Hon. Ronald S.W. Lew was appointed to the federal bench in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in 1987 by President Ronald Reagan. He is the first Chinese-American appointed as a U.S. District Judge in the continental United States.

Judge Lew was born in Los Angeles, California, the third of nine children. His father was a Chinese launderer who immigrated from Guangdong Province and operated the Mandarin Laundry in downtown Los Angeles. He worked his way through school in his father’s laundry business.

Prior to his elevation to the federal bench, he served as Judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court, and before that as a Judge of the Los Angeles Municipal Court. He served on the Los Angeles Fire and Police Pension Commission from 1976-1982.

Always active in 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 was appointed by Chief Judge Rehnquist to be on the Committee on International Relations of the United States Judicial Conference. He is also a board member of the Federal Judges Association and a member of the Federal Circuit Bar Association Judges Committee.

He earned his bachelor’s degree from Loyola University of Los Angeles,
and his law degree from Southwestern University School of law in 1971. He served as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army.

Friday Luncheon : Senator Barbara Boxer

On Friday, June 24, the guest speaker will be Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA). Senator Boxer will address current legislative activity related to intellectual property law. Senator Boxer was first elected to the U.S. Senate, representing the state of California, in 1992. She was re-elected in 1998 and 2004. She sits on several Senate committees, including the environment and public works, foreign relations, and commerce committees. She is the author of the book, Strangers in the Senate: Politics and the New Revolution of Women in America (Washington, D.C.: National Press Books, 1994). Prior to the U.S. Senate, she served 10 years in the U.S. House of Representatives. From 1976-1982 she was a member of the Board of Supervisors for Marin County. Senator Boxer earned her B.A. from Brooklyn College in 1962, and served as a stockbroker, a newspaper editor, and a congressional aide prior to entering politics.

Intellectual property law is a complex practice area requiring a broad array of skills. The Practical Tips program is designed to enhance these skills and enable IP practitioners to handle the many tasks that routinely arise in this increasingly important area of practice. Unlike programs that deal principally with cutting-edge issues and recent court decisions, the Practical Tips program features top professionals from the IP field who provide practical advice on dealing with the “nuts and bolts” of every day IP practice.

This particular Practical Tips program focuses on the enforcement and defense of patents in court. The program will feature patent litigation attorneys and cover a wide variety of subjects including: proceedings before the USPTO, pre-litigation matters, discovery, and pre-trial, trial and post-trial matters.

Learn more: www.abanet.org/intelprop/2005ptips_sf