Bill Lann Lee

Bill Lann Lee (born February 5, 1949) is an American civil rights attorney 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.

Early life and education Lee was born in New York City to Chinese immigrant parents. He owned a hand laundromat on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II at age 35; still, he experienced racism such as taunting or being rejected for housing and jobs. Lee graduated from the Bronx High School of Science and attended Yale University on a scholarship. As an undergraduate at Yale, Lee majored in history and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, graduating magna cum laude in 1971. 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. He chairs the board of Advancement Project and is senior counsel on Advancement's California civil rights office.

Honors Lee has written briefs in many U.S. Supreme Court cases and has presented oral arguments before seven U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal. He has been an active member of several professional organizations, including the Los Angeles County Bar, the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference, the Southern California Chinese Lawyer Association, and the American Bar Association.

He has received many honors for his outstanding career in civil rights law, including the Thurgood Marshall Medal of Justice (1998), the Trailblazer Award from the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (1999), and the John Randolph Distinguished Service Award, U. S. Department of Justice (2001). He has also been awarded honorary doctorates in law from City University of New York Law School (2001), North Carolina Central University (2000), and Wesleyan University (1999).

Personal life

Lee has three children and currently resides in Berkeley, California.