Author: Davinderpal Singh

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Global Investigations Review Article on “Why anti-bribery enforcement scrutiny in China is here to stay” Co-Authored by Jian Wu

On May 21, 2020, Global Investigations Review published an article co-authored by AABANY Asia Practice Committee Co-Chair Jian Wu. The article is titled “Why Anti-bribery Enforcement Scrutiny in China Is Here to Stay.”

The article discusses how the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are increasingly enforcing the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) against US public companies with operations in China. Following the DOJ’s announcement of the new “China Initiative” in November of 2018, priority has been given to identifying FCPA cases involving Chinese companies that compete with American business. Recently, it was reported that a US-listed health nutrition company was nearing a $123 million settlement with the DOJ and SEC related to an anti-corruption compliance investigation in China. The article highlights that such FCPA investigations and cases are likely to increase in the US. However, it still remains to be seen if China will follow up enforcement measures with a parallel focus.

The article notes that because “…the China Initiative puts Chinese companies and individuals in the spotlight, multinational corporations should carefully deal with their ongoing business relationships involving Chinese companies. At the same time, multinational corporations should not take enforcement by the Chinese authorities lightly. Chinese authorities are increasingly exercising closer supervision over bribery activities involving multinational corporations.”

With recent and ongoing policy changes and rising tensions between the US and China with the COVID-19 pandemic, multinational corporations need to focus on corporate compliance in 2020, remain informed about any new FCPA related developments, and get ahead of any challenges that may arise ahead of time.

To read the full article, click here.

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AABANY Congratulates Won S. Shin on Promotion to Chief of Appeals at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York

The Asian American Bar Association of New York (“AABANY”) congratulates Won S. Shin, AABANY Board Director, on his recent promotion from an Assistant United States Attorney to Chief of Appeals at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Criminal Division, Southern District of New York.

Before his promotion, Won S. Shin served as an Assistant United States Attorney at the same office. In that role, Mr. Shin oversaw briefing and argument in criminal appeals in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and advised other prosecutors on legal issues arising in their investigations and prosecutions. He was previously a member of the office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit and is a recipient of the FinCEN Director’s Law Enforcement Award for Cyber Threats.

Before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Mr. Shin was an Assistant Solicitor General at the New York State Attorney General’s Office, where he briefed and argued appeals on behalf of the state in the Second Circuit and New York state appellate courts. Before entering public service, he was a litigation associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz in New York and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld in Washington, DC. He began his legal career as a law clerk to the Honorable Karen Nelson Moore of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Mr. Shin received his A.B., magna cum laude, in biochemical sciences from Harvard College, and his J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School. 

Mr Shin’s dedication to public service and his record of leadership is well-known and appreciated by all of us at AABANY. Please join us in congratulating Mr. Shin on this well deserved promotion.

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AABANY Hosts Weekly Zoom Membership Mixer on May 15

On May 15, 2020, the Membership Committee hosted their weekly Zoom Mixer Membership Mixer, with 24 participants in attendance. The icebreaker question posed to the participants was “If you were not a lawyer or did not have a job in law, what would your career be?” Members said they would be chefs, producers, directors, comic book illustrators, standup comics, cosmologists, and food critics. 

Issues Chair, Chris Kwok, moderated a discussion about the Asian Americans documentary being shown on PBS right now. https://www.pbs.org/show/asian-americans/

The Membership Committee previously hosted Monthly Mixers at bars, ballparks, stadiums, operas, etc. But, due to COVID-19, we are moving online to offer members a weekly outlet to share their feelings, see old friends, and make new connections. Mixers start at 6:30 pm on Friday, and the main event ends at 7:30 pm but feel free to stay on after 7:30 pm for smaller breakout groups.

We are giving away door prizes in some weeks. To win, you must be a member and must RSVP on the aabany.org to get a raffle number. Non-members can join the Zoom mixer but won’t be eligible to win a prize. 

This week we gave away PBS’s Asian Americans DVD! Congratulations to Francis Chin for winning!

Be sure to register for this week’s mixer by Thursday evening, May 21, here: https://www.aabany.org/events/event_details.asp?legacy=1&id=1366636

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In The News: AABANY Member Tsui Yee Quoted in NPR Story on Immigration

AABANY Member and immigration attorney Tsui Yee was recently quoted in an NPR story by Alina Selyukh entitled “Will Filing For Unemployment Hurt My Green Card? Legal Immigrants Are Afraid.”

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread and leave millions of people jobless, legal immigrants working and paying taxes in the US fear that applying for unemployment might jeopardize their immigration cases. Tsui noted that even though these individuals are eligible to collect unemployment, many chose not to out of fear that doing so will somehow trigger a red flag with immigration services.

To read the full story, click here.

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AABANY Hosts Weekly Zoom Membership Mixer on May 8

On May 8, 2020, the Membership Committee hosted their weekly Zoom Membership Mixer, with 20 participants in attendance. The question posed to the participants was, “If you could choose one only movie, book or TV series to watch or read repeatedly for a one year quarantine, what would that be?” Members said they would choose: Harry Potter, The Office, Game of Thrones, Star Wars, Seinfeld, The Dream of Red Chamber, On a Pale Horse, Matrix Trilogy, and Blade Runner.

The Membership Committee previously hosted Monthly Mixers at bars, ballparks, stadiums, operas, etc. But, due to COVID-19, we are moving online to offer members a weekly outlet to share their feelings, see old friends, and make new connections. Mixers start at 6:30 pm on Friday, and the main event ends at 7:30 pm but feel free to stay on after 7:30 pm for smaller breakout groups.

We are giving away door prizes in some weeks. To win, you must be a member and must RSVP on the aabany.org to get a raffle number. Non-members can join the Zoom mixer but won’t be eligible to win a prize. 

This week we gave away a 4-month Showtime subscription! Congratulations to Suehyan Cho O’Leary for winning and we hope you enjoy watching Billions, Homeland, and The Affair.

For the Membership Mixer on May 15, please watch the PBS documentary “Asian Americans” https://www.pbs.org/show/asian-americans/ and we will be having a discussion of same with Chris Kwok moderating.

WE WILL NOT BE RECORDING THE SESSIONS – live Zoom meetings only! Don’t miss out. Be sure to register for this week’s mixer by Thursday evening, May 14, here: https://www.aabany.org/events/event_details.asp?legacy=1&id=1366635.

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AABANY Membership Committee Hosts Weekly Membership Mixer on May 1

On May 1, 2020, the Membership Committee hosted their weekly Zoom Membership Mixer, with 17 members in attendance. The question posed to the participants was “What is the first thing you plan on doing after quarantine ends?” Members reported they wanted to eat at their favorite restaurant, do food tours, go to the gym and get hair cuts.

The Membership Committee previously hosted Monthly Mixers at bars, ballparks, stadiums, operas, etc, but due to COVID-19, we are moving online to offer members a weekly outlet to share their feelings, see old friends, and make new connections. Mixers start at 6:30pm on Friday and the main event ends at 7:30pm but feel free to stay on after 7:30pm for smaller breakout groups.

We are giving away door prizes on some weeks. In order to win, you must be a member and must RSVP on the aabany.org calendar to get a raffle number. Non-members can join the Zoom mixer but won’t be eligible to win a prize. This week, we let the members choose what prize they wanted to win: (HBO Subscription, NYTimes subscription, Washington Post subscription, Trader Joe’s Gift Card, or a one year AABANY Membership. The participants voted for a free AABANY Membership! Congratulations to Bart Wu on winning a one-year membership renewal to AABANY.

In the upcoming weeks, we will be looking to play charades or pictionary or host trivia nights through Zoom. Join us weekly to hang out! Register for this week’s May 8 mixer by May 7 here: https://www.aabany.org/events/event_details.asp?legacy=1&id=1366634

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Celebrating API Heritage Month Virtual Town Hall: Learn About City Resources

The New York City Commission on Human Rights, the Mayor’s Office for Immigrant Affairs, NYC Census 2020, and the Queens Borough President’s Office are hosting an API Heritage Month Virtual Town Hall on Tuesday, May 5 at 3:00pm.

The month of May serves as Asian American and Pacific Islander Month, and is a time where we recognize the contributions and influence of Asian Americans and Pacific Islander Americans to the history, culture, and achievements of the United States. As a City, we recognize the need to share resources with API communities, and to create a feedback loop to better understand how the City can be of more support during this time.

This virtual town hall will give attendees an opportunity to get updates on initiatives and work being led by New York City Commission on Human Rights, the Mayor’s Office for Immigrant Affairs, the Department of Consumer & Worker Protection, the Mayor’s Office of Media & Entertainment, NYC Census 2020, and the Queens Borough President’s Office. As you hear from senior officials within these agencies and offices, this virtual town hall will also be an opportunity for community members to share issues and concerns that are related to the work.

You can attend by clicking:  https://nyccchr.webex.com/nyccchr/onstage/g.php?MTID
=e4a2a9cdac5b70e44f52de8516c942a02, or by calling 1-646-992-2010. If you have the WebEx App, please use meeting number 713-512-170.

If you would like to submit questions ahead of the town hall, please e-mail [email protected] directly with subject line ‘API Heritage Town Hall Question’.

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PRESS RELEASE: IN THE CONTINUING EFFORT TO PROMOTE DIVERSITY WITHIN THE LEGAL PROFESSION, THE ASIAN AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK CONGRATULATES THREE PARTICIPANTS OF ITS LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM WHO HAVE BEEN ELEVATED TO PARTNERSHIP AT TOP LAW FIRMS

NEW YORK — April 10, 2020. The Asian American Bar Association of New York (AABANY) congratulates Luna Ngan Barrington of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP on her elevation to partnership and Jeffrey Mok of Fish & Richardson P.C. on his elevation to principal, on January 1, 2020. Congratulations to Dohyun Kim of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP for her elevation to partnership on April 1, 2020.

These three AABANY members are all proud participants of AABANY’s Leadership Development Program (ALDP). Established in 2018, ALDP is a six-month long interactive leadership training course aimed at helping AABANY members who are senior attorneys at law firms and companies navigate the promotion process within their respective organizations. According to A Portrait of Asian Americans in the Law by Yale Law School and the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, Asian Americans have a 3.65 ratio of associates to partners—significantly higher than the 1.01 ratio for Caucasians—and the highest ratio of any racial or ethnic group for more than a decade. Asian Americans also have the highest attrition rates at law firms. Although Asian Americans comprise 6.7% of all attorneys in the Vault/MCCA 2014 survey, they comprise 8.9% of attorneys who left their firms that year. ALDP addresses these issues of chronic Asian American underrepresentation at leadership levels through its law firm partnership track program, which is focused on cultivating a selected group of Asian Pacific American (APA) law firm associates on the partnership track. In 2019, ALDP expanded its program to include an in-house counsel track.  ALDP is unique in its small set of qualified participants and its focus on soft skills, accountability, and the AABANY community.  AABANY President Sapna Palla is a co-founder of ALDP.

Luna Barrington is a Partner in the Complex Commercial Litigation practice of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP. She represents clients in consumer class actions, antitrust litigation, commercial contract disputes and multi-district litigations, and has extensive experience taking cases from the pleading stage through to trial. Prior to joining Weil, Ms. Barrington served as a law clerk to the Honorable Richard M. Berman, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Ms. Barrington received her J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, where she was a member of the Hastings Business Law Journal.

Jeffrey Mok, a Principal at Fish & Richardson P.C., focuses his practice on litigation and counseling for patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secrets. His work spans a variety of technical areas, including wireless communications, semiconductor technology, automotive technology, financial services, software, and medical devices. He has represented clients in federal courts across the country and before the U.S. International Trade Commission. He received his J.D. from New York University School of Law in 2012 and his B.S. in electrical engineering, with a minor in computer science, from Columbia University in 2007.

Dohyun Kim, a Partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, focuses on mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, private equity, securities and general corporate law matters. Ms. Kim regularly advises public and private companies in a variety of U.S. and cross-border corporate matters, including acquisitions and dispositions, investments, joint ventures, restructurings and financings. She has represented clients across a wide variety of industries, including consumer products, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, technology and communications. Ms. Kim received her J.D. from the New York University School of Law, where she was the Senior Executive Editor for the New York University Law Review.

“AABANY congratulates Luna Barrington and Dohyun Kim on their elevation to partnership and Jeffrey Mok on his elevation to principal and recognizes them as outstanding participants in AABANY’s Leadership Development Program,” states AABANY President Sapna Palla. “A Portrait of Asian Americans in the Law tells us that although Asian Americans comprise 7.05% of all attorneys in the Vault/MCCA survey of 2015 data, they held only 2.09% of seats on executive management committees, 2.32% of seats on partner review committees, and 3.78% of seats on associate review committees. Furthermore, the 2016 Law Firm Diversity Benchmarking Report from the New York City Bar Association shows that Asian/Pacific Islander attorneys make up only 3% of all leadership positions within New York’s law firms. AABANY is committed to helping raise these numbers through ALDP. We are extremely grateful for the leadership and dedication of ALDP’s faculty members and organizers for making this innovative and impactful program possible. We especially thank and acknowledge our sponsors and our members for their support of ALDP’s mission to empower qualified senior attorneys in their respective firms and fields. We look forward to sharing more of ALDP’s continued success in the future.”

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NY Daily News Publishes Op-Ed on Startling Rise in Anti-Asian Bias Incidents and Hate Crime Reports

On April 8, 2020, the New York Daily News published an op-ed entitled “Bias, group hate and the coronavirus pandemic,” authored by Deborah Lauter, Executive Director of the New York City Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes, Carmelyn P. Malalis, Chair and Commissioner of the New York City Commission on Human Rights, and Bitta Mostofi, Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs.

The op-ed highlights the startling increase of bias incidents and hate crimes related to COVID-19 being reported by Asians and Asian Americans across the country in recent weeks. It notes that during times of crisis, societies are susceptible to fear. In the current COVID-19 pandemic situation, that fear has manifested itself in the form of mistrust, hatred, and division on a national level. The authors point to several examples of similar societal reactions in history during times of national and international crises. They encouraged readers to learn from history’s mistakes and stressed the need to support the Chinese and other Asian communities that are being scapegoated and increasingly living in fear of being targeted in the current environment.

To read the full op-ed, click on the following link: https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-bias-group-hate-coronavirus-20200409-hocvcsn7orarvhruqoxxkay2my-story.html