Bryce Yonehiro Hatakeyama grew up with a legacy which included great sadness. While both of his grandfathers served in the Army during World War II, his grandmothers spent that time in a Japanese Internment camp. This family history was a part of what eventually drove his desire to become a judge, to leave behind a different “family legacy.”
That drive was rewarded when he was recently appointed as an Administrative Law Judge for the State Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board, after years of being a Workers’ Comp attorney. During that time, he worked with numerous Hmong and other Southeast Asian clients, noting they were “good people who were often taken advantage of,” adding “There are not a lot of attorneys helping these people.”
He also noticed a dearth of Asian ALJs and began to feel the lack of representation on the bench was another obstacle for Southeast Asians. While becoming an ALJ wasn’t always his goal, he began to feel it take hold. He was surprised when he heard he had been elevated to the position after his third or fourth try but admits he would have tried again in the future if it hadn’t happened now. Part of the reason for his surprise comes from his age; at 39-years-old, he believes he is the youngest ALJ locally, and possibly statewide.
While the position comes with a slight pay cut compared to his previous job, he is excited to start and plans to stay until retirement. He says he is “always an optimist, ready to fight the good fight.”
Judge Hatakeyama has a wife and four-year-old son. He offers special thanks to San Joaquin College of Law, thanking nearly every professor by name, but especially Dean Pearson. He recalls crying in her office after an especially brutal part of his first year, absolutely certain he would flunk out. She wouldn’t have it, and he remembers how gentle and kind she was when he was so low. He speaks of his class of 2009 as “a special class, a special experience.”
Judge Hatakeyama is the 22nd ALJ from the SJCL alumni ranks, and its 61st bench officer.