Hiroshi Motomura
Susan Westerberg Prager Distinguished Professor of Law
Hiroshi Motomura is the Susan Westerberg Prager Distinguished Professor of Law and faculty co-director of the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at UCLA School of Law. His book Americans in Waiting won the PROSE Award as the year's best book in law and legal studies and was selected by the U.S. State Department for its Suggested Reading List for Foreign Service Officers. He received UCLA Law's Rutter Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2021 and UCLA's Distinguished Teaching Award in 2014, and was profiled in What the Best Law Teachers Do. He has been a leading immigration scholar for over three decades.
Teaching Style
Professor Motomura is one of the most acclaimed law teachers in the country, profiled in What the Best Law Teachers Do. He uses the Socratic method with warmth and rigor, cold-calling students to work through the complexities of immigration law and its constitutional dimensions. His teaching combines careful doctrinal analysis with deep attention to the human stakes of immigration law, encouraging students to think about how legal categories shape the lives of immigrants and their communities.
Cold Call Tips
- 1Understand the constitutional framework for immigration regulation, including plenary power doctrine and due process protections
- 2Be prepared to discuss the intersection of immigration law with criminal law, labor law, and civil rights
- 3Read his books for the historical and theoretical context he brings to immigration law
- 4Think carefully about the distinction between formal legal categories and the lived reality of immigration status
Areas of Expertise
Education
- J.D., UC Berkeley School of Law
- B.A., Yale University
Notable Publications
- Americans in Waiting: The Lost Story of Immigration and Citizenship in the United States (Oxford University Press, PROSE Award winner)
- Immigration Outside the Law (Oxford University Press)
Research Interests
More Professors at UCLA School of Law
Constitutional Law, Civil Rights, Critical Race Theory, Employment Discrimination
Civil Procedure, Police Accountability, Civil Rights Litigation, Public Interest Lawyering
Constitutional Law, Gun Rights, Professional Responsibility, Supreme Court Seminar
Tax Law, International Taxation, Public Finance, Trade Policy
International Human Rights Law, International Refugee Law, International Migration, Critical Race Theory