John Trasviña

Board

John Trasviña, currently the President and General Counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), has been a prominent voice in civil rights and immigration law since beginning his career at MALDEF over two decades ago. After serving as a legislative attorney for MALDEF, Trasviña worked under Senator Paul Simon as General Counsel & Staff Director for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution. In 1993 Mr. Trasviña became the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs, where he supervised a team of attorneys representing the Department before Congress on issues including immigration, civil rights, prisons, and judicial and departmental nominations. In 1997, Trasviña was nominated by Bill Clinton to be Special Counsel for Immigration Related Unfair Employment Practices. As Special Counsel, he headed the federal government's only office devoted entirely to immigrant workplace rights.
Prior to rejoining MALDEF in 2005, Mr. Trasviña directed the Discrimination Research Center in southern California. He also served on the faculty of Stanford Law School, where he taught classes on Immigration Law.

Mr. Trasviña is a graduate of Harvard University and holds a law degree from Stanford Law School. Mr. Trasviña sits on the Boards of the Latino Issues Forum, Campaign for College Opportunity and the Harvard Club of Southern California.