Before taking the bench, for most of his thirty-five year legal career, Judge Iwasaki represented low-income individuals and families in civil matters, including as executive director of the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles. From 1988 to 1997, he was a litigator at O’Melveny & Myers, LLP, and from 2006 to 2012 was a litigation partner at Lim, Ruger & Kim, LLP.

Among his honors, Judge Iwasaki has received the Loren Miller Legal Services Award from the California State Bar; the John Minor Wisdom Public Service and Professionalism Award from the ABA Section of Litigation; the Antonia Hernandez Public Interest Award from the UCLA School of Law; the Pro Bono Civil Rights Award from the ACLU Foundation of Southern California; and the Humanitarian Award from the Inner City Law Center.

Judge Iwasaki has served on many organizations and boards involved in increasing access to justice, including the Commission on the Future of California’s Court System; the ABA Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants; the State Bar of California Legal Services Trust Fund Commission; the California Bar Foundation; the Los Angeles County Bar Association Board of Trustees; the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law in Chicago; and the Center for Law and Social Policy in Washington, D.C.

Judge Iwasaki is a 1976 graduate of the UCLA School of Law.