in SoCal every weekday afternoon? Click to follow The L.A. Local wherever you get podcasts.
She has served as a Superior Court judge for the county since 2019 following her appointment by then-Gov. Jerry Brown. She has presided over civil and criminal matters, and also served on the court's technology, bail, bench and bar, community outreach, rules, and trial jurors committees.
Prior to her appointment to the state court bench, from 2006 to 2018, Hwang served in multiple roles at the Central District's federal public defender's office. She served as a deputy federal public defender, supervising deputy federal public defender, trial chief in Los Angeles, and chief deputy federal public defender.
In the defender's office, she represented clients charged with a broad range of federal offenses and handled all aspects of representation from pre-trial through appeal and post-conviction matters. She also handled a variety of other federal proceedings, including grand jury investigations, treaty transfer cases, extraditions, and probation and supervised release revocation matters.
Before joining the federal public defender's office, Hwang worked as a litigation associate at Irell & Manella where she had a diverse civil and criminal practice that included business disputes as well as securities and tax fraud criminal cases. She also maintained an active pro bono practice.
Hwang received her bachelor of arts degree from Cornell University in 1997 and her law degree from USC Gould School of Law in 2002.
She fills the vacancy that arose when U.S. District Judge George H. Wu assumed senior status in November 2023.
The Central District of California is comprised of the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo. It serves more than 19.3 million people, nearly half the population of California.
Follow KNX News 97.1 FM
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok