Lynn R. Nakamoto (born May 24, 1960) is an American judge who is a former justice of the
Oregon Supreme Court
The Oregon Supreme Court (OSC) is the highest state court in the U.S. state of Oregon. The only court that may reverse or modify a decision of the Oregon Supreme Court is the Supreme Court of the United States.Kate Brown, and previously served on the Oregon Court of Appeals from 2011 to 2016.
Early life and education
Nakamoto was born in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
and grew up in
Orange County, California
Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, a ...
. Nakamoto, who is the first member of her family to graduate college, received a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
in philosophy with honors from
Wellesley College
Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial g ...
in 1982. She then earned her
Juris Doctor
The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law
and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...
degree in 1985 at
New York University School of Law
New York University School of Law (NYU Law) is the law school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1835, it is the oldest law school in New York City and the oldest surviving law school in New ...
.
Career
From 1985 to 1987, she worked at Bronx Legal Services in New York City before moving to Oregon in 1987, when she became a staff attorney and acting director of Marion-Polk Legal Aid Service. In 1989, she joined Markowitz, Herbold, Glade & Mehlhaf, a
Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
* Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States
* Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
law firm focusing on business litigation, eventually becoming its managing shareholder. She worked there until her appointment to the bench in 2011.
She served as vice chair of the Oregon Board of Bar Examiners in 2001 and chair of the
Oregon State Bar
The Oregon State Bar Association (OSBA) is a public corporation and instrumentality of the Oregon Judicial Department in the U.S. state of Oregon. Founded in 1890 as the private Oregon Bar Association, it became a public entity in 1935 that regulat ...
's affirmative action committee in 2006.
The Oregon Asian Pacific American Bar Association (OAPABA) presents an award called the Lynn Nakamoto Award at its annual gala dinner.
Judicial service
In 1989, Nakamoto had served as a summer clerk for United States District Judge
Helen J. Frye
Helen Jackson Frye (December 10, 1930 – April 21, 2011) was an American judge and attorney in the state of Oregon. She served as a judge of the Oregon Circuit Court and later as a United States district judge of the United States District Court ...
.
In 2011, Governor Ted Kulongoski appointed Nakamoto to the Oregon Court of Appeals, to fill the seat created by Jack Landau's appointment to the Oregon Supreme Court. She was elected unopposed to a six-year term at the
2012 election
This national electoral calendar for 2012 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2012 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included.
January
*3–4 January: ...
.
In 2015, Governor Kate Brown named Nakamoto to the Oregon Supreme Court, to fill the vacancy created by
Virginia Linder
Virginia Lynn Linder (born 1953) is an American judge from Oregon who served as the 99th justice of the Oregon Supreme Court from January 2007 until January 2016. She served on the Oregon Court of Appeals from 1997 until her election to the state' ...
's retirement. Nakamoto is of Japanese descent, and her appointment made her the first Asian American to serve on the supreme court. Nakamoto retired from the court on December 31, 2021.
Personal life
Nakamoto was a founding member of the Oregon Minority Lawyers Association and sat on the board of the
Q Center
Q Center is an LGBT community center and non-profit organization located in Portland, Oregon, in the United States.
History
The community center was established in 2005, championed by then-city Commissioner Sam Adams. Kendall Clawson, an Afr ...
, an
LGBT
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term is a ...
community center in North Portland.
Nakamoto is a lesbian. As of 2021, she is one of twelve openly LGBT state supreme court justices serving in the United States. Nakamoto and her partner have a daughter named Eleanor adopted from
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
List of LGBT jurists in the United States
This is a list of openly LGBT Americans who are or were judges, magistrate judges, court commissioners, or administrative law judges in the United States and its federal district and territories. If known, it will be listed if a judge has served o ...
*
List of LGBT people from Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon has a large LGBT community for its size. Notable LGBT people from the city include:
* Sam Adams – first openly gay mayor of a large U.S. city
* Matt Alber – singer-songwriter
* Terry Bean – gay rights activist and p ...
*
List of LGBT state supreme court justices in the United States
Below is a list of the names of the LGBT persons who have served on the highest court of a state or territory in the United States.
The first state with an LGBT justice was Oregon, where Rives Kistler was named to the bench in 2003. The first U. ...