Wookie Kim is the Legal Director at the ACLU of Hawaiʻi, where he works to defend people’s civil rights and civil liberties through litigation, lobbying, public education, and other forms of community advocacy. Among the issues Wookie works on are the criminalization of poverty, police misconduct, bail reform, reproductive freedom, gender equity, mass incarceration, and freedom of expression.
Before joining the ACLU of Hawaiʻi, Wookie was an associate at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP in Washington, D.C., where he litigated high-stakes business disputes involving things like advanced high strength steel and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. While there, Wookie also maintained an active pro bono practice, including representing undocumented Latino immigrants in challenging a landlord’s discriminatory rental practices under the Fair Housing Act.
Wookie received a B.A. in Ethics, Politics and Economics from Yale University, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he was a member of the Board of Student Advisers and a finalist in the Ames Moot Court Competition. After law school, Wookie served as a law clerk to the Honorable Catherine C. Blake of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.
Outside of his ACLU work, Wookie is also a Lecturer in Law at the William S. Richardson School of Law, where he teaches first-year legal writing.
In his free time, Wookie trains for and competes in 100-mile trail races, and otherwise takes advantage of the many opportunities for outdoor exploration in Hawaiʻi with his wife.