U.S. Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim, the newest member of the Northern District bench, says she knew she’d enjoy being a judge ever since clerking for U.S. District Judge Spencer Williams in San Jose after graduating from Stanford Law School in 1989. Early in her career, Kim was a litigator at Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati and the now-defunct Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe, before going back to Stanford in 1995 as an administrator. From 1999 until she took the bench last July, she was at GCA Law Partners. She recently spoke with The Recorder about her experience so far on the bench and her approach to settling cases.
Prior to becoming a magistrate judge, you did stints in both private practice and academia. What skills did you pick up in those two worlds that are applicable to what you do now? In my time working at Stanford, I was dean of students, and it was an administrative role. Interestingly enough, I was the client sometimes. It was so fascinating being on the other side of the table and to see how frustrated clients can get and to understand what it is that people really needed in terms of legal advice. I got a better sense of discovery, what it really means to go to an organization and try to get people to cooperate. I think before I worked there I had this idea that the head of company or organization could just issue an order and the people would all fall in line. I realized for the first time that’s not how the world really works, and getting people to cooperate in a meaningful manner takes a lot more effort and trust and skill. I think in a law firm it’s a much more hierarchical environment and people are much more rule-oriented. So when leaders say, “You must do X,” everybody does fall in line. I don’t think most organizations are like that. It was really surprising to me to see how organizations really worked.
