As a Chinese American with deep ties to the community, Judge Andrew Cheng relishes the opportunity to work every day to make the world a little bit better with good decisions. A lifelong Democrat, former Deputy City Attorney and Assistant U.S. Attorney, Cheng gives back to the community through mentoring, teaching and civic outreach.
The son of Chinese immigrants, Cheng grew up in the Midwest, one of two Asians in his high school (the other being his sister). They experienced the challenges of growing up amongst people who had no exposure to people of different ethnic backgrounds. As valedictorian of his high school class, Cheng won a full-tuition, merit-based scholarship to Columbia University, from which he graduated summa cum laude. He then graduated from Yale Law School in 1992.
After graduating from law school, Cheng was a law clerk for a federal district court judge and practiced in the private sector for two years before joining the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office in 1997, drawn by the opportunity to work on groundbreaking litigation against the tobacco industry. As an Deputy City Attorney for San Francisco, Cheng worked to achieve a $500 million settlement from tobacco companies that resulted in the renovation of Laguna Honda Hospital.
Cheng then served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California and as deputy chief of the Civil Division from 2006-2009. As deputy city attorney and assistant U.S. attorney, he argued cases before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the California First District Court of Appeal.
Since his appointment to the San Francisco Superior Court in 2009, Judge Cheng has presided over criminal, civil, and probate cases including the Robin Williams trust dispute. In 2016, he issued a ruling that sided with veterans who argued they were being pushed out of the War Memorial Veterans Building. This ruling allowed veterans to continue to use the San Francisco War Memorial at no cost. He also expanded the use of assisted outpatient treatment for those suffering from mental illnesses at San Francisco General Hospital.
Judge Cheng levied a $3.5 million settlement on a notorious landlord who evicted a family from its home of 21 years to rent the unit at a higher price. It was the largest judgment in a single-unit landlord-tenant case in the nation. He has been endorsed by the San Francisco Tenants Union. In its endorsement of Cheng, the group noted, "We found that Andrew Cheng, running for seat 4, had a reputation in our community for being the kind of judge we need —for humility, fairness towards a variety of litigants, willingness to listen to every argument made, and enough respect for laws (including the Rent Ordinance!) to consistently reach fair results."
Judge Cheng currently presides over civil, criminal, and probate trials and serves as a settlement judge for civil mediations and settlement conferences. He has taught at both U.C. Berkeley School of Law and U.C. Hastings School of Law and serves on the faculty of the National Institute of Trial Advocacy. He has been a member and elder of Old First Presbyterian Church in San Francisco since 1992.
Judge Cheng has been married for 24 years to Yvonne, a native of the San Francisco Bay Area and part of a family of fifth-generation Californians. They have three children,
