With one phone call from the governor’s office late last month, Paul Lo made history for Hmong Americans.
Lo, an alumnus of UCLA School of Law, was recently appointed to the Merced County Superior Court, becoming the first Hmong American judge to be appointed to any court in the United States.
Lo’s appointment by Gov. Jerry Brown is one that is momentous for the Hmong and Asian American communities in California because of their underrepresentation in the legal profession and the courts, said Karin Wang. Wang is the vice president of communications at Los Angeles’ Asian Americans Advancing Justice coalition. The nonprofit organization provides legal services, advocacy and community education and training for Asian Americans.
“It is both historic and inspirational to have the nation’s first Hmong American judge in California’s Central Valley, which is home to one of the nation’s largest Hmong populations,” Wang said.
Merced currently has the fifth highest Hmong American population in the United States, according to the 2010 U.S. Census.
“(Lo) provides needed diversity for our bench. Our bench is starting to look like the population,” said Judge Brian McCabe of the Merced County Superior Court, who worked with Lo as partners in the same firm.
Lo said his appointment to the superior court is his fulfillment of the American dream. He first immigrated to the United States in 1979 with his family as a refugee of the Vietnam War, when he was 11 years old.
He said they struggled in adjusting to life in the United States upon their arrival, and Lo grew up poor and on welfare.
“My parents came to this country without any education, without any marketable skills,” he said.
But Lo said his American dream began to take shape when his high school history teacher encouraged him to consider becoming an attorney to provide legal support for the developing Hmong American community. Since the Hmong American community in the Central Valley was relatively young, there were not many Hmong American attorneys at the time who could provide legal services with a cultural understanding to Hmong American clients.
“My true passion to go into law was to be an advocate for the Hmong community,” he said.
As an undergraduate at the University of California, Davis, he explored law further before deciding to fully study law at UCLA School of Law.
In 2003, Lo set up his own practice in Merced, where he served many Hmong American clients.
In his 20 years of private practice, Lo was approached several times by colleagues to apply for a judicial position. However, he said he chose not to apply because he felt obligated to remain an activist for the Hmong American community as a private practitioner.
“I just felt that I couldn’t pull away from that responsibility when approached,” Lo said.
But as the number of Hmong American attorneys increased in the area, he said he felt that he could finally leave his private practice, Lo said.
Regardless of his career, Lo said he will continue to invest himself in the Hmong American community, as he does while serving as a board member for Hmong National Development, a national advocacy organization for the Hmong American community.
“I had the pleasure to work with people in their most vulnerable moments,” Lo said. “That has been very gratifying. I think being a judge is an extension of that.”