On April 5, 2021, James R. Cho joined the Eastern District of New York bench as a federal Magistrate Judge. He is the first Korean American to serve as a federal judge in the Eastern District. Prior to his appointment, Judge Cho served as an Assistant United States Attorney (“AUSA”) in the Civil Division of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. During his more than 12 years at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Judge Cho litigated both affirmative and defensive cases across a wide subject area. He tried numerous cases and regularly represented the United States in appellate cases before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. While at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, he held the position of Chief of Bankruptcy and Immigration Litigation. Judge Cho also served as the Civil Division’s training coordinator, where he was responsible for AUSA training, and on the Office’s hiring committee. Before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Judge Cho worked in private practice with Seyfarth Shaw LLP where he litigated labor and employment matters, in its Chicago and New York offices.

Judge Cho previously taught courses in government civil litigation as an adjunct professor at New York University Law School and Brooklyn Law School. He also served as president of the Korean American Lawyers Association of Greater New York and the Asian American Bar Association of New York.

Judge Cho graduated with high honors from the University of Michigan and cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School.