Paul Igasaki
Encyclopedia
Paul M. Igasaki is the Chair and Chief Judge of the Administrative Review Board
Administrative Review Board (Labor)
In April 1996, the Secretary of Labor established the Administrative Review Board to succeed the former Board of Service Contract Appeals, Wage Appeals Board, and Office of Administrative Appeals. The Board consists of a maximum of five Members, one of whom is designated the Chair...

 at the U.S. Department of Labor. Previously he was the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Equal Justice Works
Equal Justice Works
Equal Justice Works is a Washington, DC-based nonprofit organization that focuses on careers in public service for lawyers. Equal Justice Works’ stated mission is “to create a just society by mobilizing the next generation of lawyers committed to equal justice.”...

, a national organization that advances public interest law through fellowships, loan repayment programs, pro bono programs, conferences and other methods. Prior to joining Equal Justice Works, he was executive director of the Rights Working Group, a unique nationwide coalition of groups and individuals committed to ensuring liberty and justice for all.

Biography

Igasaki served as a consultant on equal employment, diversity, legal services, government, and community affairs matters. Clients included the Epilepsy Foundation, Southeast Asian Research Action Center, U.S. Army, and U.S. Air Force.

Igasaki served as vice chair, chair, and commissioner of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is an independent federal law enforcement agency that enforces laws against workplace discrimination. The EEOC investigates discrimination complaints based on an individual's race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, perceived intelligence,...

 from 1994 until 2002. Noted for his management overhaul of the Commission’s case handling system, his initiatives streamlined the process and eliminated the crippling case backlog. Under his leadership, Igasaki moved the Commission to protect the rights of all Americans, regardless of immigration status and he participated in the development of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the establishment of sexual and racial harassment standards in the United States. Igasaki represented the Commission in the announcement and settlement of the landmark Mitsubishi Motors of America case, which involved the largest discrimination award for sexual harassment.

Prior to his appointment to the Commission by President William Jefferson Clinton, Igasaki was the executive director of the Asian Law Caucus in San Francisco, the nation’s first Asian Pacific American civil rights legal organization. He also served as staff to the late Rep. Robert Matsui’s campaign for the U.S. Senate in California and as a lobbyist and representative for the Japanese American Citizens League
Japanese American Citizens League
The was formed in 1929 to protect the rights of Japanese Americans from the state and federal governments. It fought for civil rights for Japanese Americans, assisted those in internment camps during World War II, and led a successful campaign for redress for internment from the U.S...

, where he worked on funding for the World War II Japanese American redress claims, immigration reform, and the Civil Rights Acts of 1989-91.

Early in his career, Igasaki served as liaison to Asian Americans for the late Chicago Mayor Harold Washington
Harold Washington
Harold Lee Washington was an American lawyer and politician who became the first African-American Mayor of Chicago, serving from 1983 until his death in 1987.- Early years and military service :...

 and as counsel to the Chicago Commission on Human Relations. Prior to that he was director of an American Bar Association
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association , founded August 21, 1878, is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. The ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation...

 project to increase resources for civil legal services for the poor. In Sacramento, California, he was awarded a Reginald Heber Smith Fellowship to serve as a staff attorney with Legal Services of Northern California representing poor clients on housing, domestic violence, consumer and other matters. He also served as a graduate legal assistant with the chairman of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board.

A graduate of Niles West High School
Niles West High School
Niles West High School, or NWHS, is a public four-year high school located in Skokie, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in the United States. It is part of Niles Township Community High School District 219, which also includes Niles North High School. Its school teams were originally the Indians, but...

 (1973), Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....

 (1976), and the University of California, Davis School of Law (King Hall)
UC Davis School of Law
The University of California Davis School of Law , referred to as UC Davis School of Law and commonly known as King Hall and UC Davis Law, is an American Bar Association approved law school located in Davis, California on the campus of the University of California, Davis. The school received ABA...

 (1979), Mr. Igasaki is licensed to practice law in Illinois and California. He was the chair of the American Bar Association
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association , founded August 21, 1878, is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. The ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation...

’s Individual Rights and Responsibilities Section, the first Asian American to hold that position and has held numerous other ABA posts. He is a member of the board of the Human Rights Center. He was a principal founder of the Chicago Asian American Bar Association and a founder of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association.

Awards

Igasaki received distinguished alumni awards from UC Davis - King Hall School of Law and Northwestern University. In 2010, he delivered the commencement address at King Hall Law School in Davis, CA. He has been honored for his civil rights work by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund
Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund is a national non-profit civil rights organization formed in 1968 to protect the rights of Latinos in the United States...

, the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, and the Sikh Coalition. Igasaki received an honorary law degree from the CUNY Queens Law School, the Outstanding Public Interest Advocate from the National Association for Public Interest Law, the Spirit of Excellence Award from the ABA, the Trailblazer Award from NAPABA, the Japanese American of the Biennium Award from the JACL, the Judge Sandra Otaka "Making History" Award from the Asian American Action Fund of Chicago, the Community Service Award from the Asian Pacific American Bar Association Educational Fund in Washington, D.C. and the Milestone Makers Award from the Asian American Institute in Chicago.

Other

Igasaki lives in Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...

 with his wife and his daughter Aiko. His wife Louann Igasaki is an Administrative Appeals Judge with the Social Security Administration. He has been a member of the Alexandria Democratic Committee. He was a member of the National Leadership Council of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders for Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

.

A historical connection to his career in civil rights, Igasaki is related to Fred Oyama, a United States citizen who was denied the ability to own land, challenged the California Alien Land Laws at United States Supreme Court in 1948 in Oyama v. California
Oyama v. California
Oyama v. State of California, , was a case in which the United States Supreme Court decided that specific provisions of the 1913 and 1920 California Alien Land Laws abridged the rights and privileges guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to Fred Oyama, a citizen of the United States in whose name...

under the premise that he was denied equal protection of the laws and of his privileges as an American citizen. The land in the case was transferred from Igasaki's aunt June Kushino who held the land on behalf of Igasaki's grandfather, an Issei or first generation immigrant then ineligible for citizenship, to Fred Oyama who held the land for his father Kajiro Oyama. The case was successfully argued by former Truman Administration Secretary of State Dean Acheson. Both Igasaki and Acheson's daughter Eldie Acheson served in the Clinton Administration.

External links

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