Patricia Lee is a retired attorney who continues to focus on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the legal profession through involvement with California Legal Pathway Collaborative (CLPC), California LAW and the American Bar Association (ABA). She currently chairs the ABA Council on Diversity in the Educational Pipeline (Pipeline Council) and serves on the Advisory Commission to the newly created ABA Task Force for American Democracy. She has served as past chair for various ABA entities including the Standing Committee on Public Education, Advisory Commission on Public Education, Diversity and Inclusion Center and Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council.

She was Special Assistant for Diversity & Bar Relations at the State Bar of California, serving as liaison to the Council on Access & Fairness and was instrumental in the formation of the California High School Law Academies and California LAW Pathways. She served as Director of the State Bar’s Office of Legal Services, Access & Fairness Programs focusing on equal access to justice, diversity, and elimination of bias initiatives. Also, she served as the Director of the State Bar Voluntary Legal Services Program and later was tasked with overseeing the implementation of the Legal Services Trust Fund Program.

She began her career as a VISTA attorney for the San Francisco Neighborhood Legal Assistance Foundation (SFNLAF), now Bay Area Legal Aid. She was Managing Attorney at both the Mission and Chinatown/North Beach Offices at SFNLAF, Executive Director and CAO for the Legal Aid Society of Santa Clara County and founding Director of Santa Clara County’s Office of Women’s Advocacy where she coordinated the creation of community transition programs for women in the county jail and worked with a broad network of community organizations to empower girls and young women through the implementation of social change projects impacting their own neighborhoods. She was a co-founder of the Pro Bono Project of Silicon Valley and is a recipient of various professional and community awards including the prestigious ABA Spirit of Excellence Award, For People of Color Community Service Award, Santa Clara County Bar Unsung Hero Award, and the San Mateo County Women’s Hall of Fame. She received her BA from UC Berkeley and JD from UC Law San Francisco College of the Law (formerly Hastings College of the Law) and was admitted to practice in February 1972.