page_title: Bill Lann Lee
section_title: Civil rights career
hierarchical_section_title: Bill Lann Lee / Civil rights career
caption_attribution_description: English: Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder opened an Interagency Working Group meeting of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders hosted by the Department of Justice on October 18, 2000, which addressed LEPissues. In the immediate background, White House representative Irene Bueno, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Bill Lann Lee, and Community Relations Service Director Rose Ochi look on. (DOJ photo)
context_page_description: Bill Lann Lee is a Chinese American civil rights lawyer who served as Assistant United States Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division for the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division under President Bill Clinton.
  He is married to Carolyn Yee with whom he has two sons and a daughter. He currently resides in Berkeley, California.
context_section_description: While a law student, Lee worked as a research assistant for Jack Greenberg, Thurgood Marshall's successor at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF). After graduating from law school, he returned to the Legal Defense Fund and worked there as a civil rights attorney until 1982. While still affiliated with LDF, from 1979 - 1980, Lee served as Counsel for the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund. He then moved to Los Angeles in 1983, where he was Supervising Attorney for Civil Rights Litigation at the Center for Law in the Public Interest until 1988. He then returned to the Legal Defense Fund to serve as the director of its Western Regional Office.
  In 1997, President Bill Clinton nominated Lee to the nation's highest civil rights post – Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Justice. His nomination, like Lani Guinier's before him, faced significant opposition from conservatives concerned with his views on affirmative action. He stayed in the position as acting assistant attorney general for ​2 ¹⁄₂ years before being recess appointed by President Clinton in 2000. He was never confirmed to this position by the Senate. Lee became the highest-ranking Asian-American in the Department of Justice, where he led successful efforts to strengthen the nation's  hate crime laws, improve access and opportunities for Americans with disabilities, fight against housing discrimination, and spearheaded efforts to toughen laws against human trafficking and involuntary servitude.
  Serving until the end of the Clinton White House despite the Senate's refusal to confirm him, Lee returned to his alma mater, Columbia University Law School, as a visiting scholar, and wrote a report on international human rights for the Ford Foundation.
  In November 2001, Lee accepted a position as a partner with the law firm of Lieff Cabraser Heimann and Bernstein, where he directed the firm's human rights practice and co-chaired the employment practice. In 2006, Lee left Lieff Cabraser to become a name partner at Lewis Feinberg Lee Renaker & Jackson in Oakland, Ca.
  Continuing his civil rights work, Lee chaired the bipartisan National Commission on the Voting Rights Act, which compiled evidence for the successful extension of the Act in July 2006. He also chaired the Bar Association of San Francisco’s Task Force that produced a report on diversity in San Francisco law firms.  He is a board member of Advancement Project.
caption: Bill Lann Lee with Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder, opening an Interagency Working Group meeting of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders hosted by the Department of Justice on October 18, 2000.
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