Los Angeles – Today, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved Debra Wong Yang to the Los Angeles Police Commission. Commissioner Yang will assume her post immediately and attend her first Police Commission meeting next Tuesday, September 29, 2009. She will be joining Police Commission President John W. Mack, Vice President Andrea Sheridan Ordin, Commissioner Robert M. Saltzman, and Commissioner Alan J. Skobin.

“We are very excited that Debra Wong Yang will be joining us,' stated Police Commission President John W. Mack. “She brings with her a wealth of expertise, experience and enthusiasm, and she is committed to our civilian oversight role at the Los Angeles Police Department.”

Commissioner Yang is a partner in Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher's Los Angeles office.  She is Co-Chair of the firm's Crisis Management Practice Group and the White Collar Defense and Investigations Practice Group.

Commissioner Yang previously served as the United States Attorney for the Central District of California. She was appointed in May 2002 by President George W. Bush, who made her the first Asian-American woman to serve as a United States Attorney.

Prior to being appointed United States Attorney, Commissioner Yang was a California state judge. She was appointed to the Los Angeles Municipal Court in 1997 and became a member of the Los Angeles Superior Court bench in 2000. As a judge, Commissioner Yang acted as the Supervising Judge for the Hollywood Courthouse.

Prior to government service, Commissioner Yang was in private practice at law firms in Los Angeles and Chicago. Her practice focused primarily on commercial litigation and pharmaceutical defense.

Commissioner Yang has been an adjunct professor at the USC School of Law, where she taught trial advocacy. She has also been an instructor at the National Institute of Trial Advocacy and an instructor at California's Judicial College.

Commissioner Yang previously served as President of The Chinese American Museum in Los Angeles, where she played an instrumental role in the creation of this new landmark for Southern California. Commissioner Yang was a founding member and officer of the first Asian American Bar Association in Chicago, and she has been an officer and board member of the Southern California Chinese Lawyer Association. In 2002, both the Inglewood Courts and the Los Angeles City Council honored her for her long-standing commitment to victim's rights. The Asian Pacific Bar Association has selected her as the 2002 recipient of their Public Service Award. The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association selected her as the 2003 recipient of the Trailblazers award and in 2007, the Women's Leadership Award. In 2004, she was appointed to the President's Council for Pitzer College of the Claremont Colleges and was given their inaugural Distinguished Alumni Award. She was also recognized by the Inglewood Court as a champion of civil rights.

Commissioner Yang received her Juris Doctorate in 1985 from Boston College Law School and served as a law clerk to the Honorable Ronald S.W. Lew in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. 

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Tami Catania
Public Information Director
Los Angeles Police Commission
150 North Los Angeles Street, #150
Los Angeles, CA 90012
213 473-6390 direct
213 485-3531
213 847-9944 fax

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Photo Credit: Reed Saxon / Associated Press