Our History

The firm was established in1974 and it continues today under the name of “Minami Tamaki LLP.” Although the name has changed, our dedication to providing quality legal representation at competitive rates with an emphasis on personalized service has not. In keeping with our roots as a minority-owned firm, we are committed to the improvement of our communities, country and world by working with integrity for justice, equality and community every day. Since starting our practice with 3 attorneys, we have grown to 17 attorneys with in San Francisco.

Our firm has earned an “AV” rating by the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory, the highest rating for professional competence and ethics issued by that publication, and reserved for attorneys judged to be outstanding. Our attorneys have been recognized as “SuperLawyers” by Law & Politics Magazine, one of the top 500 lawyers in the country by LawDragon magazine and as some of the best attorneys in the Bay Area by Bay Area Lawyer Magazine. Our attorneys and staff are bilingual in a number of languages including Cantonese, Japanese, Mandarin, Korean, Spanish, Tagalog, and Vietnamese.

Our firm’s practice groups include: Employment Law (wrongful termination, discrimination, wage and hour disputes and retaliation); Immigration (emphasizing employment visas); Commercial Litigation (contract disputes, consumer fraud and unfair business practices, including class actions); Business and Corporate (mergers and acquisitions, start-up and emerging companies, technology licensing, real estate sales, property development and leasing, commercial transactions, non-profit corporations); Personal Injury (wrongful death, products liability, premises liability, medical negligence and automobile accidents); and Entertainment Law (professional athletes, news and weather anchors and reporters, independent film productions, public television and cable television productions).

Our clients include Google, Visa International, the Consulate General of Japan, the City and County of San Francisco, Kristi Yamaguchi, the State Bar of California, Del Monte Corporation, Baker Place, and Pacific Gas & Electric Company. We also represent a number of mid-size and small corporations and businesses in their formation and transactional work. Our attorneys represent a number of other non-profit corporations including PRIDE Industries (the nation’s largest private employer of disabled workers), the Asian American Journalists’ Association, the Center for Asian American Media, the Go For Broke Foundation and Kristi Yamaguchi’s Always Dream Foundation, among others.

We have been involved in major and historic legal cases, including the successful reopening of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case of Korematsu v. the United States (overturning Fred Korematsu’s criminal conviction for refusing government exclusion orders aimed at Japanese Americans during WWII based on the prosecution’s misrepresentations and falsified evidence presented to the United States Supreme Court in 1944) that led to reparations for interned Japanese Americans; Popov vs. Hayashi (dispute over Barry Bonds’ record- breaking 73rd home run ball); and Donnelly vs. U.S. Department of Agriculture (class action sexual harassment/retaliation case). Through these and other newsworthy cases, the firm’s work has been spotlighted in national media coverage, including 60 Minutes, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox, Court TV, the New York Times and the Washington Post. The firm has gained significant experience in navigating high profile cases before local and national news media. Despite our status as a “small firm,” we are well-known within, and enjoy an excellent reputation among, the legal community and the judiciary.

We also value maintaining a humane and collegial work environment and we share a commitment to public service. We participate in numerous community projects, fundraisers, boards and commissions. Our attorneys have served on committees for the selection of state and federal judges and as commissioners on state and federal commissions and have volunteered services, time and effort to improving our local, state and national communities.

Partners have and continue to be leaders in the legal profession, serving as Presidents or Chairs of the Northern California Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, Workplace Fairness, the California Attorney General’s Asian Pacific Advisory Committee, the federal Civil Liberties Public Education Fund, Chinese for Affirmative Action and the Asian Pacific Bar of California. Our attorneys have or currently serve as members of the Board of Directors of the National Employment Lawyers Association, the Japanese American Chamber of Commerce of Silicon Valley, the Glide Foundation, Kimochi, Inc., the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, Kristi Yamaguchi’s Always Dream Foundation and the Japanese American National Museum, among many other organizations.