John D. Trasvina

Infobox Person
name = John D. Trasviña


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birth_place = San Francisco
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occupation = attorney
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John D. Trasviña is president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF).cite news | first= | last= | url=http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA072907.04B.MALDEF_QA.33e81e6.html | title=MALDEF chief comes to S.A. | publisher=San Antonio Express-News | date=2007-07-28] He took over the position in November 2006. He is a native of San Francisco, and a graduate of Harvard University and Stanford Law School.cite web |url= http://www.committeetodefend.org/Conveners/JohnTrasvina.html |title= Trasvina Biography|accessdate=2008-04-01 |last= |first= |coauthors= |date= |work= |publisher=The Committee to Defend] Trasviña has focused his work at the local and federal levels on civil rights, voting rights, immigration policy, worker rights and education.

Public service

After graduating from Stanford Law School, he began his career as a Deputy City Attorney in San Francisco from 1983 to 1985 and then to the Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund in Washington D.C. from 1985 to 1987 as a legislative counsel. From there he moved to Capitol Hill to work for Paul Simon in 1987 first as counsel and then in 1993 as General Counsel & Staff Director for the United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Property Rights. During the Clinton Administration he was appointed to be [http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/osc/index.html Special Counsel for Immigration Related Unfair Employment Practices] at the U.S. Department of Justice in 1997. cite web |url= http://www.icasinc.org/%5Cbios%5Ctrasvina.html |title= Biography |accessdate=2008-04-01 |last= |first= |coauthors= |date= |work= |publisher=Institute for Corean-American Studies] He also served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs at the U.S. Department of Justice.

After leaving DOJ in 2001 he was the Director of the Discrimination Research Center in Berkeley and taught at Stanford Law School. cite web |url= http://www.impactfund.org/pages/drc.htm |title= Discrimination Research Center|accessdate=2008-04-01 |last= |first= |coauthors= |date= |work= |publisher=Impact Fund]

Community involvement

Trasviña has been a member of the San Francisco Elections Commission, president of the Harvard Club of San Francisco. He has served on the boards of the La Raza Lawyers Association, CORO of Northern California, the Lowell High School Alumni Association, the League of Women Voters and the Pacific Coast Immigration Museum, Latino Issues Forum, Campaign for College Opportunity and the Harvard Club of Southern California.cite web |url= http://www.collegecampaign.org/about-us/board-of-directors/trasvina.html |title= Trasvina Biography|accessdate=2008-04-01 |last= |first= |coauthors= |date= |work= |publisher=COllege Campaign]

He has also been an officer with the D.C. Hispanic Bar Association, the Hispanic National Bar Association the Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership, and the D.C. Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs.

He has been called one of the 100 Most Influential Hispanics in the United States by Hispanic Business magazine. In 2000, he was honored with the MALDEF Award for Excellence in the Legal Profession and the Distinguished Service Award by the Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership.

External links

*cite web |url= http://judiciary.senate.gov/testimony.cfm?id=2798&wit_id=6514 |title= Testimony of John Trasviña, Prevention of Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation in Federal Elections: S. 453 |accessdate=2008-04-01 |last= |first= |coauthors= |date= 2007-06-07 |work= |publisher= United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary
*cite web |url= http://www.maldef.org/about/staff.htm |title= MALDEF Biography |accessdate=2008-04-01 |last= |first= |coauthors= |date= |work= |publisher= MALDEF

References