Los Angeles attorney Dolly Gee’s appointment as a U.S. District Court judge was approved today by the Senate and she will become the first Chinese American woman on the federal bench.
Gee is a managing partner in the Los Angeles law firm of Schwartz, Steinsapir, Dohrmann & Sommers LLP, practicing labor and employment litigation.
Gee has worked as a regional coordinator for the Teamsters union, supervising delegate elections, and been an arbitrator for the Kaiser Permanente Independent Arbitration System since 2000.
She received a law degree from UCLA in 1984, where she graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa as an undergraduate in 1981.
Gee is a member of the board of directors of the Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California and a former president of the Southern California Chinese Lawyers Association.
Gee was selected for the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California by a bipartisan advisory committee established by California Democratic Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, then appointed by President Barack Obama. She will serve in Los Angeles.
Gee had been nominated a judgeship in 1999 by then-President Bill Clinton, but the Senate did not act on the nomination.
"As a daughter of Chinese immigrants, she personifies the American dream,” Boxer said.
"She used her position as a prominent attorney in Los Angeles to promote racial tolerance and fight for justice for those who face discrimination.
"I know I speak for many Californians, especially those in the Chinese and Asian American communities, in expressing my pride in Dolly Gee’s historic confirmation as a U.S. District Court judge for the Central District.”
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Photo via the Asian American Justice Center
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