Lorraine K. Bannai

Lorraine Bannai

Professor Emerita
Director Emerita, Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality

 Sullivan Hall 430

 206-398-4009

Email Lorraine

Curriculum Vitae

Areas of Expertise, Education, Affiliations, Courses

Areas of Expertise

  • Legal Writing

Education

  • B.A., University of California/Santa Barbara
  • J.D., University of San Francisco School of Law, 1979

Biography

Lorraine K. Bannai is Professor Emerita at Seattle University School of Law, where she served as Director of the Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality. After earning her J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law, Professor Bannai joined what is now the San Francisco firm of Minami Tamaki. While there, she served on the legal team that successfully challenged Fred Korematsu's World War II conviction for refusing to comply with the forced removal of Japanese Americans from the West Coast.

Professor Bannai has written and spoken widely on the wartime Japanese American incarceration and its present-day relevance, including the need to uphold the rule of law, the danger of race prejudice, and the importance of allyship. She has testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee and been a commentator for Rachel Maddow's Burn Order and on Radiolab Presents: More Perfect.

Her books include the co-authored Race, Rights, and National Security: Law and the Japanese American Incarceration, and her biography of Fred Korematsu, Enduring Conviction: Fred Korematsu and His Quest for Justice.

Publications

  • Lorraine K. Bannai, Reflections on the Korematsu, Yasui, and Hirabayashi Coram Nobis Cases on Their 40th Anniversary, Berkeley Asian American Law Journal (forthcoming October 2023).
  • Lorraine K. Bannai, Using Korematsu To Teach Across the Law School Curriculum, including using Korematsu to teach Law School Orientation and Introduction to Law Courses; Professional Responsibility; Civil Procedure (with Margaret Chon and Eric K. Yamamoto); Constitutional Law (with Eric K. Yamamoto); and Legal Research, Writing, and Analysis (with Stephanie Wilson) (2022).
  • Lorraine K. Bannai, 80 Years After EO 9066, The Supreme Court Still Shuts Its Eye to Reality, Just Security (Feb. 8, 2022).
  • Eric K. Yamamoto, Lorraine K. Bannai & Margaret Chon, Race, Rights and National Security: Law and the Japanese American Internment (3d ed. Aspen 2021).
  • Lorraine K. Bannai, Korematsu Overruled? Far From It: The Supreme Court Reloads the Loaded Weapon, 16 Seattle J. Soc. Just. 897 (2018).
  • Lorraine K. Bannai, Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga: The Activist Who Discovered the Truth About WWII Internment, Politico (Dec. 30, 2018).
  • Lorraine K. Bannai, Enduring Conviction: Fred Korematsu and His Quest for Justice (2015).
  • Lorraine K. Bannai, "Challenged X 3: The Stories of Women of Color Who Teach Legal Writing," 29 Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law and Justice 275 (Summer 2014).
  • Lorraine K. Bannai, Gordon Hirabayashi: "What the College Student, Client, and Professor Taught Us about Seeking Justice," Washington State Bar Association's Bar News (March 2012).
  • Lorraine K. Bannai, Taking the Stand: The Lessons of Three Men Who Took the Japanese American Internment to Court, 4 Seattle J. Soc. Just. 1 (2005).
  • Lorraine K. Bannai & Anne Enquist, "(Un)Examined Assumptions and (Un)Intended Messages: Teaching Students to Recognize Bias in Legal Analysis and Language," 27 Seattle U. L. Rev. 1 (2003).
  • Lorraine K. Bannai , Anne Enquist, Judith Maier & Susan McClellan, "Sailing Through Designing Memo Assignments," 5 Leg. Writing 193 (1999).
  • Lorraine K. Bannai & Marie Eaton, Fostering Diversity in the Legal Profession: A Model for Preparing Minority and Other Non-Traditional Students for Law School, 31 U.S.F. L. Rev. 821 (1997).
  • Lorraine K. Bannai & Dale Minami, Internment during World War II and Litigations, in Asian Americans and the Supreme Court: A Documentary History 755-88 (H. Kim, ed. Greenwood Press 1992).