Paul Igasaki, Class of ’79

In his wide-ranging career in civil rights law, Paul Igasaki ’79 has been Chair and Chief Judge of the U.S. Department of Labor Administrative Review Board; Deputy CEO of Equal Justice Works, an organization that provides grants and advocacy to public interest lawyers; Executive Director of the Rights Working Group, a coalition of human and civil rights organizations; Vice Chair, Chair, and Commissioner of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; Executive Director of the Asian Law Caucus; Washington D.C. Representative of the Japanese American Citizens League; the Mayor of Chicago’s Asian American Liaison and counsel to the Chicago Commission on Human Relations; and the American Bar Association’s Director of Private Bar Involvement and Pro Bono Coordinator. He began his career as the Legal Services of Northern California Reginald Heber Smith Community Law Fellow.

Judge Igasaki helped found both the Chicago Asian American Bar Association and the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. King Hall has honored him as a distinguished alumnus. In 2010, he delivered King Hall’s commencement address.

What drew you to civil rights law?

Growing up in the 1960s, I wanted to pursue a profession of fairness, justice, and service. My parents focused me on the inequalities in our society. Specifically, we are told that the United States is dedicated to due process and equal justice under law. Yet I grew up knowing that my parents and grandparents were American citizens and residents that were thrown into concentration camps because of their race and with no due process of law. They lost their farms, their jobs, and their homes because the nation of their ancestors went to war with the U.S. At the same time, growing up in the sixties, racial segregation was widespread. My grandfather was one of the earliest Japanese American lawyers, yet there was little that he could do as his family was sent to camps. In the spirit of the civil rights era, I felt law school was a path to seek the fairness and justice that we have been promised.

Your civil rights career has been exceptionally broad. Do you see advantages to taking that wide-ranging approach rather than focusing on one area?

For me, the broad nature of my career worked. I didn’t plan it that way. My father, an accountant, spent his whole career working for the same public utility in Chicago. But I found that I was energized by new challenges. Opportunities emerged for me that were unique ways to have an impact. Some of it is because I chose jobs where funding wasn’t certain or were limited by terms. I started out as a civil legal services attorney, but the impact legal work that I was trying to do was not possible when the Reagan era cutbacks made our workload enormous. I went back to my hometown of Chicago to work for the American Bar Association to fight for federal legal services and pro bono work by the profession. I joined the administration of the first African American mayor of Chicago to protect the interests of Asian Chicagoans. I also found that new opportunities gave me an opportunity to develop my strongest talents. I had strong advocacy skills, but not just in the courtroom, in the governmental and management areas as well. After my boss passed and my job ended, the Japanese American Citizens League, which I served as chapter president, offered me an opportunity to serve as JACL’s Washington D.C. Representative, lobbying for immigrant rights and funding for Japanese American redress. Other changes took me back to California, to work on Rep. Bob Matsui’s Senate campaign and as Executive Director of the Asian Law Caucus. I was appointed to the EEOC by President Clinton, served in the Rights Working Group and Equal Justice Works when my terms ended. And I returned to government under the Obama administration as Chief Judge and Chair of the Department of Labor’s Administrative Review Board. My terms ended during the first Trump administration followed by the pandemic. I retired at that time. I felt that my willingness to move to new opportunities and develop my various skills allowed me to have a rewarding career. Not for everybody, but I don’t regret my path. 

When you helped develop the Americans with Disabilities Act, did you recognize at the time what an enormous impact it would have?

The ADA was a new kind of civil rights law and a major step for our working environment. It was passed shortly before I went to the EEOC. I went to the EEOC focused on the rights of people of color and immigrants. But along with sexual harassment, the ADA was a high priority as we had to define the standards of the new law. Because much of it involved the definition of “reasonable” accommodations to allow people with disabilities to work, the standard changed with the job, the company, and the person’s disability. When the ADA was first passed, having a computer that had a voice interface was beyond small businesses, but perhaps not larger ones. Eventually, it was widely available. The EEOC will always have an impact on the ADA, as will the courts. The law has allowed more Americans to join the workforce and continues to strengthen our economy.

One of your accomplishments was to overhaul the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s case handling system to eliminate the backlog and be able to help people. How much of civil rights work is unglamorous but extremely important? Do you think that side of it can be neglected?

You learn quickly in law school that much of lawyers so is nothing like on TV. Some are fascinated by tax or real property law. More than many, I can get bored with my day-to-day work. But more than boredom, I am moved by the pragmatic reality of doing what works. The repetitive monotony of individual poverty law wasn’t what caused me to move on, but seeing domestic victims receiving help, but returning to dangerous environments anyway, or low income tenants who get some relief from bad conditions, but not having enough resources to avoid eviction the next month did frustrate me. Systems work. The EEOC suffered from underfunding and understaffing and that led to massive case backlogs. And when the investigations took too long, the evidence and memories got stale. The Clarence Thomas EEOC that preceded us allowed the backlog to mushroom. Plaintiffs suffered. But so did companies that had to wait for internal conflict to be resolved. Applying prosecutorial discretion and relying more on plaintiff’s private counsel allowed us to reduce the backlog dramatically. It has grown back up and reduced again, so it takes attention. Justice delayed is justice denied. When I was acting Chair, that’s why I focusing on getting us the biggest funding increase in that era. 

Of all your many accomplishments in so many different areas, what are you proudest of?

Intellectually, I am most proud of what had the greatest impact. That would be the protections and operational breakthroughs at the EEOC. Sexual harassment, the ADA, immigrant rights among the areas. But my work in Chicago with the Mayor and the Commission on Human Relations were the most satisfying personal achievements. Helping my hometown Chicago breakthrough its historic racism and serving a rapidly growing Asian community, including standing up to the Immigration Service, combined both my activist and public service character. 

Why did you choose to attend King Hall?

When I decided to go to law school, one of the things I wanted to do was get closer to the emerging Asian American communities that existed on the West and to some degree the East Coast. I also wanted to go to a school that would help prepare me for a progressive, activist career. I included Northeastern and Antioch also, but applied at King Hall, USC, Berkeley, and UCLA in California. I had an advisor at NU that promoted King Hall. The catalog had a big picture of MLK on the cover and promoted its Asian and other minority organizations and, specifically, the Asian Legal Services Outreach office serving low income Asian Americans. I am definitely a city guy, so when I got off the bus in Davis the summer before I started, smelling the cows made me think I was in downstate Illinois. Turns out that ALSO had closed before I got there. But I came to love the community I was a part of there. And we restarted ALSO, for a while. I explored California, and I fear that I would’ve been distracted from my studies if I was living in LA or SF. And Davis was then, and even more now, an academy that turns out many public interest advocates. 

What is your favorite King Hall memory?

To be honest, I remember my classes, but it wasn’t what I remember most fondly. I remember studying, or even just relaxing with my friends on the grass next to King Hall overlooking Putah Creek. Or the social gatherings. I also got away, spending many weekends in the Bay Area, as my roommate had a brother with a place in the East Bay.

How have you stayed involved with King Hall?

Somewhat. I came back to meet with student groups and to speak to a class here or there. I gave the graduation speech in 2010. Have come back for a couple of my reunions. We are looking at retiring to Sacramento (my wife is a King Hall grad also [Louann Igasaki ’83), so maybe more so in the future. I kept close to my former professor and advisor Floyd Feeney, so I was sorry when he passed. And I have kept connected with Dean Johnson. His leadership on immigrant rights is inspirational. 

Do you have any advice for current law students?

I believe that all lawyers owe our society pro bono contributions. Law students too. Finding ways that your particular strengths can help those who need it no matter what your day job involves is a legal responsibility. Pursue summer jobs, internships, or clerkships when you can. It will make the classes make more sense and help you define what you are interested in and good at. I do think that the world is constantly changing, so being open to changing your path is a good thing. Think broadly about what you want to do and what you are good at. What your career becomes may not be what you expected.