Fall Harvest Moon Festival Networking Event

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On September 26, 2018, AABANY’s Real Estate and Solo & Small Firm Practice Committees, with KALAGNY, Citrin Cooperman and HSBC, hosted a Fall Harvest Moon Festival Networking Event. Over 60 people attended the event at Citrin Cooperman’s Fifth Avenue headquarters. AABANY leadership in attendance included Margaret Ling, AABANY Development Director and Co-Chair of AABANY’s Real Estate Committee; Cary Chan, AABANY Co-Chair of Real Estate and Solo & Small Firm Practice Committee; Poonam Gupta, AABANY Immigration Committee Co-Chair; Beatrice Leong, AABANY Government Service and Public Interest Committee Co-Chair; and Vincent Chang, Former AABANY President. VIP Guests included Bridgette Ahn, President of the Network of Bar Leaders; George Xu, President of New Century Development; and Wellington Chan, Executive Director of Chinatown Partnership. Many thanks to our sponsors Ben Liu, CPA, Director at Citrin Cooperman, and David Lau, Retail Business Banking Relationship Manager at HSBC Bank. Everyone enjoyed the networking and the buffet, which included moon cakes to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Above: Citrin Cooperman Team and Margaret Ling

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Left to Right: Bridgette Ahn, George Xu, David Lau,Margaret Ling, Ben Liu

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Left to Right: Ben Liu, George Xu, Patrick Yu, Wellington Chan, Margaret Ling, David Fesser

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Left to Right: Jane Chen, Jang Lee, Margaret Ling, Cary Chan

Stay Tuned with Preet Live

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Preet Bharara, former U.S. Attorney who fought corruption, financial fraud and violent crime, takes his NPR radio show Stay Tuned with Preet on the road this fall. Past episodes have covered topics such as the Kavanaugh hearings, leaks from the West Wing, and the silence of Congressional Republicans. Join Preet in NY on 10/25 with New Yorker staff writer and CNN analyst, Jeff Toobin. Next stop is a conversation with Meet the Press host Chuck Todd in Washington, DC on 11/15. Preet’s last show of the fall will be in Los Angeles with Oscar nominated writer and actor Kumail Nanjiani on 11/29. Come to one–or all! To get more details and purchase tickets, please visit Cafe’s website here. Listen to his previous podcasts here

Volunteer for Thomas Tang Northeast Regional Moot Court Competition

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The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association Law Foundation presents its 2018 Thomas Tang Northeast Regional Moot Court Competition, and is in need of volunteers. This competition provides a unique and memorable experience for student appellate advocates. The event allows law students to showcase their writing and oral advocacy skills, and also to compete for scholarships totaling $10,000. In summary, this year’s problem is on whether a state university has the right to impose disciplinary sanctions on a student for non-curricular expressive conduct, and if it may expel a law student for off-campus expressive activity. For more information on this year’s problem, click here

The event will be held on Friday, October 19, 2018, from 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. at the United States Court of International Trade, One Federal Plaza, New York, New York. NAPABA seeks volunteers for grading briefs and for day-of. Brief graders will review and score briefs submitted by the student teams before the competition, and the time commitment is flexible. Day-of volunteers are welcome to assist for either part of the event or the entire day, and will serve as bailiffs or judges for the oral argument rounds. For a complete schedule of the day’s events, click here. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Zoe Wong, the Northeast Regional Coordinator, at ThomasTangMootCourtNE@gmail.com. For more information, please visit NAPABA’s website here

NAPABA 2018-2019 Elections: Cast your vote by Oct. 9

The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) is holding its 2018-2019 Board of Governors election. The NAPABA Board of Governors makes the organization’s policies for the given year, and consists of nine officers, ten regional governors, and four appointed At-Large Board Members. The responsibilities of board members include, but are not limited to, supporting NAPABA’s mission statement, endorsing NAPABA events and programs, securing financial supporters, and demonstrating the highest standards of integrity and decorum. For a full list of governor responsibilities, click here. With these responsibilities in mind, AABANY endorses the following candidates (whose statements, biographies, and endorsements can be found by clicking their name): 

Bonnie Lee Wolf, President-Elect 
Alen Hsu, Vice President for Membership

Charles Jung, Vice President for Programs and Operations

Avanti Bakane, Vice President for Communications

Gary Zhao, Treasurer

Jeffrey Javinar, Secretary 

AABANY members who joined or renewed their NAPABA membership by July 1, 2018, are eligible to vote. Ballots have been delivered by email, and must be cast on or before Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2018. If you have any questions, you may contact the NAPABA Nominating & Elections Committee Chair George Chen, george.chen@bclplaw.com, or NAPABA Executive Director Tina Matsuoka, tmatsuoka@napaba.org. For general inquiries, please contact elections@napaba.org. 

More information on elections can be found here, and the elections schedule has been reproduced below: 

Oct. 9 | Votes must be cast by 9 p.m. EDT/6 p.m. PDT on this date in order to be counted. Questions or concerns about voting and elections may be directed to elections@napaba.org.*

*Staff will be available to assist you throughout the voting period until 5 p.m. EDT/2 p.m. PDT on Oct. 9, 2018, which is several hours before the voting period closes. If you have questions or anticipate a need for assistance, please plan accordingly and contact us in advance of the deadline. No one will be able to assist you during the last few hours of voting.
Oct. 11 | Election results will be announced to the membership.

Congratulations to Hon. Randall Eng, Recipient of the OCA-NY Lifetime Achievement Award

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The Hon. Randall Eng (Ret.), New York state’s first Asian American Presiding Justice, was honored with the OCA-NY Lifetime Achievement Award on Friday, September 28, at OCA-NY’s 42nd Annual Community Service & Leadership Awards Gala. Justice Eng has dedicated himself to public service for over three decades in a variety of positions. He served as the first Asian American Assistant District Attorney in his hometown of Queens County (1973-1980), the Deputy Inspector General of New York City (1980-1981), and also the Inspector General of New York City (1981-1983). In 2016, Judge Eng was awarded NAPABA’s highest honor, the Daniel K. Inouye Trailblazer Award, and in 2017, he received AABANY’s Norman Lau Kee Trailblazer Award. The OCA-NY Lifetime Achievement Award is yet another well-earned recognition of both his contributions to New York State and the Asian American attorney community. Please join AABANY in congratulating Justice Eng on this well-deserved award and honor.

“If They Come for Me In the Morning”: Forums on State-Sponsored Xenophobia

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AABANY is excited to tell you about “If They Come for Me In the Morning,” a series of town hall forums regarding today’s state-sponsored xenophobia. Featured speakers include Japanese American incarceration camp survivors, Native American artists and activists, African American historians, Holocaust survivors, and people threatened with deportation. They will discuss how government-led bigotry and violence against families have reverberated throughout history, to guide our collective movement towards a better future.

The series began last week on September 27th, with a forum on the Japanese American Incarceration coming up on October 10th. For more information, click here. Thank you to George Hirose at JACL-NY for sharing this event with AABANY

Sept. 25 is National Voter Registration Day!

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While Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are the fastest growing minority group in the US, AAPIs lag behind other communities when it comes to voter registration rates. As a result, AAPIs are increasingly left out of the discussions when elected officials make policy decisions on issues important to us and our communities.

  1. Make Sure You, Your Family, and Friends Are Registered to Vote

    Did you move or change your name? Do you need to register to vote? Have you checked if your registration is up-to-date for this election? Do you know someone who will be 18 on Election Day or became a citizen and is not registered?

    Visit APIAVote to register to vote and get more information today:  http://www.apiavote.org/register

  2. Promote Voter Registration in Your Community

    Get in-language materials and resources from our partners at the NAPABA Voter Protection Program website.

  3. Sign-up to Protect the Right to Vote

    Sign-up as a poll monitor and exit poll assistor with AALDEF as they protect the rights of APA and limited English proficient voters at polling locations across the country. You can get CLE credit for your pro bono work: http://aaldef.net/

    Volunteer with the National AAPI Voter Protection Hotline national voter protection hotline led by APIAVote here.

This program is part of the NAPABA Voter Protection Program.