Lorraine Bannai
Professor of Lawyering Skills and Director, Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality
Curriculum VitaeBiography
After earning her J.D., Professor Bannai was a partner with the San Francisco firm of Minami, Lew & Tamaki. While in practice, she was part of the legal team in Korematsu v. United States, an action that successfully challenged Mr. Korematsu's conviction for violating military orders removing Japanese Americans from the West Coast during World War II. Prior to joining the Seattle University faculty in 1996, Professor Bannai directed the academic support program at the University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law; taught at the University of San Francisco, the John F. Kennedy, and the New College of California Schools of Law; and was a visiting associate professor in Western Washington University's Law and Diversity Program. She has written and spoken widely on the issue of the wartime Japanese American incarceration, including her biography of Fred Korematsu, Enduring Conviction: Fred Korematsu and His Quest for Justice.
Publications
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).