Posts

Posted on

Thank You to Our January Brooklyn Pro Bono Clinic Volunteers!

AABANY’s Pro Bono Committee held its third Brooklyn Pro Bono Clinic on Thursday, January 16, 2020, at A Plus Academy located at 6802 8th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY. The clinic brought out 18 volunteers who volunteered their time to help 10 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 karen.yau@aabany.org.

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 January Brooklyn Pro Bono Clinic Volunteers!

Lawyers: 

Tina Y. Song
Yifei He
May Kay Wong
Francis Chin
Veronica Louie

Interpreters: 

Teri Chou
Go-eun Son
Ru Hochen
Alicia Chan
Jonathan Wong
Jing Chu

Special thanks to Coordinator Xinyi Shen, Coordinator Roger Chen, Vice Chair Kwok Kei Ng for coordinating the clinic, and the Pro Bono and Community Service Committee Co-Chairs Pauline Yeung-Ha, Judy Lee, Karen Kithan Yau, and Asako Aiba for their leadership. We also thank our “On-Call Expert” Beatrice Leong for offering advice by phone. 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, March 26, 2020, from 6:30 pm to 8:30pm. If you are interested in volunteering at future Pro Bono Clinics, please contact Asako Aiba at asako.aiba@aabany.org.

Posted on

AABANY Celebrates Lunar New Year at Mayer Brown

On January 22, 2020 AABANY co-hosted a Lunar New Year party with the Financial Services Network of NAPABA at the offices of Mayer Brown. Over 50 attendees enjoyed food, wine and drinks. Kendrick Nguyen, founder of Republic Bank, spoke briefly about his journey from being a lawyer to CEO of a start-up with 60 employees.

We thank Mayer Brown and all who attended this event.

Posted on

AABANY Goes to the Hello Panda Lantern Festival at Citifield

On Friday, January 17, 2020, thirty AABANY members and friends braved the cold weather to enjoy a mixer at Citifield for the Hello Panda Lantern Festival.

Members were able to walk around the beautifully crafted structures, lit in colorful lights against the black night sky. Members also took a break from the cold and warmed up with hot cocoa and food while networking.

We thank AABANY’s Government Service & Public Interest, Pro Bono and Community Service, Young Lawyers, and Membership Committees for co-sponsoring this event.

To find out more about the Government Service & Public Interest Committee go to https://www.aabany.org/page/113. To find out more about the Pro Bono & Community Service Committee go to https://www.aabany.org/page/117. To find out more about the Young Lawyers Committee go to https://www.aabany.org/page/123.
To find out more about the Membership Committee go to https://www.aabany.org/page/130.

Posted on

Thank you to our January 8 Pro Bono Clinic Volunteers!

AABANY’s Monthly Pro Bono Clinic, held on Wednesday, January 8 at 33 Bowery Street in Confucius Plaza, brought out 31 volunteers who volunteered their time to help clients.

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.

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 karen.yau@aabany.org.

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 January Pro Bono Clinic Volunteers!

Lawyers:

Steven Schaefer
Eugene Kim
Simon Zhen
Bart Wu
Tina Y. Song
Yan Sin
Samantha Sumilang
Chris M. Kwok
Beatrice Leong

Interpreters:

Masako Catalina
Ya Peng
H. Anthony Park
Xin Zhou
Go-eun Son
Weixi He
Ruth Poon
Kenny Moy
Jing Chu
Limeng (Charles) Tan
Alicia Chan
Teri Chow
Sophia Catalina
Nanako Arai
Teri Chow

Other Volunteers:

Linda Liang, Research & Administration

Special thanks to Kwok Kei Ng and Zhixian Liu for coordinating the clinic, and the Pro Bono and Community Service Committee Co-Chairs Pauline Yeung-Ha, Karen Kithan Yau, Asako Aiba, and Judy Lee for their leadership. AABANY’s Monthly Pro Bono Clinic occurs every second Wednesday from 6:30 to 8:30 PM. The next clinic will take place on February 12. If you are interested in volunteering at future Pro Bono Clinics, please contact Asako Aiba at asako.aiba@aabany.org.

Posted on

AABANY Co-Sponsors: Career Development in Greater China for Law Students and Young Lawyers

On January 17, 2020, the Asia Practice Committee and Student Outreach Committee successfully co-hosted an event regarding career development in Greater China for law students and young lawyers, at Fordham Law School, 150 W 62nd Street.  The panel speakers included Han Deng from Reed Smith, James Hang Jiang from Mayer Brown, Karen R. King from Paul Weiss, and Jian Wu, Co-Chair of the AABANY Asia Practice Committee.  The panel shared their insights into legal career development in Greater China and the U.S. from a comparative perspective.

We thank Jian Wu for moderating and all the speakers for presenting this informative program. We thank all attendees for coming out for this program. We thank AABANY’s Asia Practice Committee and Student Outreach Committee for co-sponsoring this event. For more information about AABANY’s Asia Practice Committee, go to https://www.aabany.org/page/582. For more information about the Student Outreach Committee, go to https://www.aabany.org/page/121

Posted on

Congratulations to AABANY Past President Susan Shin on Being Honored by KAAGNY

AABANY congratulates its Past President Susan L. Shin on receiving the Community Role Model Award at the Korean American Association of Greater New York (KAAGNY) 60th Anniversary Fundraiser at the Ziegfeld Ballroom on January 13, for her leadership in the legal community. For more details, from Weil’s website, go to
https://www.weil.com/articles/susan-shin-honored-with-community-role-model-award-by-the-korean-american-association. 

Posted on

Press Release: NAPABA Congratulates Jessie K. Liu and Jennifer Yue Barber on Their Nominations

For Immediate Release I January 7, 2020

WASHINGTON — Yesterday, President Trump announced the nominations of Jessie K. Liu to be Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Crimes and Jennifer Yue Barber to be Representative of the United States of America on the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, with the rank of Ambassador.

“We congratulate Jessie K. Liu on her nomination to serve as the Under Secretary of the Treasury. Ms. Liu is an experienced and respected attorney with a record of leadership as U.S. Attorney. She is well qualified to oversee the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence,” said Bonnie Lee Wolf, president of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA). “We congratulate Jennifer Yue Barber on her nomination to serve as Representative of the United States of America on the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. Ms. Barber has a strong record of encouraging and creating economic opportunity and is well qualified to serve as Ambassador. We are encouraged to see Asian Pacific American women like Ms. Liu and Ms. Barber continue to break barriers and serve as role models.”

A litigator with over 20 years of experience, Liu is presently the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. She previously served as Deputy General Counsel for the Department of the Treasury, as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Columbia and in several senior positions in the U.S. Department of Justice, including as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division, counsel to the Deputy Attorney General and Deputy Chief of Staff for the National Security Division. She was a partner at the law firms Morrison & Foerster LLP and Jenner & Block LLP. Liu clerked for then-Chief Judge Carolyn Dineen King of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Houston, Texas. She received her A.B., summa cum laude, from Harvard University and her J.D. from Yale Law School. A longtime member of the Asian Pacific American legal community, Liu served as a co-chair of the 2012 NAPABA Convention in Washington, D.C. She is also a recipient of the NAPABA Best Under 40 Award.  

Barber is a member of the law firm Frost Brown Todd LLC focusing on state and local tax, economic incentives, and government affairs. She was appointed by the Governor of Kentucky to serve on the University of Kentucky’s Board of Trustees. Barber is also a member of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Tax Working Group and Litigation Committee and a member of the American Bar Association and Kentucky Bar Association, where she leads and serves on multiple committees. She is also a member of the local advisory board for United States Bank, the nation’s fifth largest commercial bank. She served on the Kentucky State Fair Board, which has over $450 million in annual economic impact to Kentucky. Barber earned her B.S. from the University of Kentucky and her J.D. from the University of Kentucky College of Law. She clerked in the Office of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Kentucky. Barber is a member of the NAPABA Partners Committee.

Barber is also nominated to be an Alternate U.S. Representative to the United Nations General Assembly.

NAPABA commends President Trump for announcing the nomination of Jessie K. Liu and Jennifer Yue Barber.

###

The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) is the national association of Asian Pacific American (APA) attorneys, judges, law professors, and law students. NAPABA represents the interests of over 50,000 attorneys and over 80 national, state, and local bar associations. Its members include solo practitioners, large firm lawyers, corporate counsel, legal services and non-profit attorneys, and lawyers serving at all levels of government. NAPABA engages in legislative and policy advocacy, promotes APA political leadership and political appointments, and builds coalitions within the legal profession and the community at large. NAPABA also serves as a resource for government agencies, members of Congress, and public service organizations about APAs in the legal profession, civil rights, and diversity in the courts.

Posted on

AABANY 2020 Law Firm Diversity Award – Applications Now Open

Since 2014, AABANY has sought to recognize one law firm each year for its extraordinary efforts to improve the diversity of our profession by presenting AABANY’s Law Firm Diversity Award. The 2020 AABANY Law Firm Diversity Award will be presented at the Annual Dinner on February 26, 2020.

Nominees should be a law firm that has achieved significant success in the areas of recruiting, retaining and promoting women and diverse attorneys while also demonstrating a commitment to raising awareness of, and influencing the legal community to address, the challenges faced by women and diverse attorneys in the legal industry.  Criteria for selection include:

  • Demonstrated commitment to diversity at all levels of the firm;
  • An established pipeline of diverse talent;
  • A track record of retaining and promoting women and diverse attorneys;
  • External activities, such as active participation in minority bar associations like AABANY and diversity programs of mainstream bar associations like the American Bar Association, New York State Bar Association, New York City Bar Association, and New York County Lawyers Association;
  • Any other factors the selection committee deems valuable in promoting AABANY’s mission.

The AABANY Law Firm Diversity Award recipient will be chosen by a selection committee through a competitive and confidential process.

If you know of any firms that should apply please forward this email and direct them to this link for the form: https://www.aabany.org/resource/resmgr/lfda/LFDA_2020_SUBMISSION_FORM_FI.pdf

Deadline: January 30, 2020.

Posted on

Press Release: NAPABA Extends its Warm Wishes to Long-Time Executive Director Tina Matsuoka and Welcomes Interim Executive Director Jill Werner

For Immediate Release I December 30, 2019
For More Information, Contact:
Jill Werner, Interim Executive Director, jwerner@napaba.org

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) extends its gratitude to Tina Matsuoka for her dedicated service as executive director of NAPABA for more than eleven years. NAPABA flourished under her tenure, which was marked by significant financial and programmatic growth.

“The NAPABA Board is grateful to Tina for her leadership and vision,” said Bonnie Lee Wolf, president of NAPABA.  “NAPABA is recognized on the national stage for its effective advocacy and policy work and emulated by peer organizations in large part because of Tina’s efforts.”

Tina was the longest-serving executive director in NAPABA’s history. Before she joined NAPABA, she was a practicing attorney with experience in government and private practice.

In announcing her departure, Ms. Matsuoka said, “It has been an honor to have worked with dedicated and talented NAPABA staff, board members, and volunteers to support the Asian Pacific American community and diversity in the legal profession. Although I am looking forward to spending more time with my family, I will truly miss the NAPABA community of lawyers who have become friends and mentors.”

Jill Werner, who is now serving as NAPABA’s Interim Executive Director, has served in various roles at the American Bar Association, including as director of member retention and staff director of the National Association of Bar Executives and the National Conference of Bar Foundations.  

The NAPABA Board of Governors is working to ensure a smooth transition and has begun the recruitment and selection process for the next executive director.

Proudly powered by WordPress