June’s Monthly Pro Bono Clinic, held on Wednesday, June 12 at 33 Bowery Street in Confucius Plaza, brought out 12 lawyers and 11 interpreters who volunteered their time to help 34 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.
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 June Pro Bono Clinic Volunteers!
Lawyers:
Gaye L. Chun
Peter Bartlett Wu
Eun Hye (Grace) Lee
Yan Sin
Kelly Diep
Alex Tran
Miae Woo
Soichiro Ishita
Annie Tsao
Satoshi Kurita
Mayumi Cindy Iijima
Francis Chin
Interpreters:
Yuchen (Fiona) Zheng
Alva Lin
Ming Li
Tianlin Liu
Teresa Wai Yee Yeung
Fiona Zhang
Limeng (Charles) Tan
Justina Chen
Xiaoshi Zhang
Angela Cheung
Kenny Moy
Special thanks to Coordinator Johnny Thach, Vice Chair Kwok Kei Ng, and Vice Chair Zhixian Liu for coordinating the clinic, and the Pro Bono and Community Service Committee Co-Chairs Pauline Yeung-Ha, Ming Chu Lee, 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 July 10, 2019. If you are interested in volunteering at future Pro Bono Clinics, please contact Asako Aiba at asako.aiba@aabany.org.
For more information and to register, please contact Erin Sweeney at cilpj@law.rutgers.edu. Deadline to register is June 21, 5PM. Classes are offered in English only. Participants must be a green card holder
On May 23, 2019 AABANY co-sponsored a reenactment of the Supreme Court cases Takao Ozawa v. United States (1922) and United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind (1923) in the Ceremonial Courtroom at 225 Cadman Plaza, Brooklyn. The two historical cases describe the exclusionary immigration policies that prevented Asian immigrants from becoming naturalized citizens. The reenactment scripts were written by longtime AABANY members Kathy Hirata Chin and her husband, the Hon. Denny Chin. The event was jointly sponsored by the South Asian Bar Association of New York (SABANY) and was held in honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, during the month of May. The event was covered by the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported on the history of these reenactments, “The Chins began writing and performing these reenactments 12 years ago, and every year they create a new performance based on a different case. Judge Chin explained that they look for cases of importance historically and that still resonate today.”
On Thursday, May 30, 2019, AABANY’s Judiciary Committee hosted its third annual Judges’ Reception at the Surrogate’s Courthouse, 31 Chambers Street. The reception honored newly inducted, elevated and retiring judges in celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.
The honorees recognized at the event were individuals who represent the significant strides that Asian Pacific Americans have achieved, as well as the ongoing fight for diversity within our leading institutions.
New York State Senator John C. Liu was slated to be the keynote speaker for the reception, but due to pressing matters in Albany he was not able to attend. The Honorable Phillip Hom, Civil Court of the City of New York, delivered remarks on his behalf. Judge Hom is a friend of Senator John C. Liu from their days at Bronx High School of Science and Binghamton University. Judge Hom also served as the Chief of Staff of then-Councilman John C. Liu from 2002-2005.
At the reception, the following judges were honored:
Hon. Shahabuddeen Ally Hon. Karen Cortes Hon. Shorab Ibrahim Hon. Donald Leo Hon. Ushir Pandit-Durant Hon. John Zhuo Wang Hon. Wendy Changyong Li Hon. Archana Rao Hon. Lillian Wan Hon. Karen Bacdayan Hon. Michael H. Park
All the honorees are Asian Pacific Americans Judges who were recently inducted to the bench or elevated in New York. To learn more about them and to read our press release for the event, click here. To learn more about the Judiciary Committee and to reach its co-chairs, go here: http://www.aabany.org/?page=115.
Following the awards ceremony, all attendees enjoyed catching up with each other or making new connections, over delicious food and dessert catered by Nom Wah and Chinatown Ice Cream Factory.
We thank everyone that braved the rain to make this year’s reception another successful one.
Thanks to AABANY Legal Intern Katy Kim for providing the photos for this blog post.
The NYC Family Justice Center, Manhattan is excited to announce their next round of CORE I 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. Please follow the link here for training dates and times.
All CORE trainings listed are free and will take place at the Manhattan FJC, 80 Centre Street, 5th Floor Training Room, Manhattan, 10013. Once the CORE training is no longer listed or available to select, it has reached maximum capacity of participants. For more information, contact Indhira Castro at IndhiraC@fjcnyc.org.
The NYC not-for-profit American Family agency is offering educational programs for community members on Anger Management, Parenting Skills, Domestic Violence, Alcohol Addiction, and Life Coaching.
All programs cost $25.00 per hour and a non-refundable $35.00 registration fee. At the end of each program, attendees will obtain a letter and certificate, to be delivered to the Court or entity that has referred them. Each class is 2 hours and each program includes 16 hours.
AABANY congratulates Carol Lee, Advisory Committee member, on being honored with the American Law Institute’s Distinguished Service Award at their 96th Annual Meeting on May 22, 2019. The American Law Institute was founded in 1923 and is the leading independent organization in the United States producing scholarly work to clarify, modernize, and otherwise improve the law. The American Law Institute’s Distinguished Service Award is given to a member who has played a major role in Institute over many years.
Carol Lee is Special Counsel at Taconic Capital Advisors, an SEC-registered investment advisor based in New York City that manages private investment funds with total assets under management of approximately $6.7 billion. She has clerked for Judge J. Skelly Wright of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and for Justice John Paul Stevens of the United States Supreme Court.
Ms. Lee was elected to the American Law Institute in February 2008 and was elected to the Council in May 2012. She is also a member of the Projects Committee and previously served on the Investment Committee.
To be eligible to vote in this year’s NAPABA elections, you must be a current direct NAPABA member OR activate your NAPABA affiliate membership online by July 1, 2019.
AABANY is a NAPABA affiliate, and if you are an AABANY member you are eligible for free NAPABA affiliate membership but you must activate it for it to be effective. For directions on how to activate your NAPABA affiliate membership in time to vote, please contact Margaret Langston at margaret.langston@aabany.org, between the hours of 9:30 am – 1:30 pm, until FRIDAY, JUNE 28, 2019.
Many congratulations to longstanding AABANY member Kathy Hirata Chin on being honored by the Columbia Law School Association and Asian Columbia Alumni Association with the inaugural Hong Yen Chang Award at the New York County Lawyers Association (NYCLA) at 14 Vesey Street on Tuesday, May 28. The event was co-sponsored by AABANY, the Asian Practice Committee of NYCLA, the Korean American Lawyers Association of Greater New York, and the Network of Bar Leaders. We were joined by many AABANY community members and Columbia alumni. Ms. Chin is a 1980 graduate of the Columbia Law School.
The well-attended reception began with AABANY Development Director Margaret Ling providing a brief history of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. She highlighted two key dates in Asian American history: May 7th, when the first Japanese immigrants arrived in the United States in 1842, and May 10th, when the transcontinental railroad was completed with the help of Chinese laborers in 1869.
Then, NYCLA’s secretary Jai Chandrasekhar welcomed guests to the reception and shared some of Hong Yen Chang’s achievements, including being the first Chinese person in the United States to graduate from an American law school, in 1886.
Next, the Hon. George B. Daniels shared some of Kathy Hirata Chin’s achievements as an accomplished litigator and community member.
Then, AABANY’s Executive Director Yang Chen read from the introduction to the Portrait Project, the first-ever comprehensive study of Asian Americans in the legal profession, which spoke on the progress today of Asian Americans as big firm lawyers, government attorneys, corporate counsel members, public defenders, judges and more—reaching “levels of legal participation unthinkable compared to just over 30 years ago.” He made this reference to comment on how far Asian Americans in the legal profession have come from Hong Yen Chang’s time and have yet to go.
Bridgette Ahn, the current president of the Network of Bar Leaders, then took the podium to share brief remarks on NYCLA’s work and mission. Rudy Carmenaty, the President of the Columbia Law School Association, followed up by illuminating more of Ms. Chin’s achievements and the reasons for holding the Hong Yen Chang reception.
Then, the honoree Kathy Hirata Chin shared an engaging presentation on Hong Yen Chang’s remarkable life, including many long forgotten and little known details about his achievements at a time when discriminatory laws and attitudes toward Asians were far more prevalent.
Finally, Ms. Chin was presented with the inaugural Hong Yen Chang award honoring her trailblazing achievements in the spirit of Hong Yen Chang. Her husband, the Hon. Denny Chin of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, added his reflections. He stated, “Kathy is a wonderful, caring, gracious, hard working, brilliant person. And beyond that, she is a terrific lawyer, a pioneer in her own right as an Asian American woman—a litigator—making her mark at a time when law firms were still holding events at male owning clubs. And there were zero Asian American partners.”
Regarding Ms. Chin’s accomplishments, as stated in AABANY’s press release, “[she] has handled dozens of appellate cases, concentrating her practice in healthcare and real estate…. She has served on Governor Mario M. Cuomo’s Judicial Screening Committee for the First Judicial Department from 1992-1994; the Magistrate Judge Merit Selection Panel for the Eastern District of New York from 1992-1999; the Gender Bias Committee of the Second Circuit Task Force on Gender, Race, and Ethnic Fairness; the New York County Lawyers’ Association’s Task Force to Increase Diversity in the Legal Profession; and Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye’s Commission to Promote Public Confidence in Judicial Elections from 2003-2006; and the New York County Lawyers’ Association Board of Directors. In April 2016, she was appointed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to the First Department Judicial Screening Committee. Since January 2016, Chin has served as a member of the Second Circuit Judicial Council Committee on Civic Education & Public Engagement, focusing on historic reenactments as a teaching tool. With her husband, the Hon. Denny Chin of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and teams of lawyers and judges from AABANY, she has developed and presented reenactments of famous cases such as Korematsu vs. U.S, to educate the community about the significant contributions of Asian Americans to the social, political and legal history of the United States.”
Regarding Hong Yen Chang, according to AABANY’s press release: “In 1872, 13-year-old Hong Yen Chang came to the United States to be groomed as a diplomat. He earned degrees from Yale University and Columbia University’s law school and passed the bar exam. However, after passing the bar examination, he was first denied admission because of his lack of U.S. citizenship due to the Chinese Exclusion Act. A special act of the New York Legislature (N.Y. L.1887 c. 249) allowed his admission despite this bar and in 1888, Hong Yen Chang reportedly became the first Asian American attorney admitted to the bar in New York. Hong Yen Chang then moved to California and applied for admission to the bar there but was denied in 1890 due to his lack of citizenship. Not until 2015 was this exclusion remedied, when the California Supreme Court granted an application from members of the UC Davis Asian Pacific American Law Students Association for posthumous admission of Hong Yen Chang.”
Please join AABANY in congratulating Kathy Hirata Chin on all of her achievements and on her well-deserved honor at the inaugural Hong Yen Chang reception.
Thanks to Kevin Hsi for providing the photos for this blog post.
On Thursday, May 23, 2019, Joon Kim, Partner at Cleary Gottlieb and AABANY member, was presented with the Hon. George Bundy Smith Pioneer Award at the New York State Bar Association’s “Smooth Moves: Career Strategies for Attorneys of Color” program at Lincoln Center. The Hon. George Bundy Smith Pioneer Award recognizes lawyers who demonstrate commitment to legal excellence, community service and mentoring. The program was sponsored by the Commercial and Federal Litigation Section of the New York State Bar Association.
Joon Kim has led a distinguished career over two decades at high levels of government and in private practice at Cleary Gottlieb, personally trying over a dozen federal jury trials and actively participating in dozens more. He is also a regular speaker and panelist at leading industry conferences on criminal and regulatory matters.
Please join AABANY in congratulating Joon Kim for this well-deserved award and honor.
Photo courtesy of Cleary Gottlieb. Used with permission.
