Rosemary Koo joined the firm as a senior associate, bringing with her a wide range of legal experience. Ms. Koo received her JD from the University of La Verne College of Law on a full scholarship for three years. While in law school, Ms. Koo received the Student Bar Association’s Appellate Advocacy Award for best oral argument, as well as the Am. Jur. and Cali Excellence Awards in Appellate Advocacy. She also received the Delta Theta Phi Leadership and Community Service Award and the Pro Bono Award for community service. Additionally, she served as the Treasurer of the Student Bar as well as Bailiff and Clerk of the Exchequer of the Delta Theta Law Fraternity.
Following graduation, Ms. Koo worked at Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard and Smith LLP, representing public agencies in all phases of litigation, including several appeals, before joining the City Attorney’s Office for the City of Riverside, where she worked for over twelve years. During her time with the City of Riverside, Ms. Koo advised the City Manager’s Office, City Council members, the Mayor’s Office, and the City Clerk’s Office. Additionally, she worked with the Police, Fire, IT, Finance (including the Business Tax Division, Debt, TOT), Parks, Recreation & Community Services, Public Works (including Parking Division), Human Resources, Community and Economic (including Code Enforcement Division), and General Services Departments. In working with those departments, as well as Communications (including marketing and broadcasting), the Library, and the Museum, Ms. Koo provided guidance in transactional and advisory matters, as well as in litigation, criminal, and administrative matters. She also advised a number of boards and commissions for the City of Riverside, such as the Community Police Review Commission, Human Resources Board, the Museum Board, and the City Council’s Public Safety and Finance Subcommittees, and the Housing Authority, to name a few.
While working for the City of Riverside, Ms. Koo provided Brown Act training for the City Council and several boards and commissions covering how to conduct virtual meetings, as the law evolved during the COVID pandemic. Additionally, while advising the City Manager’s Office and the IT department, she was one of the leads for a pilot program that transitioned the city from the use of hard-copy signatures to the acceptance of encrypted and verified electronic signatures, which helped with the smooth transition to digital work during COVID.
In addition, Ms. Koo assisted the office of Riverside’s City Clerk’s Office as it was creating its public records portal when it switched to receiving and responding to records requests electronically. She was happy to be part of streamlining and simplifying transparency efforts. As part of her work with public records, she created a training video on the California Public Records Act for employees, officers, and elected officials to determine how best to handle public record requests.
Joining Jones Mayer, Ms. Koo is excited to work at a firm that is well-established in government practice, as her entire legal career has been dedicated to representing public entities and to public service. She looks forward to being part of the advisory process as public agencies and local governments make decisions.
Ms. Koo has a growing passion for land use, CEQA, and planning law. With the housing issues in California, she sees the ways in which this area of law directly impacts communities. Ultimately, she would like to become a planning expert and be a resource for the planning departments of the cities she advises.
Ms. Koo hopes to extend her service to the community by exploring opportunities to continue mentoring students. While working at the City of Riverside, she participated in high school mentoring programs that paired students with professionals. Throughout her life, she has mentored students around her and shared her experience to help students identify opportunities for education and scholarships, and she would like to continue to guide students to find better career opportunities.
Ms. Koo is a member of the California State Bar and is admitted to practice before all of the courts in the State of California, the United States District Court in the Central and Southern Districts of California, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Ms. Koo served as President of the Asian Pacific American Lawyers of the Inland Empire from 2016-2017 after being a charter member for several years. She has also been a member of several local bar associations as well as local chapters of the Federal Bar Association throughout her legal career.
When not practicing law, she loves attending musicals, symphonies, and the opera. She is also passionate about traveling and discovering new coffee shops and restaurants wherever she may be.
Please join us in welcoming Rosemary Koo to the firm. For more information, call (714) 446-1400.