Do Kim

Do Kim is a passionate advocate for the civil rights and human rights of all people. He is a civil rights attorney, specializing in employment discrimination, wage and hour, police misconduct, prisoner abuse, wrongful conviction, and human rights. He was selected as a Rising Star for 2007 and 2012-2014 and a Super Lawyer for 2016-2026 by Law & Politics Magazine. Do graduated from Harvard College with a joint degree in Afro-American Studies and Sociology and went on to receive his J.D. from UCLA School of Law, where he concentrated in Critical Race Studies and the Program in Public Interest Law & Policy. During his law school days, he clerked for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, served as Co-Editor-In-Chief of the Asian Pacific American Law Journal, and received the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans. After graduating from law school, Do started his legal career clerking for the Hon. Robert M. Takasugi of the federal district court for the Central District of California. He then practiced criminal defense at the Law Office of Mia Yamamoto. Thereafter, he transitioned to Schonbrun DeSimone Seplow Harris & Hoffman, LLP, a civil rights, employment, and human rights law firm, where he worked for five years prior to starting his own law practice, Law Offices of Do Kim, APLC, in the heart of Koreatown. Do was a member of the Black-Korean Alliance, a coalition of African American and Korean American community leaders dedicated to resolving conflicts between Korean American merchants and African American customers. In the wake of sa-i-gu (Korean for 4-2-9, meaning April 29, 1992 Los Angeles civil unrest), he worked with the Korean American Inter-Agency Council to provide relief efforts to affected Korean American merchants. In 1993, Do founded and directed the Korean American Youth Leadership Program, with the goal of nurturing leadership in Koreatown. Seeing the need to build coalitions with other communities, Do also founded the Multiethnic Youth Leadership Collaborative, which worked with youth in Pico-Union, South Los Angeles, and Koreatown. In 1997, Do organized the Gang Awareness Project, one of the few Asian gang intervention programs in the country and produced a documentary about Koreatown gangs entitled, “Where In 10.” Aside from his career as an attorney, Do is also co-founder and president of The K.W. Lee Center for Leadership, a nonprofit dedicated to providing Koreatown youth with the tools and opportunities to become future leaders. For the past twenty-five years, he has trained thousands of youth in using community organizing to empower themselves and their community. Additionally, Do has been an instructor for the Los Angeles Unified School District for Multicultural Specific courses and a member of the Asian Pacific American Islander Police Advisory Council to the Mayor of Los Angeles. Do immigrated to Los Angeles at the age of three and has been a life-long resident of Koreatown. Awards and Honors Super Lawyers® Selectees Do Kim included in a Super Lawyers® list Honors Selected to Super Lawyers, 2016-2026 Selected to Super Lawyers Rising Stars, 2007, 2012-2014 Harvard Alumni Association Public Service Fellowship Chung-Sol Award by Korean American Coalition, 1998 Critical Race Studies Alumni of the Year by UCLA School of Law, 2014 The Nancy Mintie Public Service Award, 2002 Community Service Award by South Asian Network, 2010 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans by the Soros Foundation for New Americans, 2000 - 2002 Other Sources of Feedback About Do Kim Included on the 2026Southern California Super Lawyers list Past Lists 2025 Southern California Super Lawyers list 2024 Southern California Super Lawyers list 2023 Southern California Super Lawyers list 2022 Southern California Super Lawyers list 2021 Southern California Super Lawyers list 2020 Southern California Super Lawyers list 2019 Southern California Super Lawyers list 2018 Southern California Super Lawyers list 2017 Southern California Super Lawyers list 2016 Southern California Super Lawyers list 2014 Southern California Super Lawyers list 2013 Southern California Super Lawyers list 2012 Southern California Super Lawyers list 2007 Southern California Super Lawyers list

• Law Offices of Do Kim, APLC, Managing Attorney, 2009 - Present
• Schonbrun DeSimone Seplow Harris & Hoffman, LLP, Attorney, 2004 - 2009
• Law Office of Mia Yamamoto, Attorney, - 2004

• Keynote Speaker, Crossing Over, Korean American Students Conference, 2005
• Panelist, Black and Asian Unity: Erasing the Color Lines, 92.3 The BEAT "Street Science" Radio Talk Show, 1997
• Speaker, Present and Future Leadership in Koreatown, First National Korean American Studies Conference, 1997
• Speaker, Exemplary Programs for Minority Youth, Annie E. Casey Foundation's National Conference on Juvenile Detention, 1996
• Speaker, Training a New Generation of Servant Leaders: Building Multi-Racial Coalitions, Children's Defense Fund National Conference, 1996

• Asian Pacific Islander American VOTE, Board Member, July 1996 – September 1999
• Korean American Democratic Committee, President, January 1997 - April 1999
• Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance, Board Member, April 2015 – 2016
• Los Angeles Riot Emergency Fund, Founder, April 1992 – April 1993
• City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, Regional Arts Council Member, September 1997 – September 1999
• The K.W. Lee Center for Leadership, Board President, September 2003 – Present
• Black-Korean Alliance, Member. June 1991 – November 1992
• Asian Pacific Islander Police Advisory Council to Mayor of Los Angeles, Member, June 1997 – September 1999
• Los Angeles Unified School District Instructor for Multicultural Specific Salary Point, Course Instructor, July 1999 - June 2000, 2009 - 2014

• Supreme Court of California
• U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit
• U.S. District Court Central District of California
• U.S. District Court Eastern District of California
• California, 2004

• Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles (Member)
• California Employment Lawyers Association (Member)
• Korean American Bar Association (Member)
• The K.W. Lee Center for Leadership, 2003 - Present (Board President)
• Los Angeles Unified School District Instructor for Multi-cultural Specific Course, 1999 - Present (Instructor)
• City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department (Regional Arts Council Member)
• Coalition for Human Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, 1995 - 1999 (Member)
• National Asian Pacific American Families Against Substance Abuse, 1996 - 1997
• Los Angeles Riot Emergency Fund, - 1992 (Founder)