In honor of Asian & Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer is hosting an art exhibit, “Flaneur in New York,” that features works from seven Korean artists at her office located at 1 Centre Street, 19th Floor.
The event and organized by the AHL Foundation, Inc. in support of Korean artists living in the U.S, and is curated by Jin Young Coleman.
The reception will be on Monday, May 20, 2019, from 6:00 to 8:00pm.
Kimberly Ong, Senior Attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council and AABANY member, was recently quoted in The New York Times after regulators in New York denied an application for a $1 billion natural gas line due to environmental impact concerns.
Kimberly Ong declared, “The state has made it clear that dangerous gas pipelines have no place in New York.”
On April 11, 2019, the AABANY Real Estate Committee successfully presented a CLE and networking event entitled “Trends in Long Island Real Estate Development – IDA Zoning and Land Use.” Over 60 attorneys and real estate professionals were in attendance. The event was held at the Omni Building in Uniondale and was co-sponsored by AABANY, KALAGNY, Forchelli Deegan Terrana, Flushing Bank, and Big Apple Abstract Corp.
The panelists were:
Margaret Ling, AABANY Development Director and Real Estate Committee Co-Chair
Daniel Deegan, Partner at Forchelli Deegan Terrana
Kathleen Deegan Dickson, Partner at Forchelli Deegan Terrana
Rose Liu, Director of Finance & Research at Colliers International
Herbert Agin, CEO of Colliers International
The speakers led an insightful discussion on the following topics: title insurance, the key facets of Industrial Development Agencies (IDA) in Nassau and Suffolk County, zoning, variances, and municipal regulations in Long Island and how they have a significant impact on the success of real estate projects.
In addition, Rose Liu discussed the latest statistics involving real estate development projects in Long Island and Herbert Agin shared the latest updates on the Lesso Holdings development project in Westbury, Long Island.
The key takeaway of the event was that there are a lot of real estate development opportunities for investors in Long Island, but for the project to be successful, you need to have the right people on your team to navigate the rules and regulations surrounding real estate developments.
NEW YORK – The Asian American Bar Association of New York
(“AABANY”) congratulates Glenn Lau-Kee, Partner at Lau-Kee Law Group PLLC and
former AABANY President (1997-99), on receiving the American Bar Association
Solo and Small Firm Lifetime Achievement Award. This award honors solo and
small firm attorneys who are widely accepted by their peers as having
significant lifetime distinction, exceptional achievement, and distinction in
an exemplary way. Mr. Lau-Kee and his fellow awardees will be honored on
Friday, May 3, 2019 at the ABA Solo and Small Firms Award Luncheon at the
Marriott Marquis in New York City.
Mr. Lau-Kee began his legal career as an associate in the
Hong Kong and New York offices of Coudert Brothers LLP where he worked on bank
financing, leasing, and corporate acquisition transactions. In 1977, he became
a partner at Kee and Lau-Kee PLLC where he has developed a thriving real estate
and bank financing practice. He was also
a partner at Koo Larrabee Lau-Kee & Lane LLP for six years.
Aside from practicing real estate and business law, Mr.
Lau-Kee has spent much of his legal career tirelessly serving the Asian
American community of New York City. He helped found the Chinatown YMCA, as
well as the US-Asia Institute. For his long-standing service to the YMCA, he
received the Order of the Red Triangle, the highest honor bestowed by the
organization. Along with his father, Norman Kee, Mr. Lau-Kee received the Hon.
George Bundy Smith Pioneer Award in 2010, recognizing their outstanding record
of public service and commitment to providing exceptional legal services to the
Chinatown community in New York City. In 2017, Mr. Lau-Kee was honored as a
Community Hero by the Museum of Chinese in America.
Mr. Lau-Kee made history as the first Asian American
President of the New York State Bar Association (“NYSBA”) for the 2014-15 term.
He continues his involvement with NYSBA as a member of the Business Law, Health
Law and Real Property Law sections. Mr. Lau-Kee has also been an active member
of New York County Lawyers Association (“NYCLA”) since 2000, serving on the
Board of Directors until 2004 and serving on various task forces and committees
until 2010. He also served on the Board of Directors for the NYCLA Foundation
and the New York Bar Foundation, which function as the charitable and
philanthropic arms of their respective organizations.
Mr. Lau-Kee has been an active leader in AABANY for over
twenty years. He served as President
from 1997-1999 and on the Board of Directors from 1994-2000. He has served on the Nominations Committee,
contributing to the promotion of future leaders for AABANY.
Mr. Lau-Kee is a graduate of Yale College and Boston
University School of Law.
The Asian American Bar Association of New York is a professional membership organization of attorneys concerned with issues affecting the Asian Pacific American community. Incorporated in 1989, AABANY seeks not only to encourage the professional growth of its members but also to advocate for the Asian Pacific American community as a whole. AABANY is a New York regional affiliate of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA).
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Additional information about AABANY is available at www.aabany.org
On Thursday, April 11, AABANY hosted a screening of “Blowin’ Up,” a feature documentary that explores the complex realities of sex work in New York City and the compassionate approach of a human trafficking court in Queens County. The film features AABANY member Honorable Toko Serita, Queens Supreme Court, as well as other heroines of the Human Trafficking Intervention Court, that work with victims of sexual exploitation who face prostitution-related charges.
After the screening, Beatrice Leong, AABANY Government Service and Public Interest Committee Co-Chair, led a panel discussion featuring speakers from the NYPD/FBI Joint Human Trafficking Task Force and a Queens Assistant District Attorney who prosecutes human traffickers. The panelists talked about how they worked together to prosecute the traffickers and how one can identify and help a suspected trafficking victim. The panel gave important insight into how gangs and traffickers target their victims, and the audience learned that many victims are new immigrants, local high school students or children in the foster care system. “Drugs can only be used once, but a person can be used over and over.”
April’s Monthly Pro Bono Clinic, held on Wednesday, April 10 at 33 Bowery Street in Confucius Plaza, brought out 20 lawyers and 8 interpreters who volunteered their time to help 32 clients.
At this month’s clinic, we also presented videos created in partnership with AARP to prevent immigration fraud. In the videos, former Immigration Law Committee co-chairs Susan Akina and Amanda Bernardo provided tips and advice on how to avoid being a victim of immigration scams. Scammers pretend to provide quality legal advice, help with paperwork, or other tasks involved in the immigration process. The scammer usually asks for an upfront fee, takes the money, and disappears immediately. Or worse, they provide ineffective or even harmful representation by filing the wrong paperwork, using fraudulent measures, or misrepresenting facts. Susan and Amanda stressed how important it is to only work with qualified immigration lawyers.
To see Susan’s and Amanda’s videos, click on the following links:
We are asking every member to actively support AABANY’s Monthly Pro
Bono Clinic by making donations that are vital to its continuing
operation. In a few short years, with the tireless and generous
assistance of our volunteers, we have helped hundreds of low-income
clients with free legal advice and referrals to high-quality, culturally
sensitive, and linguistically competent legal services. Together we
have helped expand access to justice for underserved Asian American New
Yorkers.
If you know family members, friends, or businesses, such as your
firm, who would like to support the Clinic, please help us connect with
them by contacting Karen Yau at [email protected].
Or please urge them to make a donation directly. They can visit the
website of Asian American Law Fund of New York (AALFNY), AABANY’s
501(c)(3) affiliate: https://www.asianamericanlawfund.org/donate/ AALFNY
is accepting charitable donations on the Clinic’s behalf and can issue
any donor a tax receipt. Any contribution, large or small, would help.
Please be sure to indicate in the memo field that the donation is
intended for the Pro Bono Clinic.
Thank you to all of the April Pro Bono Clinic Volunteers!
Lawyers:
Kathy Yung Beatrice Leong Angela Wu Gloria Tsui-Yip Mayumi Cindy Iijima Zhixian Liu Anna Jinhua Wang Eun Hye (Grace) Lee Xianxiao Li (Emily) Amanda Bernardo Samantha Sumilang Kevin Hsi Barbara Hayes Christopher Chin Sae-Eun Ahn Kwok Kei Ng Pauline Yeung-Ha Ming Chu Lee Karen Kithan Yau Asako Aiba
Interpreters:
Alva Lin Justina Chen Emily Arakawa Derek Ting-Che Tai Weiling Huang Jessica Wang Satoshi Kurita Ruth Poon
Special thanks to Johnny Thach and Kwan Shun Jason Cheung for coordinating the clinic, and the Pro Bono and Community Service Committee Co-Chairs Karen Kithan Yau, Pauline Yeung-Ha, Judy Lee and Asako Aiba for their leadership.
If you are interested in volunteering at next month’s Pro Bono Clinic on May 8, please contact Asako Aiba at [email protected]. AABANY’s Monthly Pro Bono Clinic occurs every second Wednesday from 6:30 to 8:30 PM.
On April 1, 2019, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) and the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), joined by Sixty-four (64) bar associations and AAPI-serving community organizations, submitted an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in Department of Commerce v. New York (18-966) opposing the addition of a proposed citizenship question to the 2020 Census.
In a press release, NAPABA stated:
On April 23, the Supreme Court will hear an appeal in Department of Commerce v. New York (18-966). In January, the Southern District of New York found that the Administration’s decision to add the question was ‘arbitrary’ and ‘capricious,’ and that it violated the Administrative Procedure Act. In a related challenge, California v. Ross, the Northern District of California found the Administration violated the Administrative Procedure Act and the Enumeration Clause of the Constitution. A decision is pending in a third challenge, involving AAPI and Hispanic plaintiffs, in the District of Maryland.
The AAPI organizations urge the Court to uphold the district court’s ruling to enjoin the addition of the citizenship question: Amici agree with the district court ’s finding that the addition of a citizenship question will likely lead to an undercount of noncitizen households of at least 5.8 percent. . . . This chilling of participation in the 2020 Census will have a disproportionate effect on the AAPI community. . . . These heightened concerns for the AAPI community come at a crucial moment, because Asian Americans are the fastest-growing racial group in the country and stand to make substantial gains in political representation based on that population growth.
AABANY is pleased to announce that it is a co-signatory to NAPABA’s amicus brief in the Supreme Court opposing the addition of a proposed citizenship question to the 2020 census. The addition of the citizenship question will negatively impact the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. It will depress response rates from Asian Americans, the fastest growing racial group and the largest segment of new immigrants in the country, and impact our ability to protect our rights and ensure political representation.
To read the full press release and the amicus brief, click here.
On Wednesday, April 10, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor – Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) is holding a town hall for the legal industry at the Hilton Millennium Downtown New York, 55 Church St., New York, NY from 9 am to 1 pm.
The focus of the OFCCP is to review its compliance assistance efforts and identify options for enhancing contractors’ understanding of their nondiscrimination and affirmative action requirements.
The OFCCP is holding the town hall to learn more about what is important to its stakeholders in the legal industry and to enhance the scope and the quality of OFCCP’s compliance materials.
The Network of Bar Leaders and its members (including AABANY) are invited to attend and provide feedback to help the OFCCP develop policy for stakeholders in the legal industry and related fields. OFCCP will be looking for innovative ideas on how to make its existing compliance assistance efforts more practical and collaborative.
The meetings are open to the public but will be of particular interest to human resource managers, equal employment opportunity specialists, chief compliance officers, and other personnel in the legal industry who are directly involved with ensuring their company’s compliance with OFCCP’s requirements. Workers, job seekers, community groups and anyone interested in OFCCP and our work are also encouraged to attend. Please note only two tickets are available per organization on a first come, first served basis.
You can attend a town hall by registering through OFCCP’s website.
The United States Trustee seeks resumes from persons wishing to be considered for appointment to the panel of trustees who administer cases filed under chapter 7 of title 11 of the United States Code (Bankruptcy Code). The appointment is for cases filed in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of New York, primarily in the Rochester Division. Chapter 7 trustees receive compensation and reimbursement for expenses, in each case in which they serve, pursuant to court order under 11 U.S.C. §326 and §330.
The minimum qualifications for appointment are set forth in 28 C.F.R. § 58.3. To be eligible for appointment, an applicant must possess strong administrative, financial and interpersonal skills. Fiduciary and bankruptcy experience is desirable but not mandatory.
A successful applicant will be required to undergo a background check, and must qualify to be bonded. Although chapter 7 trustees are not federal employees, appointments are made consistent with federal Equal Opportunity policies, which prohibit discrimination in employment.
All resumes should be received on or before Friday, May 17, 2019.
Forward resumes to: Kathleen Schmitt, Assistant U.S. Trustee, Office of the United States Trustee, 100 State Street, Room 6090 Rochester, NY 14614.
On Wednesday, April 3, 2019, Margaret Ling, AABANY Development Director and Real Estate Committee Co-Chair, and Pauline Yeung-Ha, Pro Bono Committee Co-Chair, presented a CLE and networking event entitled “Selling and Purchasing Real Property from an Estate.” The event was hosted by Flushing Bank at their Astoria branch and was co-sponsored by AABANY, KALAGNY, and Big Apple Abstract Corp.
Margaret and Pauline discussed the importance of doing your due diligence when selling or purchasing real property from an estate. They shared horror stories of clients trying to cut corners and scam the system. One story involved a separated husband and wife, where the wife claimed that the husband had passed away and tried to rush the closing on the sale of their house. After some investigation, it was discovered that the husband was alive and well in Greece. The moral of the story was that as real estate attorneys it is imperative to not blindly trust surrogates and extremely important to demand proof of death to prevent future liability and to protect your license.
Margaret and Pauline also discussed the tax implications and other liabilities that accompany the different types of estate structures, which included Joint Tenancy, Tenants in Common, Tenants by the Entirety, Life Estates, and Trusts. They advised that practitioners can save themselves a lot of trouble by taking the time to do their due diligence and by speaking to title companies.
We thank Flushing Bank and its staff for hosting the CLE panel for the evening. Thanks also to the speakers and everyone that attended. One CLE credit in the area of professional practice was awarded to attendees. To learn more about the Real Estate Committee, go to https://www.aabany.org/page/120.
