Daniel Mayeda ’79, J.D. ’82, has been named Alumnus of the Year by the Asian Pacific Alumni (APA) of UCLA.

A former chair and founding board member of APA UCLA, Mayeda is a former clinical professor at UCLA School of Law who “bleeds blue and gold.” As an undergrad, he was elected the director of the Asian [Pacific] Coalition, and in law school was co-Chair of the Asian Pacific Islander Law Students Association. He was on the founding board of APA UCLA and served as chair in the mid-1990s.

In 2018, Mayeda helped found a start-up experiential education program at the UCLA School of Law: the Documentary Film Legal Clinic (DFLC). As its inaugural associate director, he prepared law students with the entertainment law skills they needed to provide pro bono legal services to independent documentary filmmakers, a large majority of whom were from BIPOC or other underrepresented (LGBTQ+, disabled) communities.

Before the DFLC appointment, Mayeda practiced law for over three decades, specializing in litigation involving the media and entertainment industries. He was a shareholder in the Los Angeles law firm of Leopold, Petrich and Smith, and an attorney with Ballard Spahr. Mayeda was the longest-serving board member of East West Players, the country’s premiere Asian Pacific American theatre organization, and served on the national Diversity Advisory Council for Comcast Corporation. Earlier this year, Mayeda was appointed to the Media Burn Independent Video Archive’s board of directors. Media Burn is a non-profit organization that collects, restores/digitizes, and distributes documentary video footage created by artists, activists and community groups.

Mayeda has been a longtime advocate for accurate and sensitive depictions of Asian Americans in the media and has helped lead a national multi-ethnic coalition of civil rights and media activism groups to promote increased opportunities for BIPOC to be represented in Hollywood. In 2021, he was selected as chair of the Los Angeles County Citizens Redistricting Commission, which used 2020 Census data to draw new boundaries for the County Board of Supervisors in a completely independent, community-driven process for the first time in County history.

The 2025 APA UCLA Gala, at which the Mayeda will be honored, takes place Sunday, May 18, in Santa Monica, California.