Profession: Lawyer/Retired Appeals Court Judge
Birthplace: Los Angeles, California
Position: Head of appellate practice at Jones, Day Reavis & Pogue, Los Angeles
As the head of the appellate practice at one of the nation’s first-tier megafirms, Elwood Lui has represented some of the biggest Fortune 500 companies, including General Motors, Northrop, Ingersoll-Rand, Toyota, Isuzu, Fuji Bank. He joined the firm in 1987 after retiring from the California Second District Court of Appeal where he was the first Chinese American Associate Justice. The high regard Lui enjoyed there also gave him the opportunity to serve on the Supreme Court on several occasions as a justice pro tempore.
His parents immigrated to the U.S. from Canton, China in the 1920s and had young Elwood on February 4, 1941. In junior high school, he worked as a gas station attendant. But counting money was more his speed. He received his MBA from UCLA in 1964, then went to law school there in order to enhance his career possibilities. Five years after becoming a lawyer, he was appointed as a municipal court judge (the statutory minimum years of practice for a municipal court judgeship is 5 years). Lui is married to Crystal Jang, an accountant at Worldwide Facilities in Los Angeles. They have two sons—both lawyers.
