Blog : don tamaki

Minami Fellowship Dinner Honors Former President of Calif. State Bar

Fourth Annual Dale Minami Fellowship Dinner 2011

The Fourth Annual Dale Minami Boalt Alumni Fellowship Dinner on January 28, 2011, honored Holly Fujie, the 84th President of the State Bar of California, the third woman and the second Asian American to hold that position.  Fujie (pictured below with Dale) is a litigation Shareholder with the Los Angeles-based law firm of Buchalter Nemer, APC.

Fourth Annual Dale Minami Fellowship Dinner 2011, Dale Minami and Holly Fujie

The fellowship dinner, organized by the Asian Pacific American Law Student Association at the University of California, Berkeley, raises funds for the endowment of the Dale Minami Public Interest Fellowship, which provides financial support to outstanding individuals committed to serving the public interest.

Fourth Annual Dale Minami Fellowship Dinner 2011

The organizers this year awarded the Fellowship to Stella Kang (pictured above), a 2010 graduate of University of California, Berkeley School of Law, and currently working at API Legal Outreach as a Borchard Fellow in Law & Aging. Kang received her B.A. with high honors in Russian Language and Literature from Smith College in 2001 and from 2005-2006 worked in Russia as a Fulbright Fellow on women’s human rights issues. She speaks Russian, Korean and Spanish and has extensive experience working with low income immigrants and refugees in the Bay Area and abroad.

While in law school, Kang interned at the Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights, Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach and the East Bay Community Law Center. Her work at API Legal Outreach includes developing, strengthening and implementing a sustainable model for the provision of culturally competent legal services to Asian Pacific Islanders facing elder abuse.

The Dale Minami Fellows are selected for their diverse backgrounds, record of exceptional academic and professional accomplishment, leadership in community service and commitment to social justice and public interest work.

Fourth Annual Dale Minami Fellowship Dinner 2011, Don Tamaki

Minami Tamaki LLP partner Don Tamaki (pictured above) introduced Fujie, this year’s honoree. Fujie is currently the 2010-2011 President of the Boalt Hall Alumni Association, the 2010-2011 Vice President of the Chancery Club, and Chair-Elect of Bet Tzedek (the House of Justice) Legal Services. She also serves on the Board of Governors of the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles; the Boards of Directors of VIP Mentors, the Federal Bar Association (Los Angeles Chapter) and the California Bar Foundation; and sits on the Advisory Board of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Los Angeles.

Previous dinner honorees include United States Magistrate Judge Edward Chen and Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund attorney Khin Mai Aung.

Glen S. Fukushima and Minami Tamaki LLP were Platinum Sponsors of the event.

All photos courtesy of Grace Keh.

First Korematsu Day Celebration Attracts More Than 700 Attendees

Speakers at First Fred Korematsu Day

More than 700 attendees packed the Wheeler Auditorium at the University of California, Berkeley, for the first Fred Korematsu Day celebration on Jan. 30, 2011 — Korematu’s birthday.  He would have been 92 years old.

Minami Tamaki LLP partners Dale Minami and Don Tamaki were members of the legal team that helped overturn Korematsu’s wrongful conviction for defying the military orders that ultimately led to the evacuation and incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans, including Korematsu and his family.Highlights of the event included a keynote by the Rev. Jesse Jackson and remarks by Korematsu’s daughter, Karen,, spoken word artist Beau Sia, California Assemblymember Warren Furutani and a video greeting from Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison.  CBS 5 anchor Sydnie Kohara emceed the program.

The first Korematsu Day celebration marked a milestone in the ongoing effort to educate the public about the dangers of rolling back civil liberties in the name of national security.

In September 2010, former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Assembly Bill 1775 into law, establishing January 30 as Fred Korematsu Day, the first time in United States history a day has been named after an Asian American.

The Korematsu Institute, launched last year by the Asian Law Caucus in partnership with the Korematsu family, plans to roll out curriculum in K-12 schools that week and on all future Korematsu Days.

Historic Fred Korematsu Day to be Celebrated on January 30, 2011

korematsu
Fred Korematsu. Photo by Lia Chang.

In October, Partners Dale Minami and Don Tamaki joined the family of Fred T. Korematsu and other supporters at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles to celebrate the enactment of Fred Korematsu Day in California.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in September signed into law Assembly Bill 1775, establishing January 30 as Fred Korematsu Day, the first time in United States history a day has been named after an Asian American.

The first Fred Korematsu Day will be celebrated January 30, 2011, on Fred Korematsu’s birthday. The Korematsu Institute, launched last year by the Asian Law Caucus in partnership with the Korematsu family, plans to roll out curriculum in K-12 schools that week and on all future Korematsu Days.

The bill, authored by Assemblymembers Warren T. Furutani and Marty Block, honors Korematsu, a man who became a civil rights icon for defying the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.

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Minami Tamaki Hosts Asian Pacific American Students from Berkeley Law

More than 30 members of the UC Berkeley Law School’s Asian Pacific American Law Students Association (APALSA) and the Asian American Law Journal gathered at Minami Tamaki LLP on October 27 for a fun and inspirational evening.

The law students had the opportunity to meet and mingle with Partners Don Tamaki, Dale Minami, Jack Lee, and Associates Eunice Yang and Sean Tamura-Sato. Over food and wine, the Minami Tamaki attorneys provided words of advice and encouragement, drawing upon their varied experiences and career paths.

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YouTube Celebrity Ryan Higa Picks Minami Tamaki as Counsel

don_tamakiPartner Donald Tamaki recently signed on as a client Ryan Higa, the YouTube celebrity whose channel made YouTube history as the first to reach two million subscribers.

Ryan and Sean Fujiyoshi started posting YouTube videos of themselves lip synching to songs in mid-2006 while attending Waiakea High School in Hilo, Hawaii. They quickly expanded beyond songs, with a variety of other comedic pieces.

By November 2008, Ryan’s videos had been viewed more than 150 million times.

In 2008, Los Angeles producer Derek Zemrak offered to help them create their first feature-length film. The resulting film, Ryan and Sean’s Not So Excellent Adventure, was directed by Richard Van Vleet and released on November 14, 2008. It was shown in sold out theaters in Hawaii and California The DVD was released on July 14, 2009 in the USA.

Ryan and Sean’s Not So Excellent Adventure is about a down on his luck movie producer, played by Michael Buckley, who is seeking out famous celebrities in order to make a hit movie in 30 days or risk being fired. He chooses Ryan Higa and Sean Fujiyoshi after discovering the popularity of their YouTube videos. He invites them to Hollywood to make a movie. They accept the offer, and run into some amusing situations on the way.

Here’s one of Ryan’s latest videos:

youtube_screencap_ryanhiga