On Friday, December 17, 2021, the Senate confirmed Jinsook Ohta as a United States District Judge for the Southern District of California. Judge Ohta fills the seat previously vacated by the Hon. Barry Ted Moskowitz’s move to senior status.
Judge Ohta earned a bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, from Yale University in 1998 and a J.D. from the New York University School of Law in 2001.
Following graduation, Judge Ohta served as a law clerk for Judge Moskowitz here in the Southern District. Following her clerkship, she worked as an associate at O’Melveny & Myers as well as Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton.
Judge Ohta then left private practice and worked as a visiting assistant professor of law at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego. Following that, Judge Ohta returned to the Court, again clerking for Judge Moskowitz for another year.
Judge Ohta spent most of her career in the Consumer Protection section of the California Attorney General’s Office, first as a Deputy Attorney General and then as a Supervising Deputy Attorney General. Judge Ohta served as a lead attorney on several multi-state investigations and high-profile cases, such as an action against a pharmaceutical company for misrepresenting the risk of medical implants and a case against a telecommunications company for violating federal and state Do-Not-Call laws.
In December 2020, Judge Ohta was appointed to be a judge of the Superior Court of San Diego County, where she presided over a variety of matters.
Judge Ohta is the first Asian American woman to serve as an Article III judge in the Southern District of California.
The FBA welcomes Judge Ohta to the Southern District. We are lucky to have her!