U.S. District Judge George Wu is not just a powerhouse of California's Central District, but also the son of famed Hollywood restaurant owner Sylvia Wu, a legendary entrepreneur whose advice he took when he recently made the decision to take senior status on the bench.

"She said, 'I noticed a lot of my older customers, they retire, and they're dead in two years,'" Judge Wu recalled in a recent conversation with Law360. "So she said, 'You may not want to retire, you may want to work less.' So I've taken that to heart, I think that's a good idea."

Sylvia Wu, who served Hollywood royalty at her famous restaurant Madame Wu's Garden in Santa Monica, California, for nearly 40 years and was also a successful author of cookbooks, passed away last year at age 106, so it would seem that her advice about living a long and purpose-filled life carries some weight.

Judge Wu said that at 72, he wants to slow down a bit, and that other colleagues have stepped away from the bench to go into private practice or private judging, but "that's not really something that would appeal to me, so I'd rather just do the job I have now."  

Appointed to the bench in the Central District of California in 2007 by President George W. Bush, Judge Wu is unmarried and has no children, so he didn't cite a desire for time with family as a reason for taking senior status, nor did he point to any hobby or outside pursuit. Instead, the judge said, the desire to slow down, along with some other benefits that come with being a senior judge, led to the decision. 

Judge Wu said he first thought about taking senior status a few years ago, but a backlog in appointments to the federal bench had left the Central District short on judges, and he didn't want to burden his fellow judges at the time. Then COVID-19 hit, which put the decision off longer, and now with the Central District restocked by some recent appointments and more expected, this moment is just a "pretty good time to do it," he said. 

Plus, there's the benefit of being able to take on a lighter workload and also to pass on some cases, he said. 

"There's certain types of cases that I no longer want to do, simply for the fact that, you know, I won't tell you the areas, but there's one particular area that I've probably gotten reversed in more than any other areas because for some reason I'm not in sync with the appellate court in that regard," Judge Wu said. "Not that I'm saying they're wrong and I'm right, I'm just saying if you look in this one area it's probably one I'd get reversed on more than others."

"So I figure, why fight it?" he continued. "I'll take fewer of those cases." 

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