On Tuesday night, the AABANY Litigation, Membership, and Prosecutors’ Committees hosted a happy hour at Peachy’s, a wonderful AAPI-owned venue in the heart of Chinatown.
The happy hour provided a chance for members and guests of the three committees to reconnect (or connect for the first time) with friends, old and new. It was a welcome opportunity to socialize over delicious craft cocktails and appetizers, especially for those starved for in-person events after the long pandemic.
This event was a great kick-off to the new fiscal year. Thank you for all who joined us for the event, and we hope to see more of you at future events.
Please join the first quarterly meeting of the AABANY Litigation Committee, taking place via Zoom on May 31, to meet the Co-Chairs, hear plans for the upcoming year, share ideas for programs, and learn how you can get more involved. Register by May 30 here.
On May 17, 2023, AABANY held its Manhattan Pro Bono Legal Clinic at the Chinese Chamber of Commerce. Our volunteers met with 17 clients and discussed issues relating to housing, fraud, and government benefits.
Some positive client responses: “I appreciate it so much.” “Good service. I will keep coming monthly.”
The Pro Bono Clinic is organized by AABANY’s Pro Bono & Community Service Committee. To learn more about the Committee’s work visit here. We extend our heartfelt thanks to the dedicated volunteers who made this Pro Bono Clinic a success:
AABANY members are invited to volunteer to serve as judgers and jurors for the High School Mock Trial Program, scheduled for May 20th and 21st. Volunteers can earn three (3) CLE credits in the category of skills.
The upcoming Empire Mock Trial program brings together 600 remarkable high school students from 23 states for a national mock trial competition. Not only is the experience enjoyable because the students are talented, but the case is topical and interesting: it is an original fact pattern inspired by the Alec Baldwin shooting on the Rust movie set.
Trials take place at 10 AM and 3 PM on Saturday (5/20) and Sunday (5/21);
Lawyers don’t need to leave the comfort of their own home (or office) because the trials are all online;
If a lawyer signs-up with a friend, we can ensure that they judge together;
To register, send an email to [email protected] with the following information:
Your name
Trial(s) that you’d like to volunteer for:
Saturday AM (5/20), Saturday PM (5/20), Sunday AM (5/21), Sunday PM (5/21)
On May 1, City & State published their 2023 list of the Power Asian 100 in New York. As stated in the article:
City & State’s Power of Diversity: Asian 100 list features these elected officials and also highlights other power brokers who are managing government agencies, running businesses, advocating for policy changes – and ensuring Asian Americans have a voice at the table.
AABANY is pleased to announce that our Immediate Past President William Ng has been named one of City & State’s Power Asian 100 at 56 on the list.
Please join AABANY in congratulating William Ng along with the following attorneys connected to AABANY (numbers in parentheses indicate ranking):
Sandra Ung, New York City Council Member and Former AABANY Treasurer. (10)
Frank Wu, Queens College’s first President of Asian descent. AABANY honored Frank Wu with the AABANY Impact Award at our 2021 Virtual Gala: Uniting for Justice and Equity. (22)
Faiza Saeed, Presiding Partner at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, a Sponsor of AABANY for many years. (40)
Asim Rehman, Commissioner and Chief Administrative Law Judge, New York City Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings. Longtime AABANY Member. (46)
Preet Bharara, Partner, WilmerHale. AABANY honored Preet Bharara, when he was the United States Attorney of the Southern District of New York, at the Annual Dinner in 2015. (48)
Anna Mercado Clark, Partner, Phillips Lytle. Previously served as the Development Director of AABANY during FY2023 and currently President-elect of NAPABA. (78)
Tai Park, Partner, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, a long-time sponsor of AABANY. (91)
Vincent Chang, Partner, Litigation and Dispute Resolution Group, Wollmuth Maher & Deutsch. First Asian American President of the New York County Lawyers Association and past AABANY President 2007. (96)
AABANY congratulates all the accomplished individuals who appear in City & State’s 2023 Power Asian 100 List.
On Saturday, April 29, 2023, AABANY members celebrated AAPI Heritage Month (a few days early) with a night of laughs at the Very Big Very Asian (VBVA) Comedy Festival at the Broadway Comedy Club on West 53rd Street. Nearly 30 AABANY members and friends enjoyed a hilarious and wildly entertaining lineup of standup comedians of Asian descent. As was the case for the VBVA Festival in 2022, the jokes continued to be “Very Big” and “Very Asian.”
Shoutout to James Han, the VBVA team and Broadway Comedy Club for putting together a great show and giving AABANY front row seats. Broadway Comedy Club regularly hosts special comedy events featuring AAPI comedians throughout the year – please check them out.
Congrats to Vishal Chander on winning the raffle, a swag bag of items featuring various AAPI vendors! Besides being an active AABANY member, Vishal is serving as a Co-Chair of the Solo and Small Firm Practice Committee this year.
After Broadway Comedy Club, the attendees enjoyed ramen and conversations at Hide-Chan Ramen next door.
Thanks also to Membership, Issues and Prosecutors Committees for organizing a great outing for AABANY. Be on the lookout for upcoming AABANY events here.
On Tuesday, April 20th, AABANY’s Litigation Committee and KALAGNY hosted a Deposition Skills Panel at Haug Partners LLP’s New York Office. The panel consisted of Aakruti Vakharia, Antitrust Associate at Haug Partners LLP and Co-Chair of AABANY’s Litigation Committee (as moderator and speaker), Gene Kang, Partner at Rivkin Radler LLP and President of KALAGNY, and David Sohn, Vice President and Assistant General Counsel at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Co-Chair of AABANY’s In-House Counsel Committee. The CLE took place in the boardroom of Haug Partners LLP’s New York office.
The panelists shared their wisdom on the purpose of a deposition, how to prepare to take or defend a deposition, how to deal with difficult witnesses and opposing counsel, and how to prepare your own witness to be deposed. Following the discussion, Haug Partners provided dinner and dessert, and attendees had the opportunity to network with the panelists and each other.
If you wish you could have been there, you can view a recording* of the panel here.
The Litigation Committee plans on hosting several more CLEs this coming year and values the ideas of our Committee membership. If you would like to see a CLE on any particular topic, please share your idea with the co-chairs. Go to the Litigation Committee’s page on the AABANY website to learn more about the Committee and how you can get in touch.
*Please note that CLE credit was only granted for attending in person. Credit will not be granted for viewing the recording.
Top Row (left to right): Sarah Choi, Shu-Ping Shen, Ms. Urvi Doshi Sood Bottom Row (left to right): Najah J. Shariff, Karen Kim
On April 26, 2023, AABANY’s Student Outreach and Tax Law Committee hosted a virtual panel: “What Do Tax Lawyers Do?” This event ran from 6:30-7:30pm EST on Zoom with remarks from Shu-Ping Shen (Tax Committee Co-Chair). The panel was moderated by Alex Lao (Pace Law) and Sharon Yang (Student Outreach Committee Co-Chair, Fordham Law), and featured the following panelists:
Karen Kim (Partner – Mayer Brown LLP)
Najah J. Shariff (Assistant U.S. Attorney, Tax Division – U.S. Attorney’s Office)
Ms. Urvi Doshi Sood (Vice President of Taxes and General Tax Counsel – Lockheed Martin Corporation)
Sarah Choi (Associate General Counsel – NY Life Insurance Company)
Panelists shared what drew them into their respective fields, interview tips and advice to be resourceful, self-starting junior associates. The main takeaways include: tax law touches a wide range of fields, panelists highly encourage gaining some understanding of tax law or accounting and be proactive as a junior associate by asking questions and picking up additional assignments. The event concluded with a Q&A and light mingling among panelists and students.
Students interested in gaining experience in tax law should check out the externship program at the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Students should apply to the Tax Division. Assignments may include legal research, writing pleadings, trial preparation, observing trials and other court proceedings. Interested students can learn more about the program here.
AABANY thanks the Student Outreach Committee, Tax Law Committee and SOC Co-Chair William Lee (Associate, Mayer Brown LLP) for organizing the event.
Special thank you to our sponsors, Mayer Brown LLP and the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association.
To learn more about the Tax Committee, click here. To learn more about the SOC, click here. To learn more about upcoming AABANY events, click here.
WASHINGTON – Today, President Biden nominated Judge Loren L. AliKhan to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and Susan K. DeClercq to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. If confirmed, Judge AliKhan would be the first South Asian woman to serve on U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and the only active AAPI woman judge on that court. Ms. DeClercq would be the first federal judge of East Asian descent in Michigan.
“NAPABA congratulates Judge AliKhan and Susan DeClercq on their nominations,” said Sandra Leung, president of NAPABA. “Judge AliKhan is a highly respected jurist with exceptional service to the citizens of Washington DC. Ms. DeClercq is an experienced prosecutor with experience in both private practice and corporate law. We applaud President Biden for nominating this slate of highly qualified AAPI nominees. We urge the Senate to confirm them swiftly.”
President Biden nominated Judge AliKhan to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals on September 21, 2021, and the U.S. Senate confirmed her with bi-partisan support on February 22, 2022. Upon her confirmation, Judge AliKhan was the first AAPI judge to sit on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. Before her confirmation, she served as the Solicitor General of the District of Columbia, where she directed the District’s appellate litigation and has overseen more than 1,800 appeals before the D.C. Court of Appeals, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and the Supreme Court of the United States. Judge AliKhan has the support of NAPABA’s affiliate, the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of the Greater Washington DC Region. She has been recognized with the Public Sector Trailblazer Award by the South Asian Bar Association of Washington D.C. and previously clerked for the Hon. Thomas L. Ambro on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and the Hon. Louis Pollack on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. AliKhan is a graduate of Bard College at Simon’s Rock and the Georgetown University Law Center.
Susan K. DeClercq has been Director and Counsel of Special Investigations at Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, Michigan since 2022. Ms. DeClercq previously served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and Chief of the Civil Division since March 2014. Before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office in September 2004, Ms. DeClercq was an associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher, and Flom in Washington, D.C., and she clerked for Judge Avern Cohn on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Ms. DeClercq received her J.D., magna cum laude, from Wayne State University School of Law in 1999 and her B.A. from the University of Michigan in 1995.
NAPABA thanks Senators Stabenow and Peters of Michigan and Delegate Norton of Washington, D.C., for recommending and supporting these nominees.
WASHINGTON – On May 4, the Senate confirmed Judge Wesley L. Hsu to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California by a vote of 53 to 43.
“NAPABA congratulates Judge Hsu on his confirmation to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California,” said Sandra Leung, president of NAPABA. “Judge Hsu, a 2005 NAPABA Best Lawyers Under 40 awardee, has shown strong leadership in his professional career and volunteer work with the AAPI community. We are proud to have supported Judge Hsu’s nomination and are delighted he was confirmed.”
Judge Hsu has an extensive legal career spanning nearly three decades. He previously served in the Los Angeles County Superior Court in 2017. Before he was appointed a judge, Hsu served for 17 years as the Executive United States Attorney and Deputy United States Attorney in the Office of the United States Attorney in the Central District of California. He has clerked for the Hon. Mariana R. Pfaelzer of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, and he has experience in the private sector from his time at a private law firm.
“President Biden has appointed 19 out of the 52 AAPI active Article III judges,” said Priya Purandare, executive director of NAPABA. “Today, as we head into the 31st Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we celebrate a judiciary more reflective of the people it serves.”
In addition to his professional work, Judge Hsu is active in his community as a member of the Board of Governors for the Asian Pacific American Women Lawyers Alliance, a Founding Member of NAPABA’s Government Enforcement and Compliance Committee, and NAPABA’s Data Security and Privacy Committee, and a Co-Chair of the California Asian Pacific American Judges Association. His service to the AAPI community has been recognized by NAPABA with its Best Lawyers Under 40. Judge Hsu has served as an adjunct professor at Loyola Marymount Law School and a writing instructor at the University of Southern California Law School and is a graduate of Yale University and Yale Law School.
NAPABA thanks President Biden for nominating Judge Hsu and Senators Feinstein and Padilla for supporting and recommending his nomination.
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The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), represents the interests of over 60,000 Asian Pacific American (APA) legal professionals and nearly 90 national, state, and local APA bar associations. NAPABA is a leader in addressing civil rights issues confronting APA communities. Through its national network, NAPABA provides a strong voice for increased diversity of the federal and state judiciaries, advocates for equal opportunity in the workplace, works to eliminate hate crimes and anti-immigrant sentiment, and promotes the professional development of people of all backgrounds in the legal profession.
On Monday, April 24, 2023, Co-Vice Presidents of Programs & Operations, Beatrice Leong and Jeffrey Mok, along with President Karen Kim and Executive Director Yang Chen held a Kick-Off Meeting and Orientation for the Fiscal Year 2024 Co-Chairs. The meeting was held at Alston & Bird near Grand Central. Thanks to Board Director and Bankruptcy Committee Co-Chair Will Hao, Counsel at Alston, for hosting.
This year’s class of Co-Chairs was appointed by President Karen Kim at the start of the fiscal year in April. All Co-Chairs serve for a one-year term co-terminous with Karen’s term as President during the fiscal year which ends on March 31, 2024.
Co-Chairs and Vice Chairs representing 25 out of 27 Committees were present, and the new Co-Chairs received orientation about AABANY’s protocols and goals. The returning Co-Chairs received a refresher.
After the Orientation meeting, everyone walked over to Stout Grand Central for an afterparty where Committee Co-Chairs were able to meet each other and mingle over oysters, tacos, and baos, along with drinks from the well-stocked bar.
We look forward to another productive year of AABANY programs and events brought by our hard working Committees. To see the current list of Committees and Co-Chairs, please click here. If you want to get involved with one or more Committees, email us at [email protected] and we can connect you.
