“Regardless of where you’re from, regardless of the language that you speak, everyone has the same concerns. First and foremost, it is about making a better life for your family. As an immigration lawyer, that is something that we have to take to heart. Our clients are moving from one culture to another and we, as their attorneys, have to have some cultural sensitivity.”

Bryan Funai’s Story

Initially growing up in an ethnically diverse neighborhood in Chicago, and being a third-generation Japanese-American, Bryan grew up with people of varied cultures. Bryan had further interaction with people from another country when his mother taught English to Japanese immigrants. This exposure caused him to develop an interest in and compassion for immigrants and their experiences in the United States and influenced his career choice later on.

After receiving a Bachelor’s Degree in business from Northern Illinois University and graduating from Thomas M. Cooley Law School, Bryan initially started practicing transactional and corporate law. As a majority of his firm’s clients were foreign-based corporations, immigration work was built into his practice as a service to help facilitate the movement of employees across national borders. In the course of doing this work, Bryan discovered that immigration law was very compelling, particularly as it allowed him to work directly with people and their needs, as his mother had done. Whether the immigrant was a chef in a small restaurant or the CEO of a publicly traded foreign company, Bryan found it satisfying to know that his work had an impact on an individual’s life.

Bryan began to take on more immigration cases and by 1987, he developed Masuda Funai’s immigration department. He was the chair from 1987 through 2001, and has continued to dedicate his practice to immigration as one of his firm’s principal partners. Bryan remains connected to his Japanese background and clients by traveling to Japan frequently, working with U.S. consulates in Osaka and Tokyo, and serving as a member of the Asian American Bar Association.