Sau Ung Loo Chan (1906–2002) was Hawaii's first female lawyer of Asian descent.

Chan, the youngest child of her family, was born on August 8, 1906, in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Joe and Choy Shee Loo. Her father was a Chinese immigrant and had a close friendship with Sun Yat-sen. Chan completed her higher education at Punahou School and Yale Law School respectively before settling in Hong Kong with her husband Hin Cheung Chan to raise a family.

Sau Ung Loo Chan

In 1941, she returned to Hawaii where she was admitted as the first Asian female to practice law. From 1943-1976, Chan organized and oversaw the Circuit Court Small Estate and Guardianship Division. In 1948, Chan testified before the United States Congress in an effort to have certain portions of the Immigration Act of 1924 amended. She practiced as an estate and guardianship attorney.

Sau Ung Loo Chan

Chan died on March 1, 2002, in Kaneohe, Hawaii.

Sau Ung Loo Chan

See also

List of first women lawyers and judges in Hawaii

References

Lawyers from Hawaii

American jurists of Chinese descent

Punahou School alumni

Yale Law School alumni

1906 births

2002 deaths

20th-century American women lawyers

20th-century American lawyers