Lawrence S. Joe is a Partner in Garcia Hernandez Sawhney, LLP’s Los Angeles office and a graduate of UCLA’s School of Law and the School of Public Affairs. He works in the firm’s Education and Public Law practice groups.
Prior to joining Garcia Hernández Sawhney, Mr. Joe served as the Project Director for the California Participation Project, a project of Community Partners, where he collaborated with nonprofit organizations and public agencies throughout Los Angeles County to mobilize non-profit organizations to promote voter engagement in Los Angeles County. Prior to that, Mr. Joe was an Outreach Specialist for the Los Angeles City Council’s Redistricting Commission. Mr. Joe is also heavily involved in the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, having served as a volunteer and Board member for multiple nonprofit organizations, including OCA-Greater Los Angeles and Chinatown Community for Equitable Development.
Mr. Joe has worked as a Law Clerk for the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (now called Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Los Angeles), the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and Public Counsel.
During his time at UCLA School of Law, Mr. Joe served as Co-Chair of the Asian Pacific Islander Law Student Association and was co-Editor-in-Chief of the Asian Pacific American Law Journal. He was also Senior Editor of the Los Angeles Public Interest Law Journal. He received his Bachelor of Arts from UC Berkeley and his Master of Arts from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education. He also has a Master of Arts in Urban Planning from UCLA’s School of Public Affairs.
Specialties:
Special Education, Education, Public Records Act
Law School:
University of California, Los Angeles
Practice Admissions:
State of California; U.S. District Court for the Central District of California; U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Accomplishments:
Awarded the Sonnenschien Scholars Foundation Scholarship
Awarded the Honorable Kenneth B. Chang Memorial Scholarship from the Korean American Bar Association
Awarded UPS- National Asian Pacific American Bar Association Law Foundation Gold Mountain Scholarship
Community Involvement:
Board Member and former Board President OCA – Greater Los Angeles