Mason Ji’s Legal Career Flies on Brilliant Credentials
By James Moreau | 29 Jun, 2025

Mason Ji’s entry into international law is rooted in early experiences at the White House and the United Nations.

At only 30 Mason Ji has every credential that can be earned by a promising young lawyer.

Since 2020 Ji has practiced business litigation, corporate affairs and international sanctions law as an associate at Seattle-based Perkins Coie.   His Chinese fluency was put to use helping clients with international trade and Bureau of Economic Analysis filings.  It also proved useful in defending international investors in EB-5 investment fund disputes.

In Picciano v. NaphCare, a high-profile case involving claims for violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by Clark County Jail in failing to provide gluten-free food for over 20 days to an inmate with celiac disease, Ji induced NaphCare to settle.

Since 2021 he has been a lecturer on international law at the University of Washington.

In April 2025 Ji was honored with the American Bar Association’s Rosner & Rosner Young Lawyer Professionalism Award.  In 2023 he was listed as 2024’s Ones to Watch by Best Lawyers and the ABA named him a Top 40 Young Lawyer in America.

He is the founding member of Asian Americans for Justice and Equality and a columnist for United Chinese Americans since late 2021.  Since August 2020 he has hosted Decoding America, a monthly radio show on Chinese Radio Seattle focused on civil rights and social action.

In 2013 he was appointed as a UN Adviser on the Republic of Seychelles Mission in which he participated in conferences on nuclear disarmament, climate change and human rights treaties.  In the Obama administration Ji was a White House Ambassador for AAPI community needs. 

While enrolled at Yale Ji traveled every weekend to New York City to attend UN meetings, becoming the youngest delegate to the General Assembly at age 18.  He graduated summa cum laude in 2016 with a BA in global affairs and political science.  As an undergrad he also studied at Cambridge in 2013 and Peking University in 2014.  As a Rhodes Scholar in 2017 he earned an Oxford master’s in governance and diplomacy and in 2018, in public policy.

Ji earned his JD from Harvard in May 2021 and passed the Washington State Bar in September 2021.

Ji was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and raised in Bellevue, Washington by Chinese immigrants. While in high school he was mentored by, and worked for, Conrad Lee, Bellevue’s first Asian mayor.