Official blog of the Asian American Bar Association of New York
Vinoo Varghese Quoted in Front Page Article in Metro NY
AABANY Director and criminal defense attorney Vinoo Varghese was quoted in a front page article in the December 13 edition of Metro NY on the shooting of NYPD officer Peter Figoski. He spoke about the difficulty of extradition as a reason for alleged shooter Lamont Pride being allowed to walk free after a recent arrest.
FREE Workshop: Know Your Rights with the Police and ICE
On Wednesday, December 14th from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., the NYIC will be hosting a free workshop at The New York Immigration Coalition Immigrant Concerns Training Institute 137-139 W. 25th Street, 12th Floor (Between 6th & 7th Avenues). This Know Your Rights workshop is geared toward members of the immigrant community. Space is limited. Please RSVP with your name, organization, phone and e-mail to Jonathan Vidal at [email protected] or call (212) 627-2227 ext. 227.
NYLJ: Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary
Theo Cheng, Co-Chair of AABANY’s Judiciary Committee, shares this link from the December 12 New York Law Journal which describes the work of the Mayor’s Advisory Committee in helping to screen highly qualified candidates for New York’s family, criminal and civil courts. This article should be of interest to anyone seeking to learn more about New York’s judicial system and the role of the Mayor and his committee in selecting candidates to the bench.
NYLJ: Bloomberg Appointments to Civil and Family Court
Judiciary Committee Co-Chair Theo Cheng shares a link from the Dec. 12 New York Law Journal on the legacy Mayor Bloomberg is building through his judicial appointments. The article should be of interest to anyone wishing to learn more about New York’s judicial system and the role played by the Mayor and his committee in the selection process.
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On Saturday, December 10, AABANY’s Pro Bono and Community Service Committee presented two community workshops at the Indochina Sino-American Community Center (ISACC) in Manhattan’s Chinatown. In the morning, Kings County ADA Kin Ng and elder law attorney Pauline Yeung-Ha, partner at Grimaldi & Yeung, spoke about financial abuse of seniors. In the afternoon, Nelson Mar, senior staff attorney at Legal Services NYC, spoke about the educational rights of immigrant children in New York City public schools. Peter Cheng, Executive Director of ISACC, and his staff provided translation services to the many members of the Chinatown community that came out to learn more about their legal rights in the areas of elder law and education law. Tony Lu and Karen Wu, co-chairs of the Pro Bono and Community Service Committee, helped to organize the program as part of AABANY’s effort to reach out to the community. For photos of the event, go to http://bit.ly/aabany_isacc2011. For more information about the Pro Bono and Community Service Committee, contact Tony and Karen at [email protected].
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Thanks to everyone who joined us on Friday night, December 9, for AABANY’s Annual Holiday Party. Many AABANY members and friends filled the North Balcony at Pranna on 28th and Madison Avenue to share some holiday cheer over drinks and a delicious spread that included satays, beef sliders, lamb sliders, popcorn shrimp, edamame falafel and sweet potato fries. Check out the photos here: http://bit.ly/holiday_pty2011. AABANY wishes everyone a joyous holiday season!
On March 10 and 11, 2012, Pace Law School in White Plains will again be hosting a National Mock Trial competition featuring some of the top schools in the country, including Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Princeton, Brown and Dartmouth, among others.
Pace is offering 3 free general CLE credits for all attorneys who volunteer to judge a round. A round lasts no longer than 3 hours. Free parking is available and Pace will provide complimentary food and beverage. You can judge as many rounds as you’d like.
Register to judge online by clicking this link. Or, get more information and register by visiting www.WhitePlainsORC.com.
For those interested in applying to become a United States Magistrate Judge, here is an announcement from Theo Cheng, co-chair of the Judiciary Committee:
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York has announced a vacancy for a full-time U.S. Magistrate Judge position in Brooklyn. The EDNY’s public notice, which contains additional information about the position is available on the court’s website at http://www.nyed.uscourts.gov/pub/docs/notices/ALC_Vacancy_Public_Notice_PR-10-18-2011.pdf, and the application itself is available on the court’s homepage. AABANY encourages all qualified attorneys with an interest in serving in the federal judiciary to submit an application, which is due no later than January 13, 2012. If you have any questions about the position or would like assistance in connection with your application, please contact AABANY’s Judiciary Committee at [email protected], or any of the co-chairs Vince Chang ([email protected]), Theo Cheng ([email protected]) or James Chou ([email protected].)
The Hon. Harold Baer, U.S. District Court Judge, Southern District of New York would like to see more diverse attorneys involved in the Court’s mediation program. Judge Baer has observed that “one of the many advantages of our program is that we provide phenomenal training for those who have no previous exposure to mediating disputes but are interested in learning." To learn more about serving as a mediator in SDNY, read Local Civil Rule 83.12 here.
If you interested in learning more about this program, please email Taa Grays at [email protected]. You must email Ms. Grays by Monday, December 12, 2011.
Center for Urban Research: Report on Diversity on Wall Street
The Center for Urban Research of the CUNY Graduate Research Center recently issued a report entitled Progress and Pitfalls of Diversity on Wall Street. Among the notable findings:
In ethno-racial terms, the bulk of diversity on Wall St. is due to the rapidly growing share of Asian workers, who have gone from 5 percent of older core workers in 2000 to 19 percent of younger ones in 2005-09. Latinos have increased their share as well, but African Americans have not.
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The report notes two possible classes of explanations for the group disparities evident in the Wall St. workforce: minorities and women may differ in the human-capital characteristics required for career trajectories oriented towards top positions, and/or they may be excluded by discrimination, institutional or individual, from these trajectories. Census data cannot tell us which kind of explanation is more important; deciding between them requires other kinds of data, which currently do not exist.
To learn more and download a copy of the report, click on the link in the title.