Dale Minami
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Dale Minami (born October 13, 1946) is a San Francisco-based attorney specializing in personal injury and entertainment law. A partner with Minami, Lew & Tamaki LLP, he is best known as a leader of the legal team that overturned the wrongful conviction of Fred Korematsu, who defied the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
Minami was born in Los Angeles, California, was graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1968 from the University of Southern California, and received his Juris Doctor degree in 1971 from Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California at Berkeley.
As a personal injury attorney, a number of his cases resulted in verdict and settlement results of more than one million dollars. Minami was also selected as one of the SuperLawyers for 2004 in the personal injury category.
Minami’s clients in the entertainment industry include Olympic gold medal figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi, playwright Philip Kan Gotanda and Oscar-award winning filmmaker Steven Okazaki. He is counsel to several community organizations, including the National Asian American Telecommunications Association and the Asian American Journalists Association.
In the early 1980s, Minami helped lead a legal team of pro bono attorneys in successfully reopening Korematsu v. United States, resulting in the erasure of Fred Korematsu’s criminal conviction for defying the internment.
Minami also played a significant role in other lawsuits involving the civil rights of Asian Pacific Americans and other minorities. United Pilipinos for Affirmative Action v. California Blue Shield was the first class action employment lawsuit brought by Asian Pacific Americans on behalf of Asian Pacific Americans. Spokane JACL v. Washington State University was a class action on behalf of Asian Pacific Americans to establish an Asian American Studies program at Washington State University. Nakanishi v. UCLA involved a claim for unfair denial of tenure which resulted in the granting of tenure after several hearing and widespread publicity over discrimination in academia.
Minami has been involved in the judicial appointment process and in establishing or influencing public policy and legislation. He served as a member of the California Fair Employment and Housing Commission and has chaired the California Attorney General's Asian Pacific Advisory Committee. He has also served as a Commissioner on the State Bar’s Commission on Judicial Nominee's Evaluation, Senator Barbara Boxer's Judicial Screening Committee and was appointed by President Clinton as Chair of the Civil Liberties Public Education Fund in 1996.
Minami is a co-founder of the Asian Law Caucus, the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area, the Asian Pacific Bar of California and the Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans.
Minami has received numerous awards including the American Bar Association’s 2003 Thurgood Marshall Award, the 2003 ACLU Civil Liberties Award, the State Bar President’s Pro Bono Service Award, an honorary juris doctor degree from the McGeorge School of Law, and the designation of a dormitory at the University of California at Santa Cruz as the “Queen Liliuokalani-Minami” Dormitory.
