On October 15, 2022, AABANY’s Pro Bono & Community Service (PBCS) Committee held a Pro Bono Clinic at the United Chinese Association of Brooklyn from 12:00-3:30 PM.
In all, we met with 22 clients who had questions about contracts, fraud, housing, wills, trusts, and estates. Our volunteers are constantly learning and teaching one another. Many of this clinic’s volunteer force were law students or recent law school graduates, who put their memory of basic skills such as issue-spotting through the IRAC (Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion) method to real-world use. We were also able to refer many clients to not-for-profit legal services to further help their case beyond the time constraints of our clinic session. Last, but not least, our volunteers demonstrated exceptional professionalism with the 4 C’s in mind: competency, confidentiality, conflict of interest, and compassion.
AABANY Legal Interns Daniel Kang and Connor Li recounted their experiences at the clinic. Daniel said, “Many clients came in with issues regarding estate and housing law. It was great having the chance to shadow attorneys like Kwok, May, and Johnny, and to see how their legal knowledge can be used to help people in their everyday lives. I sat in on a session where one client did not come with a particular issue, but with an information request regarding the drafting of a will—and the benefits of creating one. Attorney May Wong carefully explained the concept of a will, the legal challenges which might be confronted and avoided through the creation of one, and helped the client walk away with knowledge of a legal concept that will undoubtedly impact their family.”
Connor had a similar experience when sitting in on the consultations. He said, “I sat in on a session where attorney Johnny Thach was able to help a couple find the available resources to resolve their landlord-tenant issues. Especially for non-English speakers, and even for those of us that speak English as our native language, legal terminology can be confusing. For this couple, the resources we found online were filled with legal jargon, so it was great to see Johnny clearly articulate the issues and next steps in words that even I was able to understand.”
Thank you to all the volunteers who helped out this past Saturday. Your extra help was truly appreciated!
| Volunteer Attorneys | Interpreters & Shadowers | AAFE Staff |
| Jackson Chin | Connor Li | Ansen Tang |
| Jennifer Park | Daniel Kang | Hayley Liang |
| Johnny Thach | Hyewon Byeon | Lori Huang |
| Kwok Kei Ng | Joon Choe | |
| May Wong | Yiru (Lea) Jiang | |
| Ming Chu (Judy) Lee | Yuichi Hayashi | |
| Victoria Cheng | Yuwen Long | |
| Yvette Adiguzel | Zixuan Luo |
Please join us at our upcoming Pro Bono Clinics!
October 29 – registration closed at noon on 10/26 [remote option not available]
Manhattan Location – 33 Bowery, Community Room at Confucius Plaza, New York, NY 10002
November 19 – please register by 12pm, 11/16 [remote option available for NYS admitted attorneys only]
Queens Location – AAFE One Flushing Community Center, 133-29 41st Ave, 2nd Floor, Flushing, NY 11355