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Lindsay Nako represents people who have experienced workplace discrimination, unlawful denial of public benefits, and other civil rights violations. She has represented individuals and classes in cases brought on behalf of employees and job applicants alleging discrimination based on race, nationality, gender, gender identity, and criminal history; pension plan participants and beneficiaries who have experienced imprudent investment of plan assets; employees who have suffered illegal vacation pay forfeitures; and individuals unlawfully denied access to public benefits. She currently serves as class counsel in U.S. ex rel. Terry v. Wasatch Advantage Group, LLC, representing housing voucher recipients at specific properties in California and the West Coast.

Before joining the Impact Fund, Lindsay was a shareholder at an Oakland-based employment law firm. She also has taught as an Adjunct Professor at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, and is a frequent speaker on class action and employment litigation issues. Lindsay graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Highest Honors from University of California, Berkeley, and received her law degree from University of California, Berkeley School of Law. 

Lindsay was named a “Top Woman Attorney in Northern California” and “Northern California Rising Star” by Super Lawyers Magazine and San Francisco Magazine each year from 2009 until leaving private practice in 2015 and received the East Bay Community Law Center’s annual Attorney Award in 2012.  She was Lawyer Representative to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Council from 2017 to 2019 and currently serves as a mediator with the Alternative Dispute Resolution Program for the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

Mona Tawatao joined the Equal Justice Society as Legal Director in 2019.  She directs and oversees legal advocacy and litigation to promote race equity and to redress structural racism and other forms of discrimination in schools, the criminal justice system, and in public agencies.  Mona was previously a senior litigator at the Western Center on Law & Poverty where she focused on health law.  She also worked for over 20 years as a legal aid housing and land use rights advocate at Legal Services of Northern California, where she co-founded its Race Equity Project, and Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles.  Mona received her J.D. from UCLA School of Law and then clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Consuelo B. Marshall.  Mona currently serves as Vice President on the board of the National Center for Youth Law and on the leadership team of the APIs Rise Fund (Sacramento).