Printing: Daily Journal profiles Hon. Jacqueline Nguyen

Daily Journal profiles Hon. Jacqueline Nguyen

February 11, 2004

December 09, 2003

FORMER REFUGEE HELPS IMMIGRANTS UNDERSTAND LAWS
Jurist Fled to U.S. as Child, Strives to Resolve Cultural Issues In and Out of Court

Jacqueline H. Nguyen
Superior Court Judge, Los Angeles
Career highlights: Appointed by Gov. Gray Davis to Los Angeles Superior Court, 2002; deputy chief and assistant U.S. attorney, criminal division, Los Angeles, 1996-2002; associate, Musick, Peeler & Garrett, Los Angeles, 1991-95
Law school: UCLA School of Law, 1991
Age: 38

By Sarah Garvey
Daily Journal Staff Writer
LOS ANGELES - Judge Jacqueline H. Nguyen feels very fortunate to have a career that she’s passionate about.

“I just wake up in the morning and I’m amazed I’ve been given this incredible opportunity,” Nguyen said. She’s equally enthusiastic in describing her former work at the U.S. attorney’s office, where she handled a federal wiretap investigation of a Russian organized-crime ring, and her stint with a private law firm, where she immersed herself in legal research and writing and received training from talented attorneys.

Nguyen began her judicial career in 2002 at the Metropolitan Courthouse, where she presided over a trial court. After eight weeks, she moved to Alhambra and assumed a double misdemeanor and felony-arraignment calendar, resulting from the closure of two Monrovia courtrooms. On any given day, she would handle 85 to 120 cases, she said. “You had to get past that learning curve pretty quickly,” she said. After nine months, Nguyen eased back into a single misdemeanor and felony-arraignment calendar, which she has today.

Nguyen demonstrated “grace under pressure,” said Louise B. Gulartie, who was an alternate public defender in Nguyen’s courtroom during the hectic double-calendar months. “She was learning how to be a judge, confronting a horrendous calendar and learning how to work with staff,” Gulartie said. “She really did it well.” Gulartie said that Nguyen evidences a “profound respect for the rights of individual defendants” and is willing to recognize the distinction between people who commit crimes just to commit them and people who do so because of an underlying problem. One case, for example, involved a woman arrested twice for petty theft. Because the woman had never been in trouble before and was considered very responsible by her husband, Gulartie looked into what had motivated the thefts. When she learned that the defendant’s mother had died within six months of the thefts, Gulartie surmised that her criminal activity derived from her inability to cope with that death. Gulartie explained the situation to Nguyen, who agreed that grief-management counseling was more appropriate than straight county jail time, Gulartie said.

Deputy District Attorney John M. Niedermann said that Nguyen is “very good at listening to both sides of an argument” and, when necessary, “more than happy to do the footwork and research” to come to an appropriate legal conclusion. She’s a “horse with multiple gallops,” he added, because she adjusts her pace according to the cases at hand. Rather than being always quick or always methodical in calendar management, Nguyen keeps everything going at a “good clip,” but slows down when an issue arises to ensure that things get done correctly, according to Niedermann.

“She’s definitely a quick study,” Deputy District Attorney Rachael A. Greene said. “It’s refreshing that she’s able to be a very down-to-earth person on the bench but still be decisive,” Greene added. “She doesn’t waffle. … Because she has such a clear understanding of things like the Evidence Code, she’s often correct and right on the money.”

Deputy District Attorney Bobby C. Chen, a prosecutor in Nguyen’s courtroom when she had the double calendar, called Nguyen “very, very professional and polite.” He also said that she’s “easygoing” and “if you’re like a minute late, she’s not going to jump all over you.” “At no point do you ever feel uncomfortable in her courtroom,” he said. Nguyen’s good at fostering communication between lawyers, Chen added. “She got us into chambers to talk about the case and find out what the issue is,” he said.

Emma A. La Crue, a deputy public defender, agrees that Nguyen sets the tone for a “very friendly courtroom.” Nguyen has a strong knowledge of the law, La Crue added, and generally defers to the plea and restitution agreements she works out with the prosecutor. In the case of a hearing, Nguyen allows both sides to be heard and present case law, La Crue said. “She’s not pompous or arrogant in any way,” La Crue added.

Nguyen came to the United States as a 10 year old, by way of a 1975 airlift out of South Vietnam. “I was conscious that we were fleeing,” Nguyen recalled, “but [as a child] didn’t fully appreciate the danger we were in.” Her biggest fear, she said, was that she would be separated from her parents and five siblings. The Nguyen family spent a few months in a Camp Pendleton refugee camp and then settled in the La Crescenta area of Los Angeles. Nguyen’s father, who had been a major in the South Vietnamese army, secured a day job as a gasoline-station attendant and a night job as a computer troubleshooter for a local bank. Her mother tried to get a job at a car dealership but was unable to do so because of her limited English skills. Instead, she became a dental assistant. During the evenings, she returned to the same dental offices to do janitorial work. The couple eventually went into the doughnut business. They started out as franchise operators of various Winchell’s Donuts and later owned their own shops. Just last year, Nguyen’s mother sold the last doughnut shop, which was at Victory Boulevard and Vineland Avenue in North Hollywood.

After school and during college summers, Nguyen helped her mother - who went to work at 4:30 a.m. - in the doughnut shop. Nguyen used the time to talk to her mother about her perspectives and experiences. “We are still close today,” Nguyen said of her relationship with her mother. “I attribute that to the years at the doughnut shop.” When she wasn’t arranging crullers and crème-filleds, the young Nguyen was avidly reading books. After getting her first library card in fifth grade, Nguyen said that she “checked out books and just read and read and read.” Her love of literature led her to major in English at Occidental College, where she received a four-year scholarship and edited the school’s literary magazine. She fell in love with the works of William Faulkner one year, she said, and with the dramas of William Shakespeare another year. Faulkner’s “The Sound and the Fury” is still one of Nguyen’s favorite books. She continues to read fiction that explores the dynamics of human relationships, such as Amy Tan’s “The Joy Luck Club” and Jhumpa Lahiri’s “Interpreter of Maladies.”

After college, Nguyen went to the UCLA School of Law. Her journey there was partially accidental. She took the Law School Admission Test and, thinking that she might pursue business school or a graduate program in English, the Graduate Record Exam. She scored higher on the LSAT. “I loved law school,” she said. “I really enjoyed it.” Her favorite class was constitutional law, and she developed an appreciation for the “ability [of the law] to shape society.”

While in her first year of law school, through her Thursday night volunteer work at the Asian Pacific American Bar Association’s legal clinic, Nguyen also became interested in access-to-justice issues. Even though she was doing simple intake at the clinic, she said, she realized that she was providing a great service to people with immigrant backgrounds and limited language skills. “They were so grateful,” Nguyen said, “and you could see the relief on their faces.” Simply by explaining the intake process, Nguyen was giving clients “tiny glimpses [into] what will happen down the road.”

Because she realizes that the legal system can be enigmatic for the lay person, she makes an effort to demystify it for the defendants that appear before her. She answers defendants’ questions directly, she said, and, where appropriate, attempts to clarify procedures. In a case where she perceives a misunderstanding related to payment of a fine, for example, she might be very detailed in her instructions to a defendant and tell him to “‘go to the clerk’s office, window No. 3, and pay your fee,’” she said. Given that many defendants in her courtroom are immigrant Asian-Americans, Nguyen makes an effort to troubleshoot potential cultural misunderstandings.

Throughout her career, Nguyen has remained active with the Asian Pacific American Bar Association. She’s a founding member of the association and has served as its president and on its board. She’s also been a pro bono attorney for Public Counsel’s children’s rights project, a board member of the Japanese American Bar Association and a co-chair of the Asian Concerns Committee. Currently, Nguyen serves on the board of the Women Lawyers’ Association of Los Angeles.

After law school, Nguyen joined the Los Angeles office of Musick, Peeler & Garrett, where she worked on commercial disputes, intellectual-property and construction-defect cases. She then entered the U.S. attorney’s office, where she worked in the public-corruption and government-fraud section and with the organized-crime strike force.

In addition to the federal wiretap case, Nguyen handled numerous appeals before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and prosecuted the largest commercial smuggling case in the history of the U.S. Customs Service, she said. The defendants in that case were smuggling apparel, luggage and toys into the United States to avoid paying duties. Before taking the bench, Nguyen was promoted to deputy chief for the general-crimes section, where she trained new attorneys.

Nguyen was a “spectacular attorney,” said Eileen M. Decker, deputy chief of the office’s terrorism and organized-crime section. “She really was a superstar in the office.” Decker said that Nguyen got to the core of issues, tackled unpleasant assignments with a smile and managed to critique people without hurting their feelings. Nguyen was “phenomenal” at cross-examination, Decker said. “She has a unique combination of wonderful personality and brilliant mind,” Decker added. In both 1996 and 1997, Nguyen received the special achievement award for sustained superior performance as an assistant U.S. attorney. In 2000, she received the Director’s Award from the Department of Justice for superior performance as an assistant U.S. Attorney.

As a break from her busy legal career, Nguyen enjoys travelling with her husband, Pio S. Kim, an assistant U.S. attorney in the asset-forfeiture section. The couple have traveled throughout Europe and Asia. Now that they have a 4-year old boy and 20-month old girl, however, they spend their free time a bit differently, such as on the beaches of a family-based Club Med in Mexico. “Now we go on kid-friendly vacations,” Nguyen said, adding, with a smile, “to the extent we [vacation] at all.”

Here are some of Judge Nguyen’s recent cases and the lawyers involved:

* People v. Chavez, GA054373 - forgery
For the prosecution: Rachael A. Greene, district attorney’s office
For the defense: Louise B. Gulartie, alternate public-defender’s office

* People v. Contreras, GA052406 - battery
For the prosecution: John M. Niedermann, district attorney’s office
For the defense: Louise B. Gulartie, alternate public-defender’s office

* People v. Urizar, 3AL00915 - vandalism
For the prosecution: Bobbie C. Chen, district attorney’s office
For the defense: Rosario Corona, public-defender’s office

* People v. Michaelis, 3SAO1250 - domestic violence
For the prosecution: Bobbie C. Chen, district attorney’s office

For the defense: Brett Michaelis, in pro per

* People v. Chan, 3AL00358 - driving under the influence
For the prosecution: Rachael A. Greene, district attorney’s office
For the defense: Adam M. London, Pasadena