Hon. Jackson Lucky (Ret.) joined JAMS in 2021 following 13 years as a judge with the Riverside County Superior Court. During that time, he presided over thousands of family law and unlimited civil cases. He served as the supervising judge of the family law division for four years, where he developed multiple alternative dispute resolution (ADR) programs, one of which settled 90% of its cases year after year. In his civil assignment, he was a member of the court’s ADR Committee, where he helped develop and participated in multiple settlement programs. He also settled hundreds of family and civil cases.

Judge Lucky is a passionate technologist who has built and programmed computers for decades. His contributions to the computer programming website Stack Overflow put him in the top 11% of over 14 million worldwide users in 2021. Judge Lucky has been an instructor for multiple organizations on virtual ADR. He is sought after to teach lawyers and judges throughout the state of California due to his ability to explain complex legal and technical topics in plain language.

Judge Lucky has been recognized by numerous bar associations for his distinguished service and leadership as a jurist. He was bestowed the Outstanding Jurist Award by the Leo. A. Deegan Inn of Court, named Judicial Officer of the Year by the Riverside County Barristers and jointly awarded the Family Law Legacy Award by the Riverside and San Bernardino bar associations. As the first Korean-American and first AAPI judge in Riverside County, he earned the Trailblazer Award from the Asian Pacific American Lawyers of the Inland Empire. Lawyers have described him as meticulous and well reasoned, but also courteous and approachable. Judge Lucky brings a passion for the law, exhaustive preparation and persistence to his mediation and arbitration practice at JAMS.

Representative Matters

• Business Commercial
• Presided over a variety of contract disputes between municipalities and their contractors
• Heard many cases involving breach of commercial contracts and breach of fiduciary duty, including multimillion-dollar disputes between wholesalers and retailers, commercial equipment rentals and franchisors/franchisees.
• Tried claim between insurance company and electric company on subrogation for bank fire
• Presided over dissolution of partnership cases, including real estate trusts, cannabis dispensaries and commercial enterprises
• Heard commercial breach of contract and fraud action for fraudulent sale of workers’ compensation instruments
• Tried case between hospital and vendor as to hospital’s contractual obligation to hold vendor harmless for personal injury to hospital’s employee
• Cannabis
• Heard dozens of cases involving cannabis nuisance abatement
• Presided over many contract disputes between cannabis business partners
• Employment Law
• Presided over multiple cases alleging violations of California Labor Code wage and hour laws, including PAGA claims, waiting time penalties, failure to pay overtime, meal and rest breaks, and minimum wage claims
• Heard multiple actions alleging failure to make reasonable accommodations based on disabilities
• Settled dispute between physician and medical group alleging millions of dollars of unpaid wages
• Presided over many cases involving discrimination, retaliation, hostile work environments, whistleblowers and wrongful termination
• Heard multiple actions involving employment disputes involving educator plaintiffs against school districts and universities
• Family Law
• Specially assigned settlement judge for hundreds of high-conflict marital dissolution cases during September and October 2020 to clear the COVID-19 backlog
• Fashioned creative settlement solutions for post-dissolution health coverage, parentage determinations and visitation in non-traditional relationships
• Decided matters involving complex community property issues, including third-party transfers and community property, Van Camp/Pereira determinations, derivative shareholder actions of a closely held corporation in a dissolution action and various transmutation issues for real property, business property and financial instruments
• Determined many custody and visitation issues for special-needs children
• Presided over complex issues of child custody jurisdiction, including analysis of the interaction of Qatari law, the UCCJEA and Swedish home state jurisdiction
• Mediated and settled decade-long community property dispute between multi-platinum recording artist and former spouse over royalties for streaming, satellite radio, and other music royalties
• Land Use
• Heard several eminent domain matters during civil law assignment
• Presided over cases involving nuisance abatement issues, including business developments and cannabis dispensaries
• Personal Injury
• Settled personal injury cases, including multi-car auto accidents and alleged spinal injuries
• Conducted trials for motor vehicle accident cases involving catastrophic injuries with multimillion-dollar damages, including pedestrian and bicyclist cases
• Presided over premises liability cases involving municipalities, medical facilities and hotels, including catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases
• Presided over suit against municipality for penal institution’s alleged failure to protect inmates against COVID-19 infection
• Heard multiple medical malpractice cases, including improper use of spinal implants, neonatal brain injury and medical battery for allegedly unnecessary vaginal exam of a child
• Presided over many personal injury cases with minor plaintiffs against school districts, including causes of action for sexual abuse of students by staff and for sexual assault by other students
• Real Property
• Heard several cases involving multimillion-dollar land development contracts
• Presided over several condemnation matters involving real property
• Heard many receivership cases in land development litigation
• Mediated and settled multi-million dollar dispute between municipal airport and its former tenant
• Sexual Abuse
• Heard many cases involving sexual abuse of children by adults and other children
• As a judge, tried several civil and criminal cases involving sexual abuse of minors
• Taught investigation and prosecution of sexual abuse of children for several years for California District Attorneys Association and California Sexual Abuse Assault Investigators Association
• Investigated and prosecuted hundreds of cases involving the sexual abuse of children

Honors, Memberships, and Professional Activities

Memberships and Affiliations

• President, Board of Trustees, Riverside County Law Library, 2021
• Member, Supreme Court Jury Selection Workgroup, 2020–2021
• Judicial Mentor, Asian Pacific American Lawyers of the Inland Empire, 2013–2021
• Coach, Trial Advocacy, UCLA Law School, 2021
• Trustee, Riverside County Law Library, 2014–2021
• Judge, Riverside County Youth Court, 2009–2020
• Member, Pretrial Operations and Reform Workgroup, 2019–2020
• Chair, Technology Working Group, Center for Judicial Education and Research, 2015–2018
• Member, Judicial Council Information Technology Advisory Committee, 2015–2018
• Member, Governing Committee, Center for Judicial Education and Research, 2015–2018
• Member, Bernard E. Witkin Judicial College Steering Committee, 2013–2021
• Member, New Judge Education Workgroup, Center for Judicial Education and Research, 2012
• Judicial Master and Past President, Leo A. Deegan Inn of Court, 2009–2017
• Mentor, North High School Law and Protective Services Academy, 2011–2015
• Family Law Advisory Committee, Riverside County Superior Court, 2008–2015
• Member, Riverside County High School Mock Trial Steering Committee, 2009–2013
• Member, Ralph N. Kleps Award Committee, 2010–2012
• Co-Chair, Information Services Committee, Riverside County Superior Court, 2011–2012
• Member, Information Services Committee, Riverside County Superior Court, 2008–2012
• Member, High-Tech Committee, California District Attorneys Association, 2005–2008
• Member, Sexual Assault Mentoring Program, California District Attorneys Association, 2004–2008
• Member, Visual Aids Ad Hoc Committee, California District Attorneys Association, 2000–2003
• Organizer, Riverside RUG and Django Girls Inland Empire (computer programmer groups), 2014–2015

Selected Awards and Honors

• Outstanding Jurist Award, Leo A. Deegan Inn of Court, 2021
• Douglas E. Weathers Distinguished Honoree, Leo A. Deegan Inn of Court, 2019
• Judicial Officer of the Year, Riverside County Barristers, 2019
• Elwood Rich Outstanding Jurist Award, Leo A. Deegan Inn of Court, 2018
• Family Law Legacy Award, Joint Riverside/San Bernardino Bar Associations, 2017
• Trailblazer Award, Asian Pacific American Lawyers of the Inland Empire, 2013
• Public Safety Award, Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, 2007

Selected Publications and Speaking Engagements

• "Demystifying Private Mediation: The Do's and Don'ts", BHBA Family Law Symposium, 2023
• “Can You Relate? People v. Sanchez,” Riverside Lawyer Magazine, May 2019

Background and Education

• Riverside County Superior Court, 2008–2021

• Judge, Civil Division, 2019–2021
• Supervising Judge, Criminal Division, 2018
• Judge, Criminal Division, 2016-2017
• Supervising Judge, Family Law Division, 2013–2016
• Judge, Family Law Division, 2008–2012

• Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, 1994–2008

• Senior Deputy District Attorney, 2006–2008
• Deputy District Attorney, 1994–2006

• J.D., magna cum laude, SCALE Program, Southwestern Law School, 1994

• Law Review
• Moot Court Honors Program
• John J. Schumacher Minority Leadership Scholar

• B.F.A., DePaul University, 1992