Fernando Tafoya

JD: Hastings College of Law

MA: University of California Berkeley (political science)

BA: University of Texas - Austin

Professor Fernando Tafoya has been practicing law since the last century.  For 30 years, his firm Tafoya & Associates has focused on representing injured workers in the employment law field and in workers’ compensation, with offices in San Diego, Fresno, and San Francisco. 

In addition to teaching Torts at Thomas Jefferson, Professor Tafoya has taught evidence at New College of the Law in San Francisco.  He has also taught at University of California Berkeley and at Skyline College, and counseled students at Alameda and Laney College.  He has written extensively on issues in law and policy, including a law review article on California evidence and op-ed articles in the San Francisco Chronicle, Fresno Bee, El Paso News, and the Orange County Register.  He has also written on AIDS in prison, prisons for profit and prior restraint legislation.

During his career, Professor Tafoya has also focused on non-profit organizations.  He served as President of the San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association and is currently on their board of directors.  He is currently General Counsel to MANA San Diego and previously served as General Counsel to the Mexican American Political Association (MAPA) and the Hmong American Political Association (HAPA).  Professor Tafoya was a founding member of CHIRLA while serving as Executive Director of the AFL-CIO Immigrant Assistance Project in Los Angeles. 

As a policy consultant, Professor Tafoya has worked with the Marguerite Casey Foundation in Seattle, the Human Relations Commission in Fresno, and former Lt. Governor of California Cruz Bustamante.  He has managed several political campaigns in California and served as an election monitor in the central valley.  Finally, Professor Tafoya managed the 1990 Census in Orange County and directed the U.U.S.C. in San Francisco that coordinated the “National Moratorium on Prison Construction,” “Crime and the Media Project” and “Human Rights Watch” in Nicaragua and El Salvador.  In recognition of his work, December 22 has been declared “Fernando Tafoya Day,” in the city of Fresno.

A graduate of Hastings College of the Law, he also holds a M.A. in political science from U.C. Berkeley and a B.A. with honors from U.T. Austin.  He also attended Brandeis University.

Courses taught: Torts