NAPABA Call for Nominations
The NAPABA Nominating and Elections Committee is accepting nominations for election as the Vice President for Finance and Development of the NAPABA Board of Governors for the 2018-19 term, in light of Courtney Fong’s withdrawal. Read his full statement here. 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.
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.
To submit an nomination and for more information regarding this position, click here. The deadline to submit is October 22 at 5 PM ET/2 PM PT.
AABANY Group Membership for Law Students
AABANY’s Student Outreach Committee is excited to launch a group membership rate for law students at local Asian Pacific American Law Student Associations (APALSAs). For a group rate of $150, AABANY will offer up to 20 APALSA members free one-year memberships. This group rate covers all AABANY events, including CLE and non-CLE programs, networking events, AABANY’s Mentorship Program and AABANY’s Annual Fall Conference.
Please note that the current group rate covers up to 20 law students per law school. If the APALSA will have more than 20 participants, please reach out to Student Outreach Committee Co-Chair Edwin Kim (edwin.kim@aabany.org) to discuss pricing options for groups larger than 20.
This group rate represents a huge discount given that the regular rate for law students is $15 per person. For APALSA members who are already dues-paying members, participation in this group rate will extend current memberships by another year. If you are a member of an APALSA at a New York area law school and interested in participating, please have one representative from your APALSA reach out to Edwin Kim (edwin.kim@aabany.org) for further instructions.
This law student group rate offer will remain in effect until Monday, Dec. 3.
Brooklyn Junior Lawyer Initiative – Workshop Registration Form [ November 27, 2018 6:00 – 7:30 PM ] Survey
AABANY President James Cho alerted us to this wonderful training opportunity for junior lawyers:
EDNY Bankruptcy Court Announces Junior Lawyer Workshop at the Brooklyn Courthouse on November 27,2018, 6:00 – 7:30 PM
Register Today! [Follow the link in the title]
The EDNY Bankruptcy Court will conduct a workshop for junior lawyers at the Brooklyn Courthouse on November 27 from 6:00 to 7:30 pm. The workshop will give junior and less experienced lawyers the opportunity to gain experience and training in courtroom skills by arguing motions that were filed in chapter 7,11 and 13 cases. The motions will be argued without opposition. They will be on a teaching calendar called and argued in Court with an EDNY Bankruptcy Judge presiding. Participating lawyers will each be assigned a motion in advance, will argue it and receive feedback from the Bankruptcy Judge and more experienced bankruptcy lawyers present who are members of the EDNY Chapter 11 Lawyers’ Advisory Committee. Approximately ten minutes will be set aside for each participant to present argument and receive individual feedback. After the motions on the calendar have been argued, there will be time for questions and discussion.
The workshop will not be a competition or moot court exercise. It is designed to provide a “safe” environment for junior and less experienced lawyers to practice argument and improve their courtroom skills.
The workshop is offered to help implement the policy recently adopted by the Court that, “where junior lawyers are familiar with the matter under consideration, but are not experienced in arguing before a court, they should be encouraged to participate.” In these circumstances, “where it creates an opportunity for a junior lawyer to argue, this Court is amenable to permitting more than one lawyer to argue for a party.” The new policy is highlighted on the Court’s web site: http://www.nyeb.uscourts.gov/news/edny-bankruptcy-court-policy-provide-opportunities-courtroom-skills-development
There will be a limited number of lawyers in the workshop. The Bankruptcy Judges are volunteering their time to prepare for and preside at the workshop. Please register only if you are able to commit to participate. The deadline to register is November 9, 2018.
Junior lawyers, including first year associates who have taken the Bar exam as well as lawyers who have practiced for a number of years but have limited or no courtroom experience, may register for the workshop by following the link posted in the “News & Announcements” section of the Court’s web site home page. The participants will receive detailed instructions for the workshop and their assigned motion a few weeks in advance of the workshop.
Participants will receive by November 16 the assignments of the motions they will argue and will be contacted one week before the workshop to answer any questions they may have and confirm their appearance. If you must cancel your appearance, give at least 48 hours advance notice to the EDNY Chapter 11 Lawyers’ Advisory Committee by sending an e-mail to mhennessv@westermanllp.com and mbunin@farrellfritz.com.
In addition to junior and less experienced lawyers, all members of the Bar are invited to register attend the workshop as an observer by following the link posted in the “News & Announcements” section of the Court’s home page.
NAPABA 2018 Officer Election Results and New Call for Nominations
NAPABA congratulates the newly-elected officers of the NAPABA Board of Governors for the 2018-19 board year. They will be sworn into office at the 30th Anniversary Gala during the 2018 NAPABA Convention in Chicago, IL.
The following individuals were elected by the NAPABA membership:
- President-Elect | Bonnie Lee Wolf
- Vice President for Finance and Development | Courtney Fong*
- Vice President for Membership | Alen Hsu
- Vice President for Programs and Operations | Charles Jung
- Vice President for Communications | Avanti Bakane
- Treasurer | Gary Zhao
- Secretary | Jeffrey Javinar
*Courtney Fong has withdrawn his candidacy to be Vice President for Finance and Development. You can read a statement from him here. As a result, the Nominating and Elections Committee is accepting nominations for election as the Vice President for Finance and Development of the NAPABA Board of Governors for the 2018-19 term. Submit a nomination here by October 22 at 5 PM. The updated Elections Timeline for this position is included below.
– Oct. 22, 2018: Nominations may be submitted until 5pm ET/2pm PT
– Oct. 24, 2018: Vice President for Finance and Development candidates announced and endorsements accepted
– Oct. 25, 2018: Election ballot will be distributed to eligible voters by email on this date (Members must have joined or renewed by July 1, 2018, to be eligible to vote.)
– Nov. 1, 2018: Candidate endorsements may continue to be submitted until 12pm ET/9am PT on this date. Votes must be cast by 9pm ET/6pm PT on this date in order to be counted
– Nov. 2, 2018: Election results will be announced.
Congratulations to Jennifer Wu, AABANY Women’s Committee Co-Chair, on Rising Stars Award
The New York Law Journal recognized Jennifer H. Wu on October 10, 2018 with a Rising Stars Award, given to 29 of the region’s most promising lawyers under 40. Awardees are acknowledged for their influence in their practice areas in New York and beyond, developing unique practice niches, employing creative uses of technology, amassing robust books of business, demonstrating strong leadership qualities, showing expertise in litigation or transactional work, contributing to the improvement of their institutions, and committing themselves to pro bono, charitable and professional volunteer work.
Jennifer is a partner in Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP’s Litigation Department and focuses her practice on patent litigation matters. Jennifer frequently goes to jury and bench trials in federal district courts and trials before the International Trade Commission. She also represents clients in appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court. She has litigated patents in a wide variety of technical areas, with a particular emphasis on pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. Jennifer’s work on biologics includes litigating issues of first impression as to the BPCIA, and her patent litigation experience also extends to GPS devices, DNA sequencing technology, and medical devices.
Jennifer directs Paul, Weiss’s first pro bono project expressly for Asian Americans, helping parents of special-needs children obtain services from the New York City Department of Education. Jennifer has also worked with the Innocence Project for over a decade, including on eyewitness misidentification, death penalty, and Shaken Baby Syndrome issues. She is a Board member of the Federal Circuit Bar Association; co-chair of the Women’s Committee of the Asian American Bar Association of New York; a Board member of Friends of UNFPA, which supports the work of the United Nations reproductive health and rights agency; and an Advisory Board member of the NYU Law Alumni of Color Association.
For more information on this award, please click here (subscription required).
Please join us in congratulating Jennifer Wu on this well-deserved honor and recognition.
Thank you to our October Pro Bono Clinic Volunteers!
October’s Monthly Pro Bono Clinic, held on Wednesday, October 10 at 3 Bowery Street in Confucius Plaza, brought out 17 lawyers and 6 interpreters who volunteered their time to help 51 clients:
Lawyers:
- Zhixian Liu
- Wei Li
- Sylvia Chin
- Sonya Chung
- Rachel Yoo
- May Kay Wong
- Lord Chester So
- Kwok Kei Ng
- Kevin Hsi
- Kelly Diep
- Francis Chin
- David Lu
- Conlyn Chan
- Christopher Chin
- Chris M. Kwok
- Annie Tsao
- Jiayun Zhang
Interpreters:
- Alva Lin
- Xianxiao (Emily) Li
- Wen Zhang
- Wei Ling Huang
- Rachel Chen
- Emily Li
Special thanks to Roger Chen and Johnny Thach for coordinating the clinic, and the Pro Bono and Community Service Committee Co-Chairs Pauline Yeung, Karen Kithan Yau, Ming Chu Lee, and Asako Aiba for their leadership.
If you are interested in volunteering at next month’s Pro Bono Clinic on November 14, please contact Asako Aiba at asako.aiba@aabany.org. AABANY’s Monthly Pro Bono Clinic occurs every second Wednesday from 6:30 to 8:30 PM.
AABANY Tax Committee Quarterly Meeting
On October 9, 2018, the AABANY Tax Committee held its quarterly meeting and dinner at the offices of Ashurst LLP, in order to discuss the Wayfair Supreme Court decision and other state and local tax issues. Presenters Jessika Wong, of Grant Thornton LLP, and Rebecca Midori Balinskas, of Morrison & Foerster LLP, led a lively and informative discussion about the new landscape for sales taxes, particularly the issues for law firms and other service providers when they provide services to residents of other states. The discussion addressed the lack of foreign treaty protection for state sales and income taxes, which may be imposed on Asia-based foreign businesses that sell products online to U.S. residents. The group also discussed various questions related to the effects of the 2017 federal tax reform on state income taxation, such as whether state taxable income includes GILTI. Special thanks to Sharon Kim, partner at Ashurst LLP, for hosting the event.
To learn more about the Tax Committee and to contact the Committee Co-Chairs click here.