Bill Lann Lee
Encyclopedia
Bill Lann Lee is a Chinese American
civil rights
lawyer
who served as Assistant Attorney General
for the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division
under President Bill Clinton
.
He is married to Carolyn Yee with whom he has two sons and a daughter. He currently resides in Berkeley, California
.
, Lee and his family were not strangers to discrimination
and bigotry
. Lee's father had endured racial taunting as a young man. He hoped for better treatment after he returned from serving honorably in World War II
, where he felt he was treated as an equal. However, when he returned to New York, he was denied housing and employment due to his race.
Lee's parents owned a small hand laundry, where they made a modest living and taught Lee and his brother Ernest valuable life lessons about family, hard work, justice, and patriotism.
After graduating from the Bronx High School of Science
, Lee attended Yale University
on a scholarship
. As an undergraduate, Lee majored in History and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He graduated magna cum laude in 1971. Throughout school, both as a young child and a student at Yale, Lee felt alienated from the greater society because of his Asian heritage.
In 1974, he earned his J.D.
from Columbia University Law School, where he was a Stone Scholar and won the Best Moot Court
Prize.
While a law student, Lee worked as a research assistant for Jack Greenberg
, Thurgood Marshall
's successor at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
(LDF). After graduating from law school, he returned to the Legal Defense Fund and worked there as a civil rights
attorney until 1982. While still affiliated with LDF, from 1979 - 1980, Lee served as Counsel for the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund
. He then moved to Los Angeles
in 1983, where he was Supervising Attorney for Civil Rights Litigation at the Center for Law in the Public Interest until 1988. He then returned to the Legal Defense Fund to serve as the director of its Western Regional Office.
In 1997, President Bill Clinton
nominated Lee to the nation's highest civil rights post - Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Justice
. His nomination, like Lani Guinier
's before him, faced significant opposition from conservatives concerned with his views on affirmative action
. He stayed in the position as acting Assistant Attorney General for two-and-a-half-years before being recess appointed by President Clinton in 2000. He was never confirmed to this position by the Senate. Lee became the highest-ranking Asian-American in the Department of Justice, where he led successful efforts to strengthen the nation's hate crime laws
, improve access and opportunities for Americans with disabilities, fight against housing discrimination, and spearheaded efforts to toughen laws against human trafficking
and involuntary servitude
.
Serving until the end of the Clinton White House despite the Senate's refusal to confirm him, Lee returned to his alma mater
, Columbia University Law School, as a visiting scholar, and wrote a report on international human rights
for the Ford Foundation
.
In November 2001, Lee accepted a position as a partner with the law firm of Lieff Cabraser Heimann and Bernstein, where he directed the firm's human rights practice and co-chaired the employment practice. In 2006, Lee left Lieff Cabraser to become a name partner at Lewis Feinberg Lee Renaker & Jackson in Oakland, Ca
. http://www.lewisfeinberg.com/lee.html Bill Lann Lee Profile, Lewis Feinberg Lee Renaker & Jackson website, last accessed April 17, 2008
Continuing his civil rights work, Lee chaired the bipartisan National Commission on the Voting Rights Act, which compiled evidence for the successful extension of the Act in July 2006. He also chaired the Bar Association of San Francisco’s Task Force that produced a report on diversity in San Francisco law firms. http://www.lewisfeinberg.com/lee.html Bill Lann Lee Profile, Lewis Feinberg Lee Renaker & Jackson website, last accessed April 17, 2008 He is a board member of Advancement Project
.
Currently works for CC Brown
. He has been an active member of several professional organizations, including the Los Angeles County Bar, the Ninth Circuit
Judicial Conference, the Southern California Chinese Lawyer Association, and the American Bar Association
.
He has received many honors for his outstanding career in civil rights law, including the Thurgood Marshall Medal of Justice (1998), the Trailblazer Award from the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (1999), and the John Randolph Distinguished Service Award
, U. S. Department of Justice (2001). He has also been awarded honorary doctorates in law from City University of New York
Law School (2001), North Carolina Central University
(2000), and Wesleyan University
(1999).
Chinese American
Chinese Americans represent Americans of Chinese descent. Chinese Americans constitute one group of overseas Chinese and also a subgroup of East Asian Americans, which is further a subgroup of Asian Americans...
civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
who served as Assistant Attorney General
United States Assistant Attorney General
Many of the divisions and offices of the United States Department of Justice are headed by an Assistant Attorney General.The President of the United States appoints individuals to the position of Assistant Attorney General with the advice and consent of the Senate...
for the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division
United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division
The U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division is the institution within the federal government responsible for enforcing federal statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, sex, disability, religion, and national origin. The Division was established on December 9, 1957, by...
under President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
.
He is married to Carolyn Yee with whom he has two sons and a daughter. He currently resides in Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
.
Early life and education
Born February 5, 1949 in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Lee and his family were not strangers to discrimination
Discrimination
Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviors towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group. The term began to be...
and bigotry
Bigotry
A bigot is a person obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices, especially one exhibiting intolerance, and animosity toward those of differing beliefs...
. Lee's father had endured racial taunting as a young man. He hoped for better treatment after he returned from serving honorably in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, where he felt he was treated as an equal. However, when he returned to New York, he was denied housing and employment due to his race.
Lee's parents owned a small hand laundry, where they made a modest living and taught Lee and his brother Ernest valuable life lessons about family, hard work, justice, and patriotism.
After graduating from the Bronx High School of Science
Bronx High School of Science
The Bronx High School of Science is a specialized New York City public high school often considered the premier science magnet school in the United States. Founded in 1938, it is now located in the Bedford Park section of the Bronx...
, Lee attended Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
on a scholarship
Scholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
. As an undergraduate, Lee majored in History and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He graduated magna cum laude in 1971. Throughout school, both as a young child and a student at Yale, Lee felt alienated from the greater society because of his Asian heritage.
In 1974, he earned his J.D.
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
from Columbia University Law School, where he was a Stone Scholar and won the Best Moot Court
Moot court
A moot court is an extracurricular activity at many law schools in which participants take part in simulated court proceedings, usually to include drafting briefs and participating in oral argument. The term derives from Anglo Saxon times, when a moot was a gathering of prominent men in a...
Prize.
Civil rights career
Jack Greenberg
Jack Greenberg may refer to:* Jack Greenberg , American civil-rights figure* Jack M. Greenberg, executive...
, Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, serving from October 1967 until October 1991...
's successor at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. is a leading United States civil rights organization and law firm based in New York City....
(LDF). After graduating from law school, he returned to the Legal Defense Fund and worked there as a civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
attorney until 1982. While still affiliated with LDF, from 1979 - 1980, Lee served as Counsel for the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund
Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund
The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund is a New York-based national organization founded in 1974 that protects and promotes the civil rights of Asian Americans. By combining litigation, advocacy, education, and organizing, AALDEF works with Asian American communities across the...
. He then moved to Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
in 1983, where he was Supervising Attorney for Civil Rights Litigation at the Center for Law in the Public Interest until 1988. He then returned to the Legal Defense Fund to serve as the director of its Western Regional Office.
In 1997, President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
nominated Lee to the nation's highest civil rights post - Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division
The U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division is the institution within the federal government responsible for enforcing federal statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, sex, disability, religion, and national origin. The Division was established on December 9, 1957, by...
. His nomination, like Lani Guinier
Lani Guinier
Lani Guinier is an American lawyer, scholar and civil rights activist. The first African-American woman tenured professor at Harvard Law School, Guinier's work includes professional responsibilities of public lawyers, the relationship between democracy and the law, the role of race and gender in...
's before him, faced significant opposition from conservatives concerned with his views on affirmative action
Affirmative action
Affirmative action refers to policies that take factors including "race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation or national origin" into consideration in order to benefit an underrepresented group, usually as a means to counter the effects of a history of discrimination.-Origins:The term...
. He stayed in the position as acting Assistant Attorney General for two-and-a-half-years before being recess appointed by President Clinton in 2000. He was never confirmed to this position by the Senate. Lee became the highest-ranking Asian-American in the Department of Justice, where he led successful efforts to strengthen the nation's hate crime laws
Hate crime
In crime and law, hate crimes occur when a perpetrator targets a victim because of his or her perceived membership in a certain social group, usually defined by racial group, religion, sexual orientation, disability, class, ethnicity, nationality, age, gender, gender identity, social status or...
, improve access and opportunities for Americans with disabilities, fight against housing discrimination, and spearheaded efforts to toughen laws against human trafficking
Human trafficking
Human trafficking is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor, or a modern-day form of slavery...
and involuntary servitude
Involuntary servitude
Involuntary servitude is a United States legal and constitutional term for a person laboring against that person's will to benefit another, under some form of coercion other than the worker's financial needs...
.
Serving until the end of the Clinton White House despite the Senate's refusal to confirm him, Lee returned to his alma mater
Alma mater
Alma mater , pronounced ), was used in ancient Rome as a title for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele, and in Christianity for the Virgin Mary.-General term:...
, Columbia University Law School, as a visiting scholar, and wrote a report on international human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
for the Ford Foundation
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
.
In November 2001, Lee accepted a position as a partner with the law firm of Lieff Cabraser Heimann and Bernstein, where he directed the firm's human rights practice and co-chaired the employment practice. In 2006, Lee left Lieff Cabraser to become a name partner at Lewis Feinberg Lee Renaker & Jackson in Oakland, Ca
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
. http://www.lewisfeinberg.com/lee.html Bill Lann Lee Profile, Lewis Feinberg Lee Renaker & Jackson website, last accessed April 17, 2008
Continuing his civil rights work, Lee chaired the bipartisan National Commission on the Voting Rights Act, which compiled evidence for the successful extension of the Act in July 2006. He also chaired the Bar Association of San Francisco’s Task Force that produced a report on diversity in San Francisco law firms. http://www.lewisfeinberg.com/lee.html Bill Lann Lee Profile, Lewis Feinberg Lee Renaker & Jackson website, last accessed April 17, 2008 He is a board member of Advancement Project
Advancement Project
The Advancement Project is group with the stated goal of promoting civil rights. It was founded in 1999 by civil rights lawyers in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.. Board members include Constance L. Rice, who is also a co-director, former United States Assistant Attorney General Bill Lann Lee,...
.
Currently works for CC Brown
Honors
Lee has written briefs in many U.S. Supreme Court cases and has presented oral arguments before seven U.S. Circuit Courts of AppealUnited States court of appeals
The United States courts of appeals are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal court system...
. He has been an active member of several professional organizations, including the Los Angeles County Bar, the Ninth Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is a U.S. federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* District of Alaska* District of Arizona...
Judicial Conference, the Southern California Chinese Lawyer Association, and 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...
.
He has received many honors for his outstanding career in civil rights law, including the Thurgood Marshall Medal of Justice (1998), the Trailblazer Award from the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (1999), and the John Randolph Distinguished Service Award
John Randolph
John Randolph may refer to:* John Randolph, 3rd Earl of Moray , 3rd Earl of Moray, regent of Scotland.* Sir John Randolph , Virginia colonial politician, Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses...
, U. S. Department of Justice (2001). He has also been awarded honorary doctorates in law from City University of New York
City University of New York
The City University of New York is the public university system of New York City, with its administrative offices in Yorkville in Manhattan. It is the largest urban university in the United States, consisting of 23 institutions: 11 senior colleges, six community colleges, the William E...
Law School (2001), North Carolina Central University
North Carolina Central University
North Carolina Central University is a public historically black university in the University of North Carolina system, located in Durham, North Carolina, offering programs at the baccalaureate, master’s, professional and doctoral levels....
(2000), and Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...
(1999).