Mari Matsuda facts for kids
Mari J. Matsuda (born 1956) is an American lawyer, activist, and law professor at the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. She was the first tenured female Asian American law professor in the United States, at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Law in 1998 and one of the leading voices in critical race theory since its inception. Matsuda returned to Richardson in the fall of 2008. Prior to her return, Matsuda was a professor at the UCLA School of Law and Georgetown University Law Center, specializing in the fields of torts, constitutional law, legal history, feminist theory, critical race theory, and civil rights law.
Education and early career
Matsuda obtained her high school diploma from Roosevelt High School in Hawaii, Bachelor of Arts from Arizona State University, her Juris Doctor from the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, and her LL.M., Harvard Law School. She was an associate at the labor law firm of King & Nakamura in Honolulu and was law clerk to Judge Herbert Young Cho Choy of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Career
She became the first tenured female Asian American law professor in the United States, at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Law in 1998. Before joining the faculty at UCLA, she was professor of law for eight years at the University of Hawaii School of Law, teaching American Legal History, Torts, Constitutional Law, Civil Rights, and Sex Discrimination. Professor Matsuda has also taught at Stanford Law School and Hiroshima University and served as a judicial training consultant in Micronesia and South Africa. She is a self-described "activist scholar." Her intellectual influence extends beyond law reviews (she authored three entries on a Yale Law School librarian's list of the ten most-cited law review articles) to include articles in academic and popular journals such as Amerasia Journal and Ms. Magazine. She is one of the leading voices in critical race theory since its inception. For example, she wrote in 1996 the importance of Asian-Americans to fight becoming the racial bourgeoisie. Her publications on reparations and affirmative action are frequently cited.
As a frequent keynote speaker, she has lectured at universities. As a board member of the Chevron-Texaco Task Force on Equality and Fairness, she coauthored its final report in 2002, and she received the 2003 Society of American Law Teachers Human Rights Award at the Association of American Law Schools Conference.
She has served as a judicial training consultant in countries as diverse as Micronesia and South Africa, and her work has been cited in state supreme court opinions. For Matsuda, community is linked to teaching and scholarship. She serves on national advisory boards of social justice organizations, including the ACLU, the National Asian Pacific Legal Consortium, and Ms. Magazine. She was recognized by A. Magazine as one of the 100 most influential Asian Americans for her representation of Manuel Fragante accent discrimination case, and others. Judge Richard Posner lists Mari Matsuda as among those scholars most likely to have lasting influence.
Awards and honors
- AALDEF Justice in Action award, 2014
- Regents Medal for Excellence in Teaching, 2016
Personal life
She is of Okinawan ancestry.
