Yoshinori H. T. (Toso) Himel was the founding president of ABAS in 1981-82, was the president of the Asian/Pacific Bar of California, and is the president of the ABAS Law Foundation. Before going into law, he studied mathematics at Harvard and sociology at Michigan, and did political science computer work. After getting his J.D. at UCD (Order of the Coif), he did a clerkship with Judge Albert V. Bryan of the U.S. Fourth Circuit, then joined the U.S. Justice Department, Civil Rights Division, to sue race and sex discriminators. In 1979 he transferred to the United States Attorney's Office in Sacramento, where he litigates tax, environmental and information and privacy cases.

Toso has been interested in computers since 1955. He was a founding member and chair of the SCBA's SLUG section. For years he wrote a technology column, "Keys to the Courtroom," for the Daily Recorder and the SCBA Docket, later Sacramento Lawyer magazine. He has served on the U.S. District Court's website committee. Since 1995 he has been the telecommunications chair for CAPITAL, Sacramento's API coalition.

A lover of plain English, Toso is a member of Scribes, the American Society of Writers on Legal Subjects. In 1986 he founded NOTA BENE - Notes to Asian Lawyers. He was Sacramento Lawyer magazine's editor-in-chief in 1999 and 2000.

Toso has supported pro bono activities since 1981, when he joined the Voluntary Legal Services Committee. He has served on the boards of directors of ALSO and the Legal Center for the Elderly and Disabled, and received the State Bar President's Pro Bono Service Award in 1987.