Senate Confirms Judge Lew for Federal Bench

Judge Ronald Sing Wai Lew, who has served in San Fernando Superior Court for three years, has been named a federal trial judge.

Lew, 45, a Chinese immigrant’s son who paid his way through college and law school by working at his father’s laundry, will assume his new office in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on June 1.

Lew was nominated by Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif) last year. His appointment was confirmed Thursday by the U.S. Senate.

“This process has been very hard, and I am elated that it’s finally over,” Lew said a few hours after he was notified of the appointment. “Now I can get down to the real work of preparing for the transition.”

Lew , who lives in Chatsworth, built a reputation for hard sentences and a moderate courtroom style in almost three years of being a Superior Court judge, according to judges and attorneys. He was chosen by Wilson from a list of a dozen judicial candidates who were all rated “exceptionally well-qualified” by a screening committee.

Lew, a Republican, was appointed by Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. in 1982 to a municipal judgeship in Los Angeles. In 1983, he became the first supervising judge of Municipal Court in San Fernando.

He was appointed in 1984 to Superior Court.