Author: Davinderpal Singh

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In The News: Beatrice Leong Interviewed on “This is Uncomfortable”

On January 30, 2020, AABANY Membership Director Beatrice Leong was interviewed by Reema Khrais on her podcast called “This Is Uncomfortable.” During the interview which was broadcast on NPR, Beatrice shared a very personal story about why she decided to become a divorce lawyer. After graduating from college Beatrice and her long time boyfriend, someone she had been with since the age of 16, got married and moved in together. He worked as a financial consultant, and Beatrice went to law school. However, their relationship took a turn for the worst when Beatrice uncovered his infidelity. After a long back and forth internally, she realized divorce was her only choice. Having graduated from law school, she decided to be her own advocate and joined a family law practice to learn more about divorce law. Beatrice recounted her own consultation with a divorce attorney, found it cold and unsympathetic, and believed that she would make a better matrimonial lawyer, one who understands the emotional trauma that her clients may be undergoing.

The interview talks about the complicated dynamics that accompany a divorce, including how financially and emotionally draining it can be. To hear more of Beatrice’s story, click on the following link: https://www.marketplace.org/shows/this-is-uncomfortable-reema-khrais/divorce-story/

Congratulations to Beatrice on her interview. If you would like to meet her in person and talk with her about her experiences, consider going to the Membership Mixer on February 19. Details at https://www.aabany.org/events/event_details.asp?legacy=1&id=1325644

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Judge Sri Srinivasan Will Be Presented with the Public Service Leadership Award at the 2020 AABANY Annual Dinner

AABANY is excited to announce that Judge Sri Srinivasan will be presented with the Public Service Leadership Award at the 2020 AABANY Annual Dinner being held on February 26, 2020, at Cipriani Wall Street.

Judge Srinivasan was nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed 97-0 by the Senate on May 23, 2013 to the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. With his confirmation, Judge Srinivasan became the first South Asian American federal appellate court judge in U.S. history. On February 12, 2020, Judge Srinivasan once again made history by becoming both the first Asian American and South Asian American to serve as Chief Judge for a circuit court in the United States. Judge Srinivasan grew up in Lawrence, Kansas and graduated from Stanford University in 1989 and Stanford Law School and Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1995. Following graduation, he served as a law clerk to Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, as a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the U.S. Solicitor General, and as a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. In 1998, he joined the law firm O’Melveny & Myers. From 2002 to 2007, he served as an Assistant to the Solicitor General. In 2007 he returned to O’Melveny & Myers as a partner, later becoming chair of the firm’s appellate and Supreme Court practice. From 2011 until his appointment to the U.S. Court of Appeals, Judge Srinivasan served as the Principal Deputy Solicitor General of the United States. He has also taught appellate advocacy at Harvard Law School.

We look forward to seeing you at the Annual Dinner. For more information and tickets, click here on the following link: https://www.aabany.org/events/event_details.asp?legacy=1&id=1223619

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Yen Chu, Chief Legal Officer at Equinox Holdings, Will Be Presented with the Women’s Leadership Award at the 2020 AABANY Annual Dinner

AABANY is excited to announce that Yen Chu will be presented with the Women’s Leadership Award at the 2020 AABANY Annual Dinner being held on February 26, 2020, at Cipriani Wall Street.

Yen D. Chu currently serves as Chief Legal Officer of Equinox Holdings, Inc., a global integrated fitness, wellness, and hospitality company, with a portfolio of brands/business interests in Equinox, Equinox Hotels, SoulCycle, Blink Fitness, PURE Yoga, Furthermore (a digital lifestyle magazine), and Equinox Media. She leads the Equinox legal department, and during her tenure, Ms. Chu has led business innovation and growth with the launch of new ventures and businesses, including Equinox Hotels, Equinox Media, and Equinox Explore.

Before joining Equinox, Ms. Chu spent over a decade as a vital member of the senior leadership team and advisor to the Board of Directors of Ralph Lauren Corporation. She also nearly a decade at the law firm of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP as a corporate attorney. Additionally, she has also been a champion of diversity and inclusion, dedicating her time and voice to multiple organizations that focus on advancing and empowering women, people of color, first-generation students, and other underrepresented groups, particularly in the legal profession.

Ms. Chu graduated from Columbia Law School and is currently a Board Member of the Columbia Law School Association.

We look forward to seeing you at the Annual Dinner. For more information and tickets, click here on the following link: https://www.aabany.org/events/event_details.asp?legacy=1&id=1223619

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Alan Tse, Global Chief Legal Officer at Jones Lang LaSalle, Will Be Presented with the Corporate Leadership Award at the 2020 AABANY Annual Dinner

AABANY is excited to announce that Alan Tse will be presented with the Corporate Leadership Award at the 2020 Annual Dinner being held on February 26, 2020, at Cipriani Wall Street.

Alan K. Tse is the Global Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary of Jones Lang LaSalle, Inc (NYSE: JLL), the Fortune 200 Real Estate Services Company with 92,000 employees worldwide. Mr. Tse leads a team of 300 plus legal and compliance professionals worldwide and is a member of the global leadership team. In addition to his Legal and Compliance responsibilities, Mr. Tse also oversees Internal Audit and Insurance reports.

Mr. Tse started his career as a business and technology attorney at Brobeck Phleger and Harrison LLP in their Silicon Valley office, representing technology companies and venture capitalists. He also served on the Board of Directors of the Association of Corporate Counsel from 2013-2019 and served as Board Secretary and chaired the Membership Committee and Advocacy Committee during his tenure. Mr. Tse is the co-founder and serves on the Board of the Asian American Legal Foundation and was named one of the best lawyers under 40 by the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association in 2005.

Mr. Tse holds a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley, where he earned Phi Beta Kappa honors and graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School.

We look forward to seeing you at the Annual Dinner. For more information and tickets, click here on the following link: https://www.aabany.org/events/event_details.asp?legacy=1&id=1223619

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Tax Committee Holds First Tax Club Dinner of 2020

On Thursday, January 30, 2020, the Tax Committee held another Tax Club dinner at Wu Liang Ye.  The attendees discussed estate planning in light of the current transfer tax landscape with a specific focus on estate planning for the moderately wealthy, including both tax and non-tax ramifications.  With the increase in estate and gift tax exemption as a result of tax reform, fewer individuals will be subject to transfer taxes. However, everyone should still have an essential set of documents prepared, and individuals who have at least $5.5 million in assets should consider taking advantage of the increased exemptions before these provisions sunset in 2026. Thanks to everyone who attended. To learn more about the Tax Committee go to https://www.aabany.org/page/453 .

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AABANY Presents: Lunar New Year Celebration and Networking Event at Chase Bank

On January 28, 2020, Margaret Ling, AABANY Real Estate Committee Co-Chair, hosted and organized the Lunar New Year Celebration and Networking Event at Chase Bank located at 41-22 Bell Bvd, Bayside, New York.

Over 50 attorneys attended the reception. A lovely buffet was served, and entertainment was provided by master paper cutting artist Mr. Hou-Tien Cheng. AABANY’s Real Estate Committee collaborated with the following organizations to present this event: Queens County Bar Association Diversity and Inclusion Committee; KALAGNY; Big Apple Abstract Corporation; Chase Bank; and Forchelli, Deegan and Terrana, LLP. Margaret Ling, who is both the Co-Chair of the AABANY Real Estate Committee and the Co-Chair of the Queens County Bar Association Diversity and Inclusion Committee, will continue to organize these joint collaborative bar events in the near future.

We thank everyone that attended and wish everyone a prosperous Lunar New Year!

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AABANY Presents: Understanding Diversity and Inclusion in Our Everyday World

On January 30, 2020, AABANY’s Real Estate Committee hosted a CLE entitled “Understanding Diversity and Inclusion in Our Everyday World.” The CLE and networking event took place at Hanover Bank in Flushing Commons in Queens, and over 25 attorneys attended.

The panel discussion covered all the basics of diversity and inclusion in the workplace and its relevance to the legal profession. The speakers included AABANY’s very own William Ng, Shareholder at Littler,  and Shirley W. Bi, Associate at Littler. Margaret Ling, AABANY Real Estate Committee Co-Chair, moderated the event. Attendees received 1 credit in Diversity, Inclusion and Elimination of Bias.

Many thanks to our sponsors, John Pollock and Jimmy Lee, both of Hanover Bank, Littler, Big Apple Abstract Corporation, KALAGNY, and the Queens County Bar Association. To learn more about the Real Estate Committee, go to https://www.aabany.org/page/120 .

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The Courtroom: Performance of an Immigration Proceeding, Dec. 9

The Waterwell Theater Company is presenting “The Courtroom” at the historic Great Hall at Cooper Union, on Monday, December 9, 2019, at 7:00pm.

The play/performance is about the deportation proceeding of an immigrant from the Philippines who was married to a U.S. Citizen and came to this country on a K3 Visa. After inadvertently registering to vote at the DMV in Bloomington, IL, receiving a voter registration card in the mail, and voting, her removal proceedings were set in motion. It began in Immigration Court and her case was eventually heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit. The Courtroom is performed entirely verbatim from court transcripts.

Waterwell is presenting monthly performances of The Courtroom at civic venues around New York City, as part of an ongoing exploration of belonging, immigration, and what it means to be a U.S. Citizen today.

See the flyer below for more details.

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NYC Family Justice Center, Manhattan (MFJC) Core II Training: December 2019

The NYC Family Justice Center, Manhattan (MFJC) is excited to announce its next round of CORE II trainings. The CORE training series is a learning opportunity for service providers, community leaders, and city agency staff who are working with populations directly or indirectly affected by intimate partner violence, sex trafficking, and/or elder abuse.

To register, click on the following link: https://a002-irm.nyc.gov/
EventRegistration/RegForm.aspx?eventGuid=e58530f7-917c-4171-b67c-328916c5f941

Contact Indhira Castro directly at [email protected] if you have any issues registering.

Criminal Justice Response to intimate Partner Violence
Wednesday, December 4th, 2019
10:00am-12:30PM
Facilitated by:  New York District Attorney & New York Police Department

Intro to Immigration Law
Monday, December 9, 2019
10:00AM – 12:00PM
Facilitated by: NYLAG & Her Justice

Intro to Family & Matrimonial Law
Monday, December 9th, 2019
1:00 PM – 3:30 PM
Facilitated by: Sanctuary for Families

Affordable Housing
Tuesday, December 10th2019                           
2:00PM – 4:00PM
Facilitated by: New Destiny Housing

Shelter Options for Intimate Partner Violence Survivors
Wednesday December 11th, 2019
11:00PM – 1:00PM
Facilitated by: Safe Horizon

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Thank you to our November Brooklyn Pro Bono Clinic Volunteers!

AABANY’s Pro Bono Committee held its second Brooklyn Pro Bono Clinic on Thursday, November 21, 2019, at A Plus Academy located at 6802 8th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY. The clinic brought out 27 volunteers who volunteered their time to help 13 clients.

The Brooklyn Pro Bono Clinic has allowed AABANY’s Pro Bono Committee to service a new community in need of pro bono legal services and indicates our efforts to grow and expand these services to more New Yorkers in need.

We are asking every member to actively support AABANY’s Monthly Pro Bono Clinics 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.

To make it easier for our members and our community to donate to the Pro Bono Clinic, we have set up a page on Give Lively where you can make a donation by texting APAPROBONO  to 44321. It takes seconds to donate, and we hope you will take a moment today to support the Pro Bono Clinic and help it meet its fundraising goals. Please donate today!

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 November Brooklyn Pro Bono Clinic Volunteers!

Lawyers: 

Kenneth C. Louis
May Kay Wong
Thomas Hou
Victoria Cheng
Eric Ng
Kevin Hsi
Beatrice Leong
Tina Y. Song
Yifei He
Ting Poon
Michelle DeSousa-Fiore
Francis Chin
Andrew Mickler

Interpreters: 

Tian Ma
Lawrence Ho
Erica Zou
Chao-Yung Chiu
Teri Chow
Xinyi Shen
Amy Zhou
Shun-Hsiang (Steven) Chen
Henry Man

Other Volunteers

Francisco Yau-Smith, Usher
Runlan Hwang, Usher

Special thanks to Coordinator Xinyi Shen, Coordinator Amy Zhou, Coordinator Shun-Hsiang (Steven) Chen, Coordinator Henry Man, Vice Chair Kwok Kei Ng for coordinating the clinic, and the Pro Bono and Community Service Committee Co-Chairs Pauline Yeung-Ha, Karen Kithan Yau, and Asako Aiba for their leadership. The Brooklyn Pro Bono Clinic will be a bi-monthly clinic occurring on the fourth Thursday of every other month. The next clinic will be held on Thursday, January 23, 2020, from 6:30 pm to 8:30pm. If you are interested in volunteering at future Pro Bono Clinics, please contact Asako Aiba at [email protected].