Mia Yamamoto

Yamamoto was born in Poston, Arizona in a Japanese-American internment camp during World War II. Her mother was a registered nurse and her father was a lawyer. Her family's experiences in the camp, and her father's subsequent exclusion from the then Whites-only Los Angeles County Bar Association where early factors that shaped Yamamoto's view on the legal system and race relations. Having been born "doing time" due to her race, she developed a sensitivity to clients who found themselves facing convictions and harsh punishments that they otherwise might be able to avoid, had they been white.

Yamamoto and her brothers joined Mexican gangs, who were unafraid to stand up to racial injustice. Due to its potential psychological benefits, Yamamoto saw the gang lifestyle as somewhat positive. Gangs offered her a home away from home, and years later she was as a voice for past gang members by serving as their trail lawyer.

Yamamoto did not begin identifying as transsexual until later in her life. While struggling with her gender identity she decided to enlist in the Army, in which she served from 1966-68. She was awarded many medals such as the National Defense Service medal, Army Commendation Medal, and Vietnam campaign medal.

After the army she attended UCLA’s School of Law, where she co-founded the Asian Pacific Islander Law student association. In 1984 she opened her own practice, and has practiced law since that time. The salary that she earned as a lawyer helped her afford therapy, which began her journey towards realizing she was a trans woman. However, she was only able to find negative representations of the transgender community. Mia tried to find her way through her transition with the arts, learning to dance and play music. The challenges faced during the transition led her to the realization that she should become an activist for the transgender community.

She married Kimberlee Tellez on Sept. 2, 2015.

In practice since 1985, Yamamoto has tried over 200 jury trials, representing thousands of clients accused of crimes such as murder, sex offences, assault, drug offenses, theft, white-collar crimes,and DUI.

Yamamoto was appointed to serve on the California Judicial Council Task Forces on Jury Improvement and on Fairness and Access in the Courts by the Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court.

In 1999 she presented a lecture for President Clinton’s Initiative on “Race and Criminal Justice” at George Washington University. She has been a guest for several panels, classes and demonstrations for the American Bar Association, Los Angeles County Bar Association International Bridges to Justice, for which she trained criminal defense attorneys in the Republic of China.  

She has also been commentator for print, radio and television news features. 

Yamamoto is the recipient of the Rainbow Key Award by the City of West Hollywood, The Liberty Award by Lambda Legal, The Harvey Milk Legacy Award by Christopher Street West/LA Pride and she has also been honored by API Equality and the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission for her advocacy on behalf of the LGBT community. She has also received honors from the Criminal Courts Bar Association, National Lawyers Guild, and the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles.