Alumni Profile: The Honorable Le Jacqueline Duong '94
Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Le Jacqueline Duong knows she had a lot of help along the way as she made her journey from being the child of destitute immigrant parents to becoming the first Vietnamese-American woman appointed to the bench in Northern California. That's why the 1994 UC Davis School of Law graduate feels it's so important to volunteer at King Hall and in the South Bay, which she currently calls home.
"It goes to the heart of who I am," she said. "What drives me is a desire to give back to my community through service work, because I feel the community and this country have given so much to me."
Born in Vietnam, Judge Duong immigrated to the United States with her family in 1975. They arrived in Pennsylvania with no money or resources, but the local Catholic community provided them with a home to live in and allowed her to attend Catholic school free of charge. Although they encountered incidents of discrimination, Duong said that what she and her family will always remember are the many acts of kindness they encountered.
"When we first arrived, we basically had nothing," said Duong. "We survived through the charity and generosity of a lot of people, and you don't forget those things."
A few years later, when her father found it difficult to adjust to the cold weather on the East Coast, the family moved to San Jose, California. Duong attended public schools in an East San Jose district with a high percentage of immigrant and at-risk students, yet managed to realize her dreams of higher education. She went on to graduate Magna Cum Laude from San Jose State University in 1991, gained admission to UC Davis School of Law, and earned her JD degree in 1994. She began her legal career in private practice at the Law Office of J. Thomas Sherrod, then worked for the Santa Clara County Office of the Public Defender for three and one-half years before joining the Santa Clara County Counsel's Office in 1999, where she remained until her appointment to the Superior Court bench in 2007-a first for a woman of her ethnicity.
Duong remains profoundly grateful to UC Davis School of Law and others who helped her along the way. She has returned to King Hall several times as a volunteer, speaking to students at the Asian Pacific Islander (API) Week Celebration for the past two years and also as the keynote speaker at Discover Law, an event designed to encourage racially and ethnically diverse students to explore career opportunities in law, held at King Hall on May 4.
"UC Davis gave me a chance to have a career in law," she said. "That's why whenever there is anything UC Davis needs me to do, I am glad to be there, especially when it's an event like Discover Law, where they're reaching out to community college and state university students. Dean Kevin Johnson has been wonderful on that kind of outreach, and I want to support him, because I came from that kind of background myself."
Judge Duong's volunteer work has included service with the Vietnamese American Bar Association of Northern California, the Asian Law Alliance Board of Directors, and numerous boards and commissions. She has received many honors, including the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi Distinguished Alumni Award (2009), the National Conference of Vietnamese American Attorneys Trailblazer Award (2008), the Vietnamese American Bar Association of Northern California Trailblazer Award (2007), the Asian Law Alliance Legal Impact Award (2008), the Santa Clara County Bar Association MAC Unsung Heroes Award (2007), and many others.
Despite her busy schedule, Judge Duong continues to make time to speak to students at King Hall and in the public schools of East San Jose. "I speak to them about working hard and staying on the right track, trying to motivate and inspire them," she said. "The message is that you can pursue your dreams, whatever they might be. Work hard, and it can happen."