AABANY presented Hon. Michael H. Park with a robe on Thursday, July 25, at his chambers, at the Thurgood Marshall Courthouse. President Brian Song, joined by Judiciary Committee Co-Chairs Will Wang and Rena Malik, were on hand for the presentation.
On July 11th, AABANY co-sponsored the robing ceremony for the Hon. Michael H. Park with KAAGNY and KALAGNY at the Museum of Korean American Heritage. Click here for more details and photos. AABANY congratulates Judge Park again on his historic appointment to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
On July 23rd, Margaret Ling, AABANY Co-Chair of the Real Estate Committee, presented a CLE event entitled “Due Diligence and the Ethics of a Real Estate Transaction” at Bank of Hope located in Flushing. More than 50 people attended the event, including 16 practicing real estate lawyers. This event was co-hosted by Bank of Hope, KALAGNY, Big Apple Abstract Corp, and AREAA New York East Chapter.
Margaret shared multiple representative cases she handled to remind attendees of the importance of conducting due diligence before a real estate transaction and the obligations of an ethical lawyer. One such case involved a man selling a house, owned by his mother, while she was abroad. Margaret emphasized the duty to know the clients thoroughly. She also discussed wire fraud committed by brokers and how to negotiate with brokers on behalf of the client’s best interests.
We want to give special thanks to Bank of Hope and its staff for hosting the CLE panel and providing delicious food. Also, thank you to the speakers and attendees. One CLE credit in the area of ethics was awarded to attendees. To learn more about the Real Estate Committee, go to https://www.aabany.org/page/120.
On Tuesday, July 22nd, AABANY’s Corporate Law Committee and Student Outreach Committee hosted an insightful Pre-OCI Information session, “What do corporate lawyer do?”, at Paul, Weiss. With more than 30 law school students and undergraduate students in attendance, Executive Director Yang Chen welcomed everyone and introduced the moderator, Terry Shen.
The panel started with Terry introducing each distinguished panel speaker. The panelists comprised both in-house attorneys from top firms in the industry and corporate law lawyers at prestigious law firms, each with a different specialty practice area within the landscape of corporate law:
• Jasmine Ball, Partner, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
• Parkin Lee, Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer, The Rockefeller Group
• Marianne Chow-Newman, Counsel, The Hearst Corporation
• Lawrence G. Wee, Partner, Paul Weiss Rifikind Wharton & Garrison LLP
Addressing the question “what do corporate lawyer do?”, the panelists talked about why they chose corporate law, their daily role as a corporate lawyer, the interaction and relationship with corporate clients, the kind of tasks a junior associate will encounter, and interview techniques for the upcoming OCI (on-campus interview) season on campus.
First, the panelists explained five different subdivisions of corporate law: Capital Markets, Credit & Leverage Finance, Mergers & Acquisitions, Restructuring, and Investment Management. Different from litigation and what has been portrayed in the media, corporate lawyers rarely go to court or draft motions. Instead, corporate lawyers offer legal advice to corporations who attempt to operate and grow their business. Coming from an engineering background in his early career, Parkin Lee characterized his role as a corporate lawyer as “engineering with words.” The nature of corporate operation requires lawyers to write a tight contract, understand the needs of their clients and negotiate on their behalf, build trust between two parties who want to do business, and explain complicated deal structures to the client. Young lawyers need to have the capability to negotiate, conduct due diligence, and strengthen relationships with clients.
The event concluded with a discussion of the deal team culture and “bro culture” in law firms. Although one does not need to thrive in the bro culture to succeed, Terry drew a connection between bro culture with the work ethic of a young lawyer, illustrating the reliability, can-do mindset and intellectual curiosity embodied in both deal team culture and bro culture.
We would like to sincerely thank Larry Wee and Paul, Weiss for hosting the event by providing food, beverages, and an excellent space. We also thank the Corporate Law Committee and Student Outreach Committee for putting together this valuable and meaningful program for current or prospective law students.
To learn more about the Corporate Law Committee, please click here.
To learn more about the Student Outreach Committee, please click here.
Since 1953, the Attorney General’s Honors Program has been recognized as the nation’s premier entry-level federal attorney recruitment program. The Honors Program attracts candidates from hundreds of law schools across the country representing a broad cross-section of experiences and interests. Selections are made based on many elements of a candidate’s background, including a demonstrated commitment to government service, academic achievement, leadership, journal, moot court and mock trial experience, clinical experience, past employment, and extracurricular activities that relate to the work of Justice and the relevant component. The Department of Justice seeks high caliber attorneys to advance its mission and welcomes applications from candidates whose backgrounds reflect the Nation’s rich diversity
Key Dates
July 31: Application opens
Early September: Application deadline
Late September: Interview candidates selected
Mid-October – early November: Main Honors Program interview period
The Summer Law Intern Program (SLIP) is the Department of Justice’s competitive recruitment program for compensated summer internships. Law students who participate in the SLIP benefit from an exceptional legal experience and invaluable exposure to the Department of Justice. Interns represent diverse backgrounds and interests, and come from a wide range of law schools throughout the country.
On Tuesday, July 17th, the Judiciary Committee held its quarterly meeting at NYC civil court located in Lower Manhattan. The meeting was led by Co-chairs Rena Malik and William Wang. During the meeting, the attendees heard about highlights of past events, such as the robing ceremony of Judge Michael Park, and also actively engaged in a discussion on how to prepare and improve future investiture ceremonies for prospective APA judges. The discussion also covered screening panel training for next spring and applications for AABANY endorsement for members who wish to ascend to the bench. After hearing about AABANY’s participation in screening panels in New York, several attendees kindly offered help to connect the committee with eligible speakers for the screening panel training. At the end of the meeting, the co-chairs and the attendees brainstormed possible topics on what should be presented at this year’s Fall Conference, which is being held in conjunction with the NAPABA Northeast Regional. They also proposed ideas of possible events in the future, such as a clerkship panel, to enhance diversity on the bench. Thank you to all the attendees who came and shared their ideas, and we look forward to your involvement in the future work of the Judiciary Committee. To learn more about the Judiciary Committee visit their webpage at https://www.aabany.org/page/115
At the Asian Health and Social Service Council meeting on Friday morning, July 19, they will be addressing the Universal Access to Legal Services Law. For more information see the flyer and RSVP to[email protected] if you wish to attend.
On Thursday, June 27th, AABANY held its 12th annual Summer Soiree, formerly known as the Wine Tasting and Networking Reception, at the Castell Rooftop Lounge located atop AC Hotel New York Times Square. The In-House Counsel Committee and the Corporate Law Committee once again co-organized this event, and around 130 senior in-house lawyers and senior law firm attorneys and partners attended this year.
Attendees networked with one another as they enjoyed an abundant selection of drinks paired with signature items prepared by the chef, with views of the Manhattan skyline from the terrace. To get our attendees to actively mingle and mix, we played an icebreaker game in which attendees had to find at least one other person in the room that matched them on various things, like where they went to school, what type of practice they are involved with, and where they have lived before coming to New York City. Congratulations to the two winners of the icebreaker, Gary Eisenberg of Perkins Coie and Jenifer Liu of JP Morgan, who each received a bottle of champagne, thanks to the generosity of Sabine Poisson.
The attendees represented 51 companies from a variety of industries, such as banking media, finance, and real estate, and 30 top global and regional law firms with offices in New York City.
We would like to give special thanks to the following sponsors for helping us make this event a memorable success:
Summit Financial
Prosperian
Reed Smith
Davis & Gilbert
Perkins Coie
Consilio
Thank you to all our attendees, and we hope to see everyone again at next year’s Summer Soiree. To learn more about the Corporate Law Committee, go to https://www.aabany.org/page/128 To learn more about the In-House Counsel Committee go to: https://www.aabany.org/page/149
