Diana M. Kwok appointed as U.S. magistrate judge for Central California district
District represents nearly half the population of California
– The United States District Court for the Central District of California appointed Diana M. Kwok as a United States Magistrate Judge. Judge Kwok was sworn in on March 23 and will preside over matters in Los Angeles in the court’s Western Division. She succeeds former Magistrate Judge Jean P. Rosenbluth.
Before her appointment, Judge Kwok worked as a commercial litigator and white-collar defense attorney, most recently at McKool Smith from 2025 to 2026, and previously at Sidley Austin LLP from 2021 to 2023, serving both individual and corporate clients in complex commercial litigation disputes and regulatory and criminal investigations. During her time at Sidley Austin, she played an active role in the firm’s pro bono matters, which included joining the court’s Criminal Justice Act panel as a panel attorney.
Earlier in her career, Judge Kwok served as an Assistant United States Attorney for nearly a decade in Los Angeles, working in the office’s Environmental and Community Safety Crimes Section and supervising new prosecutors as a deputy chief in the office’s General Crimes Section. She also served as a staff attorney at the United States Security and Exchange Commission in Los Angeles, where she investigated publicly traded companies and individuals believed to have committed fraud on investors.
Judge Kwok taught legal writing to Master of Laws students at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, worked as an associate attorney at Manatt, Phelps, and Phillips, LLP in Los Angeles, and served as a law clerk to both the Honorable Percy Anderson and the late Honorable Ronald S.W. Lew of the Central District court.
She has served as a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association Outstanding Jurist Committee, Asian Americans Advancing Justice Organization, California State Bar Litigation Section Federal Courts Committee, and the court’s Conviction and Sentence Alternatives program. She also served as co-chair of the United States Attorney’s Office Diversity Committee, and as president, president-elect, executive vice president, vice president, treasurer, and secretary of the Southern California Chinese Lawyers’ Association.
Judge Kwok earned a bachelor of science degree in biology from California State University, Los Angeles, in 2001, and a juris doctor degree from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law in 2006. She is a Stein Scholar and a LeBouf Constitutional Scholar.
With Judge Kwok’s appointment, the Central District of California has 24 full-time magistrate judge positions. The district comprises the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo, and serves more than 19.3 million people, nearly half the population of California.
