The Portrait Project: A Portrait of Asian Americans in the Law
“The Portrait Project: A Portrait of Asian Americans in the Law,” is the first comprehensive study of its kind examining how Asian Americans lawyers and law students are situated within the legal profession. The Portrait Project – led by California Supreme Court Justice Goodwin Liu, Yale law professor Ian Ayres, and three Yale law students – will be conducting focus groups during the annual NAPABA Convention this year from Nov. 5-8, 2015, in New Orleans.
As of now, 100 of you have volunteered your time to participate in these focus groups sessions. We would love to hear from more of you, and we especially encourage legal academics, public defenders, prosecutors, and nonprofit attorneys to sign up for these sessions. Each focus group will last one hour and engage participants in conversations about law school experiences, career choices, and experiences as lawyers. These small-group conversations of about eight to ten participants each will yield rich insights into the opportunities for and obstacles to advancement of Asian Americans in the legal profession. Your narratives and experiences will help us create a comprehensive portrait of what it means to be an Asian American in the legal profession today.
As a token of our appreciation, we will be giving away the choice of a 4th Generation Apple TV (to be released in October) or a Keurig K45 Elite Brewing System to one randomly selected participant in each focus group.
If you are willing to participate in a focus group, please fill out this form by Monday, Oct. 12.
This is our last call for participants, and we hope to hear from more of you soon. Please free to reach out to us by email at portraitprojectresearch@gmail.com if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
The Portrait Project
Justice Goodwin Liu California Supreme Court
Professor Ian Ayres Yale Law School
Eric Chung, Xiaonan “April” Hu, Christine Kwon Yale Law School Class of 2017
AABANY members are encouraged to attend the following fun events happening in this month and November. Big thanks to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Multicultural Audience Development Initiative (MADI) for sharing these events with us.
Upcoming Events:
Ancient Egypt Transformed: The Middle Kingdom MADI Viewing and Reception Wednesday, October 14, 2015 6:30 – 8:30 PM RSVP: madiegypt.eventbrite.com
Teen Night: Teens Take the Met! (Ages 13–18) Friday, October 16, 2015 5:00 – 8:00 PM
Vijay Iyer – Holding It Down: The Veterans’ Dreams Project Performance in the Met’s Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium Thursday, November 12, 2015 7:30 PM
Ancient Egypt Transformed: The Middle Kingdom College Group at the Met Viewing and Reception Thursday, November 12, 2015 8:00 – 11:00 PM
Diwali Family Festival Sunday, November 15, 2015 12:00 – 5:00 PM 2:30 PM – East-West School of Dance will tell the Story of Diwali The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium
For More Information, Contact: Brett Schuster, Communications Manager bschuster@napaba.org, 202-775-9555
Update: NAPABA Announces 2015 Daniel K. Inouye Trailblazer Award Recipients
WASHINGTON — The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) has selected five exceptional attorneys to receive NAPABA’s highest honor — the Daniel K. Inouye Trailblazer Award. This award recognizes the outstanding achievements, commitment, and leadership of lawyers who have paved the way for the advancement of other Asian Pacific American (APA) attorneys. These Trailblazers have demonstrated vision, courage, and tenacity, and made substantial and lasting contributions to the APA legal profession, as well as to the broader APA community.
The 2015 Daniel K. Inouye Trailblazers Awards will be presented on Nov. 6, 2015, at a special ceremony during the 2015 NAPABA Convention in New Orleans, to the following recipients:
Captain Benes Z. Aldana — United States Coast Guard Assemblymember Rob Bonta — California State Assembly David Louie — Kobayashi Sugita & Goda LLP Justice Sabrina Shizue McKenna — Supreme Court of the State of Hawai’i Judge Amul Thapar — United States District Court, Eastern District of Kentucky
The 2015 Trailblazers class is represented by a diverse and impressive group. Captain Aldana serves as the Staff Judge Advocate (Chief Legal Officer) of the Eighth Coast Guard District, the largest district in the Coast Guard, and is responsible for providing legal advice to the district commander and oversees the provision of legal support to Coast Guard operations spanning 26 states, including the outer continental shelf of the Gulf of Mexico. Additionally, he is currently a judge on the U.S. Coast Guard Court of Criminal Appeals. He is believed to be the first Asian Pacific American to be appointed as a military trial judge (2005) and as an appellate judge (2015) in the U.S. military. As a leader in the American Bar Association, he is currently a board member of the ABA Rule of Law Initiative and on the ABA Commission on Diversity and Inclusion 360.
Assemblymember Bonta is the first and only Filipino American ever elected to the California State Legislature in the 165 year history of the state and has led a number of significant legislative efforts to empower the APIA community, including: Assembly Bill (AB) 7 to establish a state day of recognition to honor Filipino American labor leader and California hero, Larry Itliong; AB 123 to require the state public school curriculum to include the contributions of Filipino Americans to the farm labor movement in California; and AB 817 to assist the nearly 2.6 million eligible voters in California who are not yet fully proficient in English by providing them with language assistance at the polls.
Mr. Louie most recently served as the attorney general of the State of Hawai‘i from 2011 to 2014 — the first Chinese-American attorney general in the nation. As attorney general, Mr. Louie was the chief law enforcement officer for the state, providing advice, counsel, and representation to all aspects of state government (including the Governor) on all legal matters for the state, both civil and criminal. Mr. Louie helped to pass and defend Hawai’i legislation legalizing same sex marriage, settled 30-year-old claims of Native Hawai’ians against the State for $200 million, negotiated a $40 million conservation easement on 665 acres of ocean front land, and worked with other state attorneys general on the national mortgage foreclosure settlement, Internet safety and consumer protection.
Justice McKenna was a trial judge for 17 years before joining the Hawai’i Supreme Court in 2011 as its third woman and as the first open member of the LGBT community of Asian Pacific heritage to serve on a state court of last resort. Throughout her career, she has pursued civil rights, social justice, and equality in access to justice for all. As a young associate in the early 1980’s, she successfully advocated for her firm to provide 50 hours of annual billable hour credit for pro bono time, a policy that was also later adopted by other Hawai’i firms. Justice McKenna oversaw implementation of Hawai’i’s court interpreter certification program, instituted a policy requiring free language access for all participants in Oahu’s family courts as the then presiding judge, then advocated for adoption of the same policy for the entire judiciary. As an appellate and trial judge over the last 22 years, she has ruled in many high profile and important cases.
Judge Thapar was nominated by President George W. Bush to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2007, making him the nation’s first South Asian American Article III judge. Prior to his confirmation, Judge Thapar served as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky. While U.S. attorney, Judge Thapar was appointed to the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee (AGAC) and chaired the AGAC’s Controlled Substances and Asset Forfeiture subcommittee.
NAPABA congratulates the 2015 Daniel K. Inouye Trailblazer Award recipients and thanks them for paving the way for Asian Pacific American attorneys.
The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) is the national association of Asian Pacific American attorneys, judges, law professors, and law students. NAPABA represents the interests of over 50,000 attorneys and approximately 75 national, state, and local Asian Pacific American 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 continues to be a leader in addressing civil rights issues confronting Asian Pacific American communities. Through its national network of committees and affiliates, NAPABA provides a strong voice for increased diversity of the federal and state judiciaries, advocates for equal opportunity in the workplace, works to eliminate hate crimes and anti-immigrant sentiment, and promotes the professional development of people of color in the legal profession.
This year’sNetwork of Indian Professionals (NetIP) 25th Anniversary National Conference will be supporting the Girl Rising Global India Fund. In addition to having a screening of the new Bollywood version of the movie “Girl Rising,” the Conference Gala on Sunday evening, October 11th (which also happens to be “International Day of the Girl”) will be raising money for the charity through a Silent Auction and Raffle. It should be an entertaining and inspiring evening with emcee Nina Davuluri (2013 Miss America), a performance by the internationally acclaimed Bollywood dance spectacular Mystic India, a performance by the comedian Hari Kondabolu, and a Keynote Speech by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.
This Conference will truly offer something for everyone – from the Sunday Evening Charity Gala and the movie screening to dynamic sessions and speakers (on topics as diverse as Current Trends and Developments in Immigration Law (organized by SABA-NY) and Crowdfunding and Crowdsourcing and the new film “Meet The Patels”) to the Fast Pitch Startup Business Competition to a Health Fair organized by AAPI (the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin) to social events such as a Casino Night, a Fashion Show, and a Comedy Show – there will be much to choose and gain from. And to accommodate people’s schedules, registrationis possible for individual events such as the Sunday evening Gala for those who cannot attend the entire Conference.
Congratulations to Consovoy McCarthy Park on celebrating their one-year anniversary! AABANY’s very own Michael Park, who is a Co-Chair of the Career Placement Committee, is a named partner at the firm.
“This firm really is a team,” said Park. “We draw on the experience and expertise of each member and rely on each other a great deal. And since we are also good friends, we are having a blast working together.”
Mass Media Constructions of Beauty: The Consequences of Allowing Judgment Based On What We Look Like Rather Than Who We Are
A Special Film Lab/Time Warner/Turner/HBO Event
Join the Film Lab and Time Warner and the APEX group for a special screening of films from the 2015 72 Hour Shootout that focus on mainstream constructions of beauty and their consequences and a networking reception.
The screening will be followed by a panel discussing the societal implications of mainstream beauty images, including:
Rick Guidotti, award winning fashion photographer and advocate for those with genetic differences
Lia Chang, former model, journalist, actor, and photographer
Becky Curran, SAG-AFTRA Coordinator for Equal Employment and Diversity
Blue Michael, Model and Founder of Blue Michael Cosmetics
Moderator: Jennifer Betit Yen, Actor and President of the Asian American Film Lab
Films screened may include some surprises! Among them will be Look Deeper: Beauty, Hide & Seek, Funny Faces, Bare, The Other Woman, Finding You, Put It On, and Beautifully Something. Keep posted as we continue to update the lineup!
Andrew Hahn, AABANY President 2004 and Korean-American Partner at Duane Morris LLP, offers his insight on the growing issue of discrimination against Asian Americans. Read about Asian Americans, Ivy League admission, and more in The Economist’s “The model minority is losing patience.”
Andy’s comments appear towards the end:
Andrew Hahn, a Korean-American partner in Duane Morris, a law firm, says, “I used to be a Twinkie, or maybe a banana—yellow outside, white inside—but once I hit the legal profession, I became a radical.”
Read all this and more by clicking the link above.
AREAA NY EAST 125-28 Queens Blvd, Suite 308 Kew Gardens, NY 11415 Attn: David Legaz
Charity proceeds to benefit Cancer Center for Kids at Winthrop University Hospital.
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Here is a fourth album of photos from the 2015 Fall Conference, Charting New Frontiers, held at Cleary Gottlieb on Saturday, September 19. This album contains photos from the cocktail reception and the committee dinners held by the Real Estate, Tax and In-House Counsel Committees. Thanks to Anna Chen, AABANY Legal Intern, and Simone Nguyen, AABANY Program Associate, for the great photos.
Congratulations to AABANY’s very own Jean Lee for being featured as a Catalyst Spotlight on the Council of Urban Professionals (CUP) website!
Jean served as AABANY President from 2012-2013 and currently sits on the AABANY Board of Directors.
CUP interviewed Jean and asked her about the challenges she has faced in this profession, proudest achievements, and leaders that she looks up to.
“What is your proudest achievement? My proudest professional achievement is in two parts: (i) being a lawyer for JPMorgan Chase & Co.; and (ii) winning several Daubert motions against very senior partners when I was a mid-level associate. They are my proudest moments because it was so unexpected and unlikely.”
Jean also credits much of her success to having mentors in her. Seeing the value and benefits of mentorship, she currently mentors students and young lawyers.
To read the full profile, click on the link in the title.
