Thomas Jay Ryu

Tom was born in Seoul, Korea and immigrated to the United States while he was young.  Adapting quickly to the American lifestyle, he graduated No. 1 in his class with a 4.0 in high school as well as being the Student Body President, co-captain of the football team and tennis team and being given the honor as Prom King in his last year in high school.  Tom attended UCLA on an academic scholarship and majored in Psychology with a Specialization in Business Administration.  Tom then attended Whittier College School of Law on an academic scholarship where he was a member of the Dean’s List, Law Review and Moot Court.

Tom started his legal career working for a boutique 60 attorney firm in Downtown, Los Angeles where he developed his trial and litigation skills.  He then wanted to serve the Korean Community and began his practice in Koreatown in 1994.  During his 25 years of legal experience, he represented major clients including Samsung Electronics, Samsung America, Kia Intertrade, LG Chemical, LG Semicon, LG International, Haitai America, Haitai LCI, Kuk Dong America and Korea Central Daily.  Tom also spent three grueling years defending Erica Kim and Kyung Joon Kim from suits related to the Former President of Korea, Myung Bak Lee concerning the BBK scandal.  Aside from major companies, Tom has represented numerous popular and well-known small businesses in Koreatown.  Tom’s client base reaches into foreign countries such as Korea, China, Japan and France concerning international transactions and complex business litigation.

With extensive experience in jury trials, bench trials, mediations, arbitrations, depositions and negotiation tactics, Tom has obtained superb results for his clients with multi-million dollar jury verdicts, court judgments and settlements. Tom has now expanded his practice by forming a partnership with Joe Weimortz who has brought in over twenty years of criminal law experience both as a Deputy District Attorney and as a Criminal Defense attorney.  In addition, prodigy James Murphy has joined the firm as a junior partner with excellent litigation and appellate lawyering skills.