Bryant Y Yang (born 1981/1982) is an American state court judge who serves as a judge of the

Los Angeles County Superior Court The Superior Court of Los Angeles County is the California Superior Courts of California, Superior Court located in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County. It is the largest single unified trial court in the United States. The Sup ...

Early life

Yang was born in Burma and immigrated with his parents to the United States in 1987. He grew up in a

working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

household, where his father worked as a stock person and his mother worked as a cashier at the

National Dollar Stores National Dollar Stores, Ltd. (Chinese: 中興公司, often romanized as Chung Hing), formerly known as China Toggery and Sang Lee Dry Goods, was a Chinese Americans, Chinese American-owned dry goods store chain that operated primarily in the wester ...

. His father died when he was a teenager.

Education

Yang graduated with High Honor earning a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in 2004 and

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

in 2007 from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

Career

Yang worked as an associate at

Morrison & Foerster Morrison & Foerster LLP (also known as MoFo) is an American multinational law firm headquartered in San Francisco, California, with 17 offices located throughout the United States, Asia, and Europe. History In 1883, Alexander Francis Morrison ...

LLP from 2007 to 2010. In 2010, Yang served as Special Prosecutor at the

Burbank Burbank may refer to: Places Australia * Burbank, Queensland, a suburb in Brisbane United States * Burbank, California, a city in Los Angeles County * Burbank, Santa Clara County, California, a census-designated place * Burbank, Illinois, ...

City Attorney's Office and as Special Counsel at the Glendale City Attorney's Office. In 2012, Yang was the deputy director for Voter Protection for

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

for Organizing for America. Yang was an Associate at

Irell & Manella Irell & Manella LLP is an American law firm founded in 1941 by lawyers Lawrence E. Irell (1912–2000) and Arthur Manella (1917–1997). It has approximately 70 lawyers (down from a high of over 220), and placed 183rd on The American Lawyer's 20 ...

LLP from 2012 to 2016. He has been a Lecturer and adjunct professor at

Harvey Mudd College Harvey Mudd College (HMC) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California, focused on science and engineering. It is part of the Claremont Colleges, which share adjoining campus grounds and resources. The college enrolled 902 undergra ...

in 2009, 2015 and 2020. Yang was an

Assistant United States Attorney An assistant United States attorney (AUSA) is an official career civil service position in the U.S. Department of Justice composed of lawyers working under the U.S. attorney of each U.S. federal judicial district. They represent the federal gov ...

for the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...

from 2016 - 2020. Yang was the President & Program Director of the Asian Pacific American Advocates - Greater Los Angeles Chapter (2008 - 2011), President, Vice President and Treasurer of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Los Angeles County (2007 - 2016), Chair and Vice-Chair of California State Bar / California Lawyers Association (2012 - 2018), Vice Chair of the Los Angeles County Bar Association State Appellate Judicial Evaluation Committee since 2013 and Chair of the American Bar Association Standing Committee on

Legal Aid Legal aid is the provision of assistance to people who are unable to afford legal representation and access to the court system. Legal aid is regarded as central in providing access to justice by ensuring equality before the law, the right ...

and Indigent Defense since 2016. Governor

Gavin Newsom Gavin Christopher Newsom ( ; born October 10, 1967) is an American politician and businessman serving since 2019 as the 40th governor of California. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served from 2011 to 201 ...

appointed Yang to the Los Angeles Superior Court on November 13, 2020, to replace Yvonne T. Sanchez. He is the vice-chair of the Criminal Justice Section of the

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 2023. Its population is greater than that of 40 individua ...

Bar Association. Yang is the first Burmese American judge in the United States.

Personal life

Yang was the president of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association (APABA) in 2016. He also spent time working with Burmese refugees at the

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

border.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yang, Bryant Y UC Berkeley School of Law alumni Asian-American people in California politics 1980s births Living people Year of birth uncertain People from Los Angeles County, California University of California, Berkeley alumni