Dale Minami
Attorney and Senior Counsel at Minami Tamaki
"Justice is not self-executing and equal rights are not a gift; they are a challenge. Sometimes dissenting is the highest form of patriotism, and I have been committed to make this country live up to its rhetoric of equal rights for all."
Biography
Dale Minami is senior counsel with the law firm of Minami Tamaki in San Francisco. He has been involved in significant litigation involving the civil rights of Asian Pacific Americans and other minorities, including Korematsu v. United States, United Pilipinos for Affirmative Action v. California Blue Shield (the first class action employment lawsuit brought by Asian Pacific Americans), and Spokane JACL v. Washington State University (a class action which established an Asian American studies program at Washington State University).
Minami received his law degree from UC Berkeley and helped found the Asian Law Caucus and the Asian American Bar Association. He served on both California’s Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation and Senator Boxer’s judicial screening committee and as chair of the Civil Liberties Public Education Fund, appointed by President Clinton. He has received awards for his work including the ABA’s Thurgood Marshall, Spirit of Excellence, and ABA Medal Awards and NAPABA’s Trailblazer Award. He’s had a dorm named after him at UC Santa Cruz and a Public Interest Fellowship was established in his name at Berkeley Law. He has also received honorary degrees from the Pacific McGeorge and USF schools of law.
Photo Credits
“Manzanar Internment Camp, CA 5-15f” by inkknife_2000, used via CC BY-SA 2.0