Kenly Kiya Kato

Kenly Kiya Kato (born 1972) is a United States magistrate judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California who is a nominee to serve as a United States district judge of the same court. Education Kato is Japanese American; her parents, as children, were among those subjected to internment during World War II. She earned her Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1993. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa, with a major in political science. She received her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1996. Career Kato served as a law clerk for Judge Robert Mitsuhiro Takasugi of the United States District Court for the Central District of California from 1996 to 1997. From 1997 to 2003, she was a deputy federal public defender in the federal public defender's office in Los Angeles. From 2003 to 2004, Kato was an associate at Liner LLP in Los Angeles. From 2004 to 2014, she was a solo practitioner. She primarily represented federal criminal defendants, and also represented clients in civil rights and employment matters. Prior to her appointment as a U.S. magistrate judge, she served on the federal district court's Merit Selection Panel and Standing Committee on Attorney Discipline.