Biography
Dale Minami is a Senior Counsel with Minami Tamaki in San Francisco specializing in Personal Injury and Wrongful Death cases. 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 for APA’s), Spokane JACL v. Washington State University, (a class action for APA’s which established an Asian American Studies program at Washington State University), Chann vs Scott (Class action to halt unconstitutional sweeps of Chines American youths in San Francisco) and Nakanishi v. UCLA, a claim for unfair denial of tenure which resulted in the granting of tenure.
Dale graduated from the University of Southern California, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa and received his law degree from U.C. Berkeley. He helped found the Asian Law Caucus ( the first community interest law firm serving Asian Pacific Americans in the country) and the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area (the first pan Asian Bar association in the country). Dale 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 now sits on the California Civil Liberties Public Education Fund, the California version of the Federal program.
Dale has received awards for his work including the ABA’s Thurgood Marshal, Spirit of Excellence and ABA Medal Awards, NAPABA’s Trailblazer Award, a dorm named after him at UC Santa Cruz and a Public Interest Fellowship in his name at Berkeley Law. He has also received Honorary Degrees from the McGeorge and the USF Schools of Law. He has been named as one of the Top Ten Super Lawyers in Northern California for 6 years and one of the Best Lawyers in America by the Best Lawyers group.
Articles, Publications, and Appearances
Dale Minami speaks around the country as a part of the Stop Repeating History Campaign.
Video Interviews
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Dale Minami on Asian Pacific America (NBC: Bay Area, January 28, 2020)
In the News
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Dale Minami will receive this year’s ABA Medal for his civil rights work (ABA Journal, June 19, 2019)
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What we can learn from Fred Korematsu, 75 years after the Supreme Court ruled against him (NBC News, February 17, 2019)
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Supreme Court denunciation of ruling upholding WWII internment bittersweet, Japanese Americans say (Los Angeles Times, June 26, 2018)
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Ahead of Supreme Court fight, Trump travel ban opponents reflect on past anti-Asian policies (NBC News, April 24, 2018)