Sharon A. Sakamoto is a third generation Japanese American born in Camp Minidoka, Idaho in 1943. She was released with her family to Spokane, Washington in 1944. Her family returned to their home in Seattle in 1945 where she grew up and went to school. Ms. Sakamoto obtained a Bachelor of Science in Education from Seattle University in 1965. She taught in Seattle public schools for 16 years before returning to the University of Puget Sound Law School now Seattle University School of Law, receiving her Juris Doctor in 1984.

Ms. Sakamoto began her private law practice in 1985 as a sole practitioner. In her more than 30 years in practice, she joined in forming several law partnerships, namely, Kawakami & Sakamoto, Aoki & Sakamoto and Sakamoto & Hamamoto. She closed her downtown Seattle law office in 2012 with intentions to retire. Her mostly community-based practice consisted of general civil law matters, primarily, small business matters, estate planning, probates and guardianships and some public and municipal finance work as a subcontract attorney.

Ms. Sakamoto was among a cadre of Asian American attorneys in Seattle who came together in 1987 to form the Asian Bar Association of Washington (ABAW). She served as president of ABAW for two years at its inception. Ms. Sakamoto served on the initial Board of the Washington Leadership Institute at its inception, a program originated by the Washington State Bar Association and now operating in collaboration with the University of Washington Law School. NAPABA gave her its Daniel Inouye Trailblazer Award in 2010. The enduring highlight of Ms. Sakamoto’s career in the law has been her work on Gordon Hirabayashi’s coram nobis case.