Fil-Am lawyer appointed LA County Superior Court judge

LOS ANGELES – California Governor Gavin Newsom has appointed accomplished Filipino American lawyer Christine Gonong as a judge in the Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Gonong has served as a commissioner for the LA County Superior Court since 2022. She was a member of the State Bar of California Board of Trustees from 2020 to 2022.

She has an extensive appellate experience, having served as a law clerk to Associate Justice Mario R. Ramil of the Hawaii Supreme Court and Circuit Judge Jacqueline H. Nguyen of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Gonong was also a career law clerk for the US District Court for the Central District of California, having served as clerk to Judges S. James Otero, Dale S. Fischer, Otis D. Wright II and Jacqueline H. Nguyen.

She also practiced complex litigation focusing on catastrophic injury at Nguyen Lawyers, ALC. Gonong was named a “Southern California Rising Star” by Super Lawyers Magazine in 2008.

In addition to her law practice, Gonong served as an adjunct faculty at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, where she taught Legal Writing and Advocacy. She also taught Business Law at Los Angeles Valley College.

Fil-Am lawyer Christine Gonong has been appointed by California Governor Gavin Newsom as a judge in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. CONTRIBUTED

She earned her J.D. from University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 2002, where she was bestowed with the Hastings Academic Excellence Award.  She served as a Notes and Managing Editor for the Hastings Law Journal and was awarded with the Raymond L. Ocampo, Jr. Scholarship by the Filipino Bar Association of Northern California.

Gonong received her B.A. in Political Science, graduating magna cum laude, from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where she was awarded with college honors and the Morgan Harris Scholarship Award.

While in law school, she worked for US District Judge Susan Y. Illston and US Magistrate Judge James Larson of the US District Court for the Northern District of California.

Gonong, a democrat, filled the vacancy created by the elevation of Judge Wesley Hsu to the federal bench.

Giving back to the community

Gonong is a former president of the Philippine American Bar Association (PABA) and one of the longest-serving members of the PABA Board of Governors.

The Fil-Am lawyer also served on the Board of Governors of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Los Angeles and was a member of the Asian Jewish Initiative Planning Committee of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

Gonong migrated to the United States when she was 16 years old. She was the first in her family to graduate from an American university. Growing up in the Philippines under Martial Law, she learned at a very young age the value of freedom and fighting for basic human rights.

Like many first-generation immigrants, she strived to overcome adversities and was able to attend college and law school through hard work and the generosity of those who helped her along the way. This deep sense of gratitude continues to inspire her to give back to her community.

Gonong was one of the 18 Superior Court judges recently appointed by Gov. Newsom – one in Contra Costa County; eight in LA County; one in Madera County; one in Marin County; three in Orange County; one in Riverside County; two in San Francisco County and one in Santa Barbara County.

The other newly appointed LA County Superior Court judges were Kelly Boyer, Stephanie Dixon, Anne Kiley, Natalie Nardecchia, Scott Nord, Melanie Ochoa and Stephanie Santoro.

The governor has also announced his nomination of two Court of Appeal Justices: Judge Monique Langhorne Wilson as an associate justice of the First District Court of Appeal, Division One and Aimee Feinberg as an associate justice of the Third District Court of Appeal.