Distinguished Lecturer

Kathryn Bannai was lead counsel in Gordon Hirabayashi's coram nobis case from 1982 to early 1985. Among other critical work, she successfully defeated the government’s effort to dismiss Hirabayashi’s case and persuaded the court to grant an evidentiary hearing. That hearing led to overturning Hirabayashi’s convictions for resisting the curfew and exclusion orders promulgated under E.O. 9066. 

In addition to practicing law, she adjudicated cases for the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal and Seattle’s Public Safety Civil Service Commission. She has served as president of the Seattle Chapter JACL; president of the New York Chapter JACL; member of the Board of Trustees of Eastern Washington University; member of the Board of Directors of Little Tokyo Community Council (Los Angeles); and Advisory Council member of Kizuna (Los Angeles). She was also co-chair of the committee that nominated Mitsuye Endo Tsutsumi for recognition that led to her receiving posthumously the Presidential Citizens Medal.

Kathryn is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Japanese American National Museum (JANM). She received her law degree from UC Law San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings).

Distinguished Lecturer

Lorraine K. Bannai is Professor Emerita and Director Emerita of the Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality at Seattle University School of Law. After earning her J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law, Professor Bannai joined what is now the San Francisco firm of Minami Tamaki. While there, she served on the legal team that successfully challenged the infamous case of Korematsu v. United States, which had upheld the forced, mass removal of Japanese Americans from the West Coast.

Professor Bannai has written and spoken widely on the wartime Japanese American incarceration and its present-day relevance, testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, raising the warning of the incarceration in opposing provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that permit the indefinite detention of individuals without due process.

She has also co-authored numerous amicus briefs in civil rights cases across the country, including one in Hedges v. Obama, a case challenging those same NDAA provisions, and in Trump v. Hawaii, challenging the Muslim travel ban. 

She has co-authored the book Race, Rights, and National Security: Law and the Japanese American Incarceration, and authored an award-winning biography of Fred Korematsu, Enduring Conviction: Fred Korematsu and His Quest for Justice.  She has been interviewed about the Korematsu case on the podcasts More Perfect and Here’s Where It Gets Interesting.

Distinguished Lecturer

Peggy Nagae was the lead attorney for Minoru Yasui in reopening his WWII Supreme Court case (along with Korematsu v. United States and Hirabayashi v. United States), successfully overturning his conviction. She also served on the JACL National Redress Committee, which formulated the Congressional legislation for reparations and passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988.

In 2013, Peggy spearheaded Mr. Yasui’s successful nomination for a Presidential Medal of Freedom, which President Obama awarded him, posthumously, in November 2015. She worked with the Portland Japanese American community to pass legislation creating a permanent Minoru Yasui Day in Oregon and  co-founded the Minoru Yasui Legacy Project in 2014.   

In 2024 Peggy and Kathryn Bannai co-chaired Mitsuye Endo Tsutsumi’s successful nomination for presidential recognition. In World War II Endo Tsutsumi’s habeas corpus petition wended its way to U.S. Supreme Court, where she won. Her case was a significant factor in closing the U.S. Japanese American concentration camps in 1944 and allowing Japanese Americans to return to the West Coast. On January 2nd, 2025, Peggy, Kathryn, and other Japanese American leaders attended the White House ceremony where President Biden awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal, posthumously, to Endo.

Peggy graduated from Vassar College. She earned a JD from Lewis and Clark Law School, and a MA in Spiritual Psychology from the University of Santa Monica. 

Moderator, Boise and Ketchum programs

Melissa Davlin is president of the Idaho Press Club and host and lead producer of Idaho Reports on Idaho Public Television. Davlin also produces for IdahoPTV’s history documentary series, Idaho Experience. She previously worked at the Twin Falls Times-News, where she covered politics, human interest stories, and refugee resettlement.

Davlin has won multiple awards for her work, including a regional Emmy for her documentary on Chinese immigration in the northwest, the 2019 Enhancing Public Discourse Award from Boise State University, the 2022 Silver and Gold Alumni Award from University of Idaho, and the 2019 First Amendment Award from the Idaho Press Club.

Davlin lives in Boise with her husband and three sons.

Moderator, University of Idaho College of Law program

Wendy J. Olson, former U.S. Attorney for the District of Idaho, is a partner in Stoel Rives’ Litigation practice. She focuses her practice on government investigations, white-collar criminal defense, civil litigation, and pro bono civil rights cases. At Stoel Rives, Wendy routinely represents individuals and businesses in state and federal False Claims Act investigations and other regulatory proceedings. As part of a Stoel team, she successfully defended a former aluminum parts manufacturing company supervisor against charges in the District of Oregon of major fraud against the United States. She has participated in voting rights, reproductive rights, First Amendment rights, and fair housing pro bono litigation. Wendy has represented media outlets seeking access to court proceedings and sources. In May of 2024, Wendy helped a client win a $1.176 million jury award for false statements made about him.

Prior to being appointed U.S. Attorney by President Barack Obama in 2010, Wendy served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for 13 years. Prior to joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Wendy was a trial attorney in the Criminal Section, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. Wendy also served as a law clerk for U.S. Chief District Court Judge Barbara Rothstein in Seattle.

Wendy is a Pocatello native and, even on her best days, the third best lawyer in her family. She and her husband, Craig, have two amazing adult daughters and four poorly behaved dogs.