Ian F. Tapu

Tapu (he/him) was born and raised in Hawai‘i with family ties to Samoa and Tonga.  His background both informs and is intimately tied to his community work and academic pursuits.  Tapu has published extensively on topics relating to the U.S. territories, LGBTQ rights, constitutional law, and Indigenous rights.  His work has appeared in publications such as the California Law Review, Arizona Law Review, NYU Review of Law & Social Change, and the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review.  In the community, Tapu serves as a board of director for several local nonprofit organizations and sits on a variety of national councils.  He also regularly facilitates trainings related to diversity, equity, and inclusion for community groups and nonprofits.

While in law school, Tapu was an Ulu Lehua Scholar, founder of the Pacific Islander Legal Association, senior editor of the Asian-Pacific American Law and Policy Journal, and president of both the Lambda Law Students Association and the Student Bar Association.  He also served as a research assistant for Professors Maxine Burkett and Andrea Freeman.  Tapu received his law degree from the University of Hawai‘i William S. Richardson School of Law, along with a certificate in Native Hawaiian Law.  Following graduation, Tapu served as law clerk to the Honorable James H. Ashford of the Hawai‘i State Circuit Court of the First Circuit, Honorable Mark E. Recktenwald Chief Justice of the Hawai‘i State Supreme Court, and Honorable Jill A. Otake of the United States District Court for the District of Hawai‘i.  

• Ian F. Tapu & Terina Fa‘agau, A New Age Indigenous Instrument: Artificial Intelligence & Its Potential for (De)Colonizing Data, Harv. C.R.-C.L. L. Rev. (2022).
• Susan K. Serrano & Ian F. Tapu, Reparative Justice in the U.S. Territories: Reckoning with America’s Colonial Climate Crisis, Cali. L. Rev. (2022).
• Ian F. Tapu & Terina Fa‘agau, Anti-Pacific Islander Bigotry, 1 Moving Toward Antibigotry 118 (2022) (https://www.bu.edu/antiracism-center/files/2022/06/Moving-Towards-Antibi...)
• Ian F. Tapu, Who Really is a Noble?—The Constitutionality of American Samoa’s Matai System, 24 U.C.L.A. Asian Pac. Am. L. J. 61 (2020) (https://escholarship.org/uc/item/52h8m2xn)
• Ian F. Tapu, How to Say Sorry: Fulfilling the United States’ Trust Obligation to Native Hawaiians by Utilizing the Canons of Construction to Interpret the Apology Resolution, 44 N.Y.U. Rev. L. & Soc. Change 61 (2020) (https://socialchangenyu.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/6_Tapu_44.3_Digit...)
• Ian F. Tapu, Is it Really Paradise? LGBTQ Rights in the U.S. Territories, 19 Dukeminier Awards J. of Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity 273 (2020) (https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/07-DAJ19-Tapu.pdf)
• Ian F. Tapu, Finding Fonua: Disappearing Pacific Island Nations, Sea Level Rise, and Cultural Rights, 62 Ariz. L. Rev. 785 (2020) (https://arizonalawreview.org/pdf/62-3/62arizlrev785.pdf)
• Ian F. Tapu, The Reasonable Indigenous Youth Standard, 56 Gonz. L. Rev. 529 (2020/2021).
• Rebecca A. Copeland & Ian F. Tapu, Cultural Competency in Hawai‘i: Affirming Gender Identity and Expression, Haw. B.J. (Oct. 2019)