Sean Tamura-Sato is the Managing Partner at Minami Tamaki LLP and also leads the firm’s Consumer and Employee Rights Group.  Mr. Tamura has a diverse legal practice that includes employment law, business litigation, non-profit counseling, and class actions.  Mr. Tamura has successfully tried employment discrimination and wrongful termination cases as first chair in federal court and before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. 

Mr. Tamura advises entrepreneurs, executives, startup founders, and investors in matters involving employment contracts, shareholder & partnership disputes, trade secrets, high-stakes internal & government investigations, media & technology, severance agreements, and strategic business decisions.  He also provides employment advice and counseling to restaurants, technology startups, medical groups, retailers, and a wide range of businesses in the personal services industry.

Mr. Tamura is a sought-after advisor to numerous national and Bay Area non-profit organizations.  Representative clients include Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality, Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum, AAPI Women Lead, Center for Asian American Media, Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco, Donaldina Cameron House, and Urgent Action Fund.  

Mr. Tamura also specializes in representing low-wage and immigrant workers in actions combating wage theft and worker exploitation.  Mr. Tamura has represented thousands of employees in individual and collective actions to recover unpaid wages.

Mr. Tamura’s antitrust and consumer law practice involves prosecuting class actions across the country. He has been involved in some of the largest class action cases on behalf of consumers in the history of antitrust law, including In re TFT-LCD (Flat Panel) Antitrust Litigation.  He was also counsel in In re Volkswagen “Clean Diesel” Marketing, Sales Practices, and Products Liability Litigation that resulted in settlements valued at $14 billion.  Mr. Tamura was also counsel in O’Bannon v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, the landmark antitrust lawsuit challenging the rules of amateurism governing college sports. 

Mr. Tamura was selected as a Northern California Super Lawyer from 2021 through 2023 and a Rising Star from 2013 through 2020. The Super Lawyers list recognizes no more than 5 percent of attorneys in each state. The Rising Stars list recognizes no more than 2.5 percent of attorneys in each state. Mr. Tamura has also been recognized from 2019 to 2022 by the Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Employment Lawyers list, which honors leading attorneys nationwide who have dedicated their practice to representing workers.

Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawai’i, Mr. Tamura received his undergraduate degree in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University. He received his Juris Doctor from the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco (formerly the University of California, Hastings College of the Law).

Mr. Tamura serves on the Board of Directors of Legal Aid at Work and the San Francisco Japantown Foundation.  He also served on the Board of Directors of the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area from 2017 to 2021.

EDUCATION

• J.D., University of California, Hastings College of the Law, 2007
• B.S., Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University, 2004

ADMISSIONS

• California, 2007
• Hawai’i, 2008 (inactive)

PROFESSIONAL/COMMUNITY

• Legal Aid at Work, Board of Directors and Executive Committee Member
• Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area, Board of Directors
• San Francisco Japantown Foundation, Board of Directors