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Judge Ronald S.W. Lew was born in Los Angeles, the third of nine children. His father immigrated from Guangdong Province and operated the Mandarin Laundry in downtown Los Angeles. Judge Lew worked his way through school in his father’s laundry business.
Upon graduation from Loyola University, Judge Lew commenced his studies at Southwestern University School of Law. His legal education was interrupted by the draft. After serving as a First Lieutenant in the United States Army, he returned to Southwestern and was admitted to practice law in 1971. He worked as a deputy city attorney for two and a half years before going into the private practice of law.
While in the last year of law school, Judge Lew married Mamie (who was born in Guangdong, China) and started their family. Judge Lew enjoys sharing his free time with his four children and son-in-laws and grandchildren.
Judge Lew has been involved in public service for a number of years. He was appointed by Mayor Tom Bradley to the Los Angeles Fire and Police Pension Commission, on which he served on from 1976 to 1982. In 1982, he was appointed as a judge to the Los Angeles Municipal Court by Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. He was then elevated by Governor George Deukmejian in 1984 to Judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court.
On May 7, 1987, President Ronald Reagan appointed Judge Lew to the federal bench, where he now serves in the Central District of California. He is the first Chinese American appointed as a United States District Judge in the continental United States.
Always active in civic and community affairs, Judge Lew helped to establish the Chinatown Service Center, the Asian Pacific American Bar Association and the Southern California Chinese Lawyers Association. He is involved in a host of civic, community, church and legal activities, and currently sits on the following boards: The Chinese Heart Council; Southwestern School of Law; Friends of the Chinese American Museum; Federal Judges Association; the Federal Circuit Bar Association Judges Committee and the American Inns of Court. He also sits on the Committee on International Judicial Relations of the United States Judicial Conference appointed by Chief Judge Rehnquist.
He has also served on the boards of the Committee of 100, CORO Southern California, and Pepperdine School of Law.
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