On August 6, some two dozen members of the Asia Practice Committee enjoyed various high quality cuts of steak, lamb, and pork as well as a market table salad bar filled with a colorful palate of fresh and flavorful ingredients at the legendary Fogo de Chão Brazilian Steakhouse in Midtown West. Taking advantage of the great deals being offered during New York City Restaurant Week, the Committee gathered to dine and chat about its mission and upcoming events, including a joint event with Supchina on December 4, 2019. We connected with old and new friends and enjoyed an amazing and very filling dinner.
Thank you to everyone who attended this event. Thanks also to our Committee Chairs for their leadership: Conlyn Chan, Alex Yong Hao, Chris Kwok, and Jian Wu . To learn more about the Asia Practice Committee and to contact the Co-Chairs, click here.
The in-house counsel (IHC) application for the NAPABA Connects Program has been extended until Monday, Aug. 12! NAPABA Connects will take place in Austin, TX at the 2019 NAPABA Convention from Nov. 7-10.
Overview NAPABA Connects is an opportunity for law firm Convention sponsors at silver ($10,000) or higher level and solo and small firm ($3,000) level to foster relationships with IHC. All participants are invited to exclusive touch points intended to provide Connects participants with exclusive networking opportunities in an informal social setting during the Convention. Solo and small firm sponsors and gold or higher level sponsors may participate in formal one-on-one meetings to discuss potential work opportunities. All program participants must be registered and attending the NAPABA Convention.
Not a sponsor? Click here to learn more about partnering with NAPABA!
In-House Counsel Application and Participation NAPABA will offer participating IHC a registration reimbursement in the amount of $720. Only one IHC from each company may receive a registration reimbursement for conducting two one-on-one meetings and attending one touch point. Reimbursements will be disbursed after the Convention as concluded.
Participants must have outside counsel hiring authority and will be invited to participate in the program only if they are selected by law firm participants for one-on-one meetings.
AABANY is proud to announce that as of July 2019, Kenneth Chin, Partner at Kramer Levin and AABANY member, has been elected to be a member of The American Law Institute (ALI). ALI is an academic and intellectual group that clarifies the law through Restatements, Principles, and Model Codes. The Institute’s mission is “to promote the clarification and simplification of the law and its better adaptation to social needs, to secure the better administration of justice, and to encourage and carry on scholarly and scientific legal work.”
Congratulations to Kenneth Chin on this impressive accomplishment.
SheLovesTech, partnered with SupChina, houses the world’s largest pitch competition for early-stage female-led/female-related tech startups. Thousands of eligible startups from around the world have applied at 20+ local rounds internationally.
SheLovesTech 2019 Global Pitch Competition — New York Semi-Final Round
5:30 – 6:00: Workshop with SheLovesTech Leadership Coach
6:00 – 7:30: Winner Announcement & Networking
Listen to semi-finalists pitch in front of our curated judge panel and an audience interested in female entrepreneurship or female-related businesses, network with investors and entrepreneurs who believe in the power of female entrepreneurs, and participate in our workshop on unconscious gender biases.
About She Loves Tech: Founded in 2015, SheLovesTech is a nonprofit and a global platform committed to building an ecosystem for technology, entrepreneurship and innovation that creates opportunities for women. The organization houses the world’s largest tech startup competition focused on women-led or women-related businesses.
By special arrangement with our friends at Supchina, we are able to offer AABANY members a code for free tickets to the event. If you are interested, please email main@aabany.org to get the code.
The deadline to submit an application for the NAPABA Prospective Partners Program (PPP) is two weeks from today! PPP aims to increase the number of Asian Pacific American partners at major law firms through introduction, mentorship, and relationship building. Between 2010 and 2018, 72 percent of PPP participants have been promoted to partner or moved to senior in-house positions—84 percent of them within two years of participation! Click here to read our success report.
In anticipation of the program’s tenth year, the PPP is inviting candidate applications and nominations for participation in the PPP sessions taking place at the 2019 NAPABA Convention in Austin, TX from Nov. 7-10. The application will close on Aug. 15, 2019.
President Daniel Sakaguchi provides his summer message on the legacy of Fred Korematsu, the inspiration behind “infinite hope, but not for us,” and the spirit of NAPABA,
Attorneys from around the country gather to participate in NAPABA’s Lobby Day 2019,
Our committees and networks connect with each other and host events, ensuring AAPI voices are heard,
Our affiliates nationwide are honoring those whose legacies have made their marks and fostering new members who will go on to make their own legacies…
…and more.
Congress may go on recess during the summer, but NAPABA stays active all year. Read about what we’ve been up to in the summer issue of Sidebar.
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.
Please join us in celebrating AABANY’s founding date on July 28, 1989—30 years ago. On this day, Steve T. Min, as Incorporator, filed a Certificate of Incorporation on behalf of AABANY with the State of New York. Then, on October 20, 1989 AABANY’s incorporation was announced, and attorneys interested in learning about AABANY were invited to an inaugural reception at New York University Law School on November 9, 1989.
We acknowledge with respect and gratitude Tony Cheh, Rockwell Chin, Glenn Ikeda, Yat T. Man, Steve Min, Serene K. Nakano, and many others for their visionary actions in establishing AABANY. Thank you to all of our past and present Presidents, Board Members, Committee Chairs, members, and friends for their continual support in improving the study and practice of law, and the fair administration of justice for all by ensuring the meaningful participation of Asian-Americans in the legal profession. Now one of the most prominent and active minority bar associations in New York, AABANY has well over 1,200 members, including practicing attorneys in the private and public sectors, in-house lawyers, judges, professors, and law students.
We thank everyone who is or has been a member of AABANY over the course of the last 30 years, and we invite to join our association everyone who shares AABANY’s mission of advancing Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, South Asians and all diverse and under-represented groups in the legal profession in New York.
We encourage all non-members to take advantage of our vast network of attorneys and judges, our twenty-seven different committees, as well as the numerous CLE opportunities that we offer to our members. Please click here to either renew or sign up as an AABANY member.
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.
