Donna Ryu

After graduating law school, Ryu started her legal career as an Associate at the law firm of McCutchen, Doyle, Brown & Enersen in San Francisco, California.[4][5] She worked there until 1988, when she joined the Oakland, California firm of Saperstein, Seligman, Mayeda & Larkin until 1992.[4][1] In 1994, Ryu founded the firm of Ryu, Dickey & Larkin in Oakland.[4][5]

In 1998, Ryu became an Associate Professor and the Associate Director of the Women's Employment Rights Clinic at Golden Gate University School of Law.[4][5] In 2002, Ryu became a Clinical Professor of Law at the University of California Hastings College of the Law, where she supervised and taught students at the Hastings Civil Justice Clinic.[4][5][1] Her clinical coursework at both law schools included instruction on mediation, negotiation and trial techniques, as well as social security disability and employment law.[5]

Ryu was appointed on January 13, 2010, and began her term on March 1, 2010.[1][4] She filled a position left open by then U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard Seeborg, who was nominated by President Barack Obama to serve as a U.S. District Judge.[6]

She has served on various committees of the Northern District of California, including committees on Pro Bono Projects and Local Rules, and the Subcommittee on E-Discovery.[3] Ryu also presides over the Oakland Reentry Court.[3]

Ryu and Judge Kandis Westmore are also currently the only two U.S. magistrate judges serving in the Oakland Division of the Northern District of California.[7]

Among the honors and awards that Ryu has received include a California Lawyer of the Year ("CLAY") Award for Employment Law, the Asian American Bar Association's Joe Morozumi Award for Exceptional Legal Advocacy, the Rutter Award for Excellence in Teaching (presented every year to the top professor at University of California Hastings College of the Law for teaching excellence), and the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association's Trailblazers Award.[3][5][1] She has also been honored by the Hastings Public Interest Law Foundation, the California Employment Lawyers Association, and the Korean American Bar Association of Northern California.[1]

Ryu has also co-designed a national training institute on class action lawsuits, and has written and lectured extensively in the areas of employment law, pretrial practice, e-discovery, ethics & professionalism in lawyering and attorneys' fees, including presentations before the American Bar Association, the National Academy of Arbitrators, the California State Bar, and the Bar Association of San Francisco.[3][1][5]

Ryu is also the first Asian-American woman lawyer, first Korean American, and first lesbian to become a member of the Northern District of California.[5][8]

On December 22, 2022, Ryu held a hearing to determine whether to issue a preliminary injunction that would prevent the city government of San Francisco from forcibly relocating homeless people from the streets. Primarily at issue was the allegation that the city of San Francisco does not have sufficient beds available for the individuals displaced as a result of city sweeps of homeless encampments, which would potentially be in violation of the city of San Francisco's policies as well as the 8th amendment right protecting against cruel and unusual punishment. Also at issue was the claim that the city's practice of seizing homeless people's possessions violates the 4th amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures and the 14th amendment right to due process and fair notice.[9][10][11] Late the following day, December 23, 2022, Ryu granted an emergency temporary injunction that prevents the city from proceeding in most cases with its relocation efforts.[12] This injunction by Judge Donna Ryu has been criticized by the Mayor of San Francisco as preventing law enforcement, and Ryu herself does not live in San Francisco, instead living in Albany where tent encampments are illegal.[13]