Our Team
Overview
Team
- Esther Sungeun Yoo, Director
- Danicole Ramos ’23, Equal Justice Works Fellow and Immigrant Veterans Advocate
- Stephanie Haro Sevilla (Flores) ‘23, Postgraduate Fellow and Immigrant Advocate
- Jemeih “Miah” Bonilla ‘25, Law Student Clinic Assistant
- Steven Manso ‘26, Law Student Clinic Assistant
Advisory Committee
- Krysti Uranaka-Yamashiro, Chair
- Kevin Block
- Stephanie Haro-Sevilla
- Maile M. Hirota
- Greg Kim
- Corianne W. Lau
- Jan Tamura
- Melinda (“Minda”) Yamaga
Emeritus Advisory Committee Members
- John Robert Egan
Law Fellow Alumni
- Ethan Higa
- Taylor S. Brack
- Beverlyn Simina
Past Advisory Committee Members
- Joshua Nam
- Leeyannah Armaine Santos
- Stephanie Haro Sevilla (Flores) ‘23
team
Esther Sungeun Yoo, Director
Esther Sungeun Yoo is an Assistant Professor of Law and the Director of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa William S. Richardson School of Law Refugee and Immigration Law Clinic. At Richardson, she teaches the Immigration Law and Immigration Clinic courses.
Prior to joining the law school, Professor Yoo was the founding attorney for The Legal Clinic in Honolulu. She counseled and represented hundreds of low-income Hawai‘i immigrants in a wide range of immigration matters before the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Executive Office of Immigration Review, the Board of Immigration Appeals, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Before entering public interest law, she served as Director of Academic Success at the University of Maine School of Law. She also worked as a litigator in private practice, where she maintained an active pro bono asylum practice.
Over her career, Professor Yoo has represented asylum seekers, including children, both affirmatively before USCIS and defensively in Immigration Court. Her clients have fled various forms of persecution, including FGM and forced marriage, on account of their race, nationality, religion, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group, including those based on LGBTQIA identity, gender, or familial ties. They have arrived from countries such as Afghanistan, Brazil, Burundi, Djibouti, El Salvador, Honduras, Myanmar, Peru, and Russia. She has also represented unaccompanied children and other youth who are eligible for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status.
Professor Yoo received her bachelor’s degree in Social Studies from Harvard University and graduated Order of the Coif from the UCLA School of Law. In law school, she served as an editor of the UCLA Law Review and was a member of the David J. Epstein Program in Public Interest Law and Policy. She began her legal career as an associate at O’Melveny & Myers LLP and served as a law clerk to the Honorable Dolly M. Gee of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
Professor Yoo is the child of immigrants from South Korea and the granddaughter of refugees from North Korea.
Email: esyoo@hawaii.edu
Phone: (808) 956-4092
Danicole Ramos ‘23, Equal Justice Works Fellow and Immigrant Veterans Advocate
Danicole Ramos ‘23 is an Equal Justice Works Fellow and Immigrant Veterans Advocate at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa William S. Richardson School of Law Refugee and Immigration Law Clinic (RILC). Danicole focuses on providing immigration legal services to noncitizen veterans and servicemembers in Hawai’i, helping with naturalization, parole in place, family reunification, humanitarian parole for deported veterans, and removal defense.
Danicole is also a Captain in the Hawai‘i Air National Guard, serving as a Military Equal Opportunity Advisor. In that capacity, he works to ensure equal opportunity for and treatment of all service members by overseeing the complaint process and providing training on human relations and sexual harassment prevention.
During law school, he served as a summer law clerk and extern for The Legal Clinic. As a RILC clinical student, Danicole represented an asylum seeker in Immigration Court. He also was a legal extern for Honolulu City Councilmember Matt Weyer and worked as a Legislative Aide to State Representative Sean Quinlan.
Danicole received his B.A. in Business Administration and Management from Seattle University, his M.A. in Public Administration from American University, and his J.D. from the William S. Richardson School of Law. Before law school, Danicole was a policy analyst and lobbyist for Elemental Excelerator, a nonprofit investor in climate technologies, and administrative coordinator for United We Dream, America’s largest immigrant youth-led network based in Washington, D.C.
He has also served as the board president of Faith Action Hawai‘i and vice president of the Young Democrats of Hawai‘i, and currently sits on the board of directors for Halau Nohana Hawai‘i, a D.C.-based Hawaiian cultural school.
The child of immigrants from the Philippines, Danicole was born and raised in the North Shore of O‘ahu.
Stephanie Haro Sevilla (Flores) ‘23, Postgraduate Fellow and Immigrant Advocate
Stephanie Haro Sevilla (Flores) ‘23 is a Postgraduate Fellow at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa William S. Richardson School of Law Refugee and Immigration Law Clinic (RILC). Prior to returning to Richardson as a Postgraduate Fellow, Stephanie served as a law clerk for the Honorable Rowena A. Somerville of the O‘ahu First Circuit of Hawai‘i, where she worked primarily on criminal cases.
Stephanie was born in Mexico and raised in Lahaina, Maui. As a Dreamer and former DACA recipient, she has long been a passionate advocate for immigrants. During law school, Stephanie worked for Pacific Gateway Center as their Immigration Law Clerk and volunteered at The Legal Clinic assisting in immigration matters. In addition, she was a RILC clinical student and served as the student representative to RILC’s Advisory Committee.
Stephanie also served as a Scholar Advocate for former Fred T. Korematsu Professor Eric Yamamoto. As a Scholar Advocate, Stephanie researched and wrote about the impact of the family separations at the southern border. During her first year of law school, Stephanie discussed her immigrant experience and her advocacy for immigration reform at a Ruth Bader Ginsburg Memorial event. Additionally, she was a co-organizer and moderator for a panel titled “The Life & Legacy of RBG: Her Impact on the People, Policies & Places of Hawaii.”
Stephanie received her B.A. in Political Science and Government from the University of Hawai‘i West Oahu and her J.D. from the William S. Richardson School of Law.
Even though Stephanie recently became a U.S. citizen, her immigrant roots remain deep within her. Her understanding of the immigrant experience motivates her to pursue a career in public interest law.
Jemeih “Miah” Bonilla ‘25, Law Student Clinic Assistant
Jemeih “Miah” Bonilla ‘25 is a 3L student at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa William S. Richardson School of Law. This past summer, Miah served as a summer law clerk for the Honorable Sabrina S. McKenna, Associate Justice of the Hawai‘i Supreme Court. During her 1L summer, Miah worked in the Washington, D.C. office of U.S. Senator Brian Schatz as the law school’s 2023 Patsy T. Mink Legislative Fellow.
At Richardson, Miah is a Lehua Scholar and serves as staff editor of the Asian-Pacific Law & Policy Journal and president of the Filipino Law Students Association. She is also an East-West Center Graduate Degree Fellow.
Miah received her B.A. and M.A. in Asian International Affairs at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Born in the Philippines, Miah immigrated to Hawai‘i at a young age and has called the islands her home since. Miah is fluent in Ilokano and Tagalog and proficient in Visayan and Mandarin Chinese.
After completing her law school education, Miah aspires to become a public defender and to assist the local Filipino community and other underrepresented groups, such as the transgender community.
Steven Manso ‘26, Law Student Clinic Assistant
Steven Manso ‘26 is a 2L student at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa William S. Richardson School of Law. In addition to working for RILC, Steven is conducting research through the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations on international atrocity prevention and response strategies. He was awarded the Sam L. Cohen International Human Rights Summer Fellowship to work in the Philippines, Colombia, and Peru for the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims this past summer.
At Richardson, Steven is a Lehua Scholar and serves as president of Advocates for Public Interest Law as well as La Alianza, the newly-revived Latin@ student organization. He is also treasurer of the Lambda Law Student Association and the Black Law Students Association.
Steven received his B.A. in Political Science, Criminology, and Spanish with a minor in Latin American Studies from the University of Florida. As an undergraduate, Steven worked with Kids in Need of Defense, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing legal representation to unaccompanied immigrant children, most of whom are from Latin America. Steven also worked in Madrid, Spain, with Fundación Abrazando Ilusiones, where he helped lead social integration and employment skills training workshops and taught Spanish-language classes to English-speaking migrants entering Spain from North Africa.
Steven’s interest in immigration law stems from his family’s immigration history. His grandmother and mother left Guatemala during the Guatemalan Civil War and came to the United States seeking economic and political stability. His father, who is from Cuba, was granted asylum in the United States based on persecution because of his membership in a particular social group.
Advisory COMMITTEE
Krysti Uranaka-Yamashiro, Chair
Krysti Uranaka-Yamashiro is currently a Staff Attorney with the City and County of Honolulu Office of Council Services. Previously, she served as a Policy Analyst with the Office of the Vice President for Administration at the University of Hawai‘i. Krysti received her J.D., summa cum laude, from the William S. Richardson School of Law in 2016. During her time in law school, she served as the Managing Editor of the UH Law Review and as a Judicial Extern to the Honorable Mark E. Recktenwald, Hawai‘i Supreme Court.
Kevin Block
Kevin Block is an attorney in private practice and the owner and principal attorney of Maui Immigration Law, LLC. Kevin’s areas of practice include family-based petitions, citizenship, deportation defense, green cards through marriage, appeals and specialty visas for athletes and investors. He currently serves as the Vice Chair for the Hawai‘i Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and on the Board of Directors of the Hawaii Affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union and The Legal Clinic.
Maile M. Hirota
Maile M. Hirota is the Manager of Hirota & Associates, LLLC, concentrating in business and family- based immigration law, including family visas, business and investor visas, permanent residence and U.S. citizenship matters. Maile’s extensive community immigration involvement includes serving on committees for the American Immigration Lawyers Association; membership in IMMLAW; providing expert witness testimony, clinics, and free legal seminars; and public speaker and advocacy work.
Greg Kim
For almost 40 years, Greg Kim has been a corporate lawyer, practicing in the area of corporate and securities law, including startup work and venture capital. After obtaining his B.S. in Engineering and Applied Sciences from Yale University and his J.D./M.B.A. from UC Berkeley, Greg served as a law clerk to the Honorable Herbert Y.C. Choy of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He began training as a corporate lawyer in the Bay Area at Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro, before returning home to Hawai‘i in 1988, where he joined Goodsill Anderson Quinn & Stifel. In 2004, he launched Vantage Counsel as one of the nation’s first virtual law firms. He then joined several other Silicon Valley-based virtual law firms, before returning to Vantage Counsel in 2018. During his career, Greg founded or co-founded multiple organizations dedicated to entrepreneurship and served on boards at business educational institutions. He has also long taught the Entrepreneurship and Small Business Clinic at the William S. Richardson School of Law. In addition to serving as a member of the Advisory Committee, Greg is currently volunteering as counsel for an asylee from Egypt.
Corianne W. Lau
Corianne W. Lau recently retired from the law firm of Dentons US LLP where her practice was concentrated in the areas of employment law, government contracts, commercial disputes and administrative law. She now serves as a consultant on state and local government procurement and an investigator in employment matters. Cori enjoys assisting nonprofit organizations and has served on the boards of the East-West Center, the Hawai’i State Bar Association, the Legal Aid Society of Hawai’i and the YWCA O’ahu.
Jan Tamura
A retired attorney, Jan was a partner and counsel at a Honolulu law firm where she litigated civil matters in state and federal courts for over 20 years. During her legal career, she also served as the legal services director for both the Domestic Violence Clearinghouse & Legal Hotline (now the Domestic Violence Action Center) and Volunteer Legal Services Hawai‛i. Currently, she is an investigator with the University of Hawaii System Office of Equity Assurance. Jan’s lifelong pro bono work has included advising and representing survivors of gender-based violence, volunteering as a court appointed guardian ad litem for sexually abused teens, and serving on numerous non-profit boards and advisory committees as well as committees of the Hawaii State Bar Association. She chaired the inaugural Refugee & Immigration Law Clinic’s Advisory Committee from March 2022 to January 2024 and has been volunteering as pro bono publicus counsel, assisting clinic clients with their applications for asylum, temporary protected status, and J-1 waivers. Jan received her M.S.W. from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and her J.D. from the William S. Richardson School of Law.
Melinda (“Minda”) Yamaga
Minda Yamaga is currently a Senior Litigator in the Office of the Federal Public Defender, District of Hawai‘i where she represents criminal defendants charged with violations of federal law. Prior to that, from 2010 to 2015, she worked as a Deputy Public Defender at the State of Hawai‘i Office of the Public Defender. There, she appeared as counsel for indigent criminal defendants in state court proceedings and was lead trial attorney in numerous jury trials. From 2009-2010, she was a law clerk for the Honorable Richard W. Pollack, State of Hawai‘i First Judicial Circuit Judge. Minda received a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry with a Certificate in Women’s Studies from the University of Hawai‘i and a law degree from the University of Hawai‘i William S. Richardson School of Law. She serves as President of the Board for the Japanese American Citizens League, Honolulu Chapter; President of the Board for Mental Health Kokua; and is a Board Member for the Hawaiʻi Chapter of the Federal Bar Association.
emeritus Advisory COMMITTEE members
John Robert Egan
John Robert Egan is an experienced Immigration Lawyer and served as Chairperson of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, Hawai’i Chapter in 2008-2009. In the early 1990’s he worked as a Field Officer for the United Nations Refugee Agency, UNHCR, serving in posts in Mozambique and Malawi. This experience, working to ameliorate the impacts of large-scale forced migration, provided a strong motivation to learn the international laws and protocols related to cross-border population movements.
Before recently retiring as a member of the WSRSL faculty, John taught numerous immigration law courses and served as the Director of Refugee & Immigration Law Clinic, providing students with live-client practice opportunities before the Immigration Court, the various immigration agencies and the Federal Courts of Appeal.
