Joann

Lee

Nominated by Silvia Argueta

"Joann H. Lee currently serves as special counsel on language justice at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, where she has provided direct legal services to Asian American and Pacific Islander communities in the greater Los Angeles area since 2000. The heart of Joann's work has been language justice for linguistically marginalized communities. She has achieved gains in how the courts and government agencies provide meaningful access to people who are non dominannt English speakers. She has literally opened the doors to justice for hundred of thousands of people in California.  Bilingual in Korean, Joann has specialized in family and immigration law, with a focus on representing survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking. She has conducted extensive advocacy with government entities to obtain meaningful language services on behalf of linguistically marginalized communities, including filing administrative complaints and litigation based on civil rights mandates. Joann was appointed to and served on the California Judicial Council Language Access Plan Implementation Task Force from 2015-2019. She has coordinated and facilitated the National Language Access Advocates Network since its inception in 2006. Active in the local community, Joann has served on the boards of the Korean American Bar Association, Korean Resource Center and the Center for the Pacific Asian Family."