Ayako Nagano
Bar Admission: California and New York
Education: University of California, Berkeley, B.A. Legal Studies; Fordham Law School, J.D. / Golden Gate University, L.L.M. Tax Law
Languages: Japanese and English (native in both languages)
Personal Biography:
In the estate planning, administration and probate context, Aya has a niche practice serving U.S. residents who have relatives in Japan.
In November 2019, Aya was appointed as a council member to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC). NEJAC is a federal advisory council that advises the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights at the EPA.
Currently, Aya serves as Secretary of the Board for three 501(c)(3) non-profits: Common Vision, which installs school gardens all across California; Transition Berkeley, a local Transition Town initiative to bring neighbors together to build a more equitable, sustainable, resilient future for Berkeley; and Nippon Kobo, which produces cross-cultural programs by luminaries in the Japanese American community. Aya also serves on the board of Clean Water Fund as Board Treasurer, to develop strong grassroots environmental leadership and to bring together diverse constituencies to work cooperatively for changes that improve their lives, focused on health, consumer, environmental and community problems.
Aya also serves on the Steering Committee of the Green Leadership Trust, a coalition of non-profit board members of color, promoting diversity, equity and inclusion within Environmental movement. Aya is co-chair of ITRC (International Transformational Resilience Coalition) in California, working to build widespread levels of psychological and psycho-social-spiritual resilience for the adversities generated by climate change; serves on the Social Justice Working Group for Transition US; and organizes the Plastic Reduction Working Group in the Berkeley / Albany area.
From June 2009 to February 2013, Aya served as Chair of the Board for Nobiru-kai, Inc., a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit whose aim is to foster a viable community for Japanese-speaking persons living in the United States, from its headquarters in San Francisco’s Japantown. In the past, Aya also served on the boards of Kimochi, Inc. and Hopalong Animal Rescue, both 501(c)(3) not-for-profits.
From June 2006 to May 2011, Aya served on the advisory committee of the Northern California chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers’ Association (AILA). Aya has also served on the Community Relations Committee of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce of Northern California.
From 2003 to 2006, Aya ran a bi-monthly Tenants Rights Workshop in Oakland, California, for the East Bay Community Law Center. Aya was a staff attorney at the HIV Law Project in New York, NY, and provided legal representation to low income, HIV + persons for matters involving their housing (landlord-tenant), benefits, and living wills. During law school, Aya worked at the Union of Needletrade, Industrial, and Textile Employees (UNITE!, a member of the AFL-CIO), Lincoln Square Legal Services Battered Women’s Rights’ Clinic, the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project in Florence, Arizona, and Witness, which was a project of the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (“LCHR”). Aya also participated in a human rights mission to Turkey in a joint project between LCHR and the Crowley Human Rights Project.