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Announcing NAPABA’s 2022-2023 Board of Governors, with AABANY Member Anna Mercado Clark as President-Elect

NAPABA has announced its 2022-2023 Board of Governors. This board will be sworn in during the 2022 NAPABA Convention Las Vegas, Nov. 3-6. NAPABA’s strength comes from the many volunteers who hold leadership positions across its diverse membership. From its national Board of Governors to its local affiliate leaders, from its substantive committees and affinity network chairs to the chairs of its professional development programs, NAPABA is driven by the expertise, energy, and commitment of its membership. 

AABANY is especially proud of AABANY member and Board officer Anna Mercado Clark for being elected as President-Elect for the 2022-2023 Board of Governors. Anna currently serves as an Officer for AABANY’s Board as Development Director. She was born in the Philippines and immigrated to the United States as a twelve-year-old, graduating from Fordham Law School before interning for the Hon. Denny Chin. Anna is a partner at Phillips Lytle LLP and an adjunct professor at Fordham Law School. 

2022-2023 NAPABA Board of Governors

Executive Committee 

President: Sandra Leung

President-Elect: Anna Mercado Clark 

Treasurer: Annette Kwok

Secretary: Kristin Haugen

Immediate Past President: A.B. Cruz III

Executive Director: Priya Purandare

Directors 

Director: Angela Lim

Director: Marty Lorenzo

Regional Governors 

Central Regional Governor: Kristy Gonowon

Central California Regional Governor: Jen Won

Eastern California: Albert Montefalcon

Northeast Regional Governor: James Y. Lee

Northeast Regional Governor: Andrew Sarrol

Northern California Regional Governor: Mari Bandoma Callado 

Northwest Regional Governor: Elisa Dozono

Southeast Regional Governor: Zarra Elias

Southern California Regional Governor: Arlene Yang

Southwest Regional Governor: Stacey Cho Hernandez

At-Large Board Members

At-Large Board Member: Gene Kim

At-Large Board Member: Kenjiro LeCroix

At-Large Board Member: Terri Ann Motosue

At-Large Board Member: Vincent Roldan 

At-Large Board Member: Eileen Sullivan 

At-Large Board Member: Qiaojing Ella Zheng

General Counsel

General Counsel: James Kim

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AABANY Celebrates with APALA-NJ at Their 23rd Annual Gala

On Thursday, September 22, 2022, our sister bar APALA-NJ  held their 23rd Annual Gala at the Liberty House in Jersey City, New Jersey. 

In attendance were AABANY Board Members, Anna Mercado Clark, Chris Kwok, Beatrice Leong, David Sohn and Andy Yoo. Many AABANY members also attended to show support. 
Anna presented the Professional Achievement Award to Dean Rose Cuison Villazor.
We congratulate the APALA NJ honorees and award recipients:

See more photos:  https://dcpnewyork.pixieset.com/apalanjgala2022/

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NAPABA Presents Its 2022 NAPABA Awards

For over a decade, NAPABA has annually honored outstanding organizations that make an impact in the legal profession and within the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community.

NAPABA is proud to recognize these deserving innovative organizations for the following 2022 NAPABA Awards. All of these organizations will be celebrated at the 2022 NAPABA Convention from November 3-6 in Las Vegas .

Affiliate of the Year Award | Southern California Chinese Lawyers Association

The NAPABA Affiliate of the Year Award recognizes outstanding NAPABA affiliates for their best practices and accomplishments in their local communities.

Honoree Southern California Chinese Lawyers Association (SCCLA) is the country’s first AAPI bar association and has created meaningful programs and events for its members as well as for law students and the local community. Learn more about the SCCLA. 

APA-Owned Law Firm of the Year Award | Yang Law Offices

The NAPABA APA-Owned Law Firm of the Year Award recognizes our membership’s law firms—solo, small, and large—that have achieved prominence and distinction, and have demonstrated a strong commitment to the AAPI community. Honoree Yang Law Offices has shown this commitment through their work across multiple locations in California and internationally. Learn more about Yang Law Offices.

Law Firm Diversity Award | Allen & Overy

The NAPABA Law Firm Diversity Award honors law firms that actively, affirmatively, consistently, and enthusiastically recruit, retain, and promote AAPI lawyers to equity partnership and firm leadership. It celebrates law firm successes in recognizing the potential, supporting the promise, and raising the influence of AAPI lawyers. Honoree Allen & Overy has made diversity, equity, and inclusion one of their strategic priorities — fundamental to the kind of firm they want to be. Learn more about Allen & Overy.

[AABANY congratulates Allen & Overy on this recognition. Allen & Overy received the AABANY Law Firm Diversity Award at the 2022 AABANY Annual Dinner.]

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NAPABA Applauds the Nomination of Alamdar S. Hamdani for U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas

WASHINGTON – Friday [October 14], President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Alamdar S. Hamdani to serve as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas. If confirmed, Hamdani would be the first AAPI to serve as a U.S. attorney in the state of Texas.

“NAPABA applauds the Biden-Harris administration for nominating Alamdar Hamdani to serve as a U.S. attorney,” said A.B. Cruz, acting president of NAPABA. “Mr. Hamdani is a well-qualified candidate who has a long history in public service and strong ties to Houston and its legal communities. 

“There is still a large gap for Asian Americans in the law, with only one Presidentially appointed U.S. attorney out of 94 judicial districts. The U.S. attorney is the chief federal law enforcement officer in their district, and the underrepresentation of AAPIs is concerning, especially as anti-Asian hate continues to deeply affect our community. NAPABA thanks President Biden for nominating Mr. Hamdani, and Senator Cornyn and Senator Cruz for recommending and supporting his nomination. We also encourage Senators to consider recommending qualified AAPI candidates to serve as U.S. attorneys.”

Since 2014, Alamdar Hamdani has served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas. Prior to his tenure in the Southern District of Texas, he served as deputy chief of the Counterterrorism Section of the National Security Division at the Department of Justice, and as a trial attorney in the same section. Hamdani has served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and was a founding partner of Hamdani & Simon, LLP. He is a graduate of the University of Houston Law Center and the University of Texas at Austin.

“Asian Americans are the fastest growing racial or ethnic group in the United States and Texas, with nearly one in five new Texans identifying as Asian American,” said Priya Purandare, executive director of NAPABA. “In the Houston area within the Southern District of Texas, the Asian American population grew by 53 percent in the last decade, and they comprise nearly nine percent of the population. Mr. Hamdani’s nomination is a step in the right direction in ensuring our community is represented. We urge the Senate to quickly confirm him.”

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Announcements: New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) Business Law Section

The NYSBA Business Law Section would like you to know about their Speakers Bureau as well as the opening of this year’s mentorship program. Please see below for further details:

1. NYSBA – Business Law Section Speakers Bureau – The Business Law Section is creating a faculty of speakers that they can contact for their various programs during the year. They want to make sure they have diverse attorneys as part of that faculty. Please complete this link 

https://nysba.org/app/uploads/2020/02/BUS_Speaker-Bureau-Form.pdf to submit an application to be a part of the faculty.  Please submit by Friday, October 21.  Please send any questions to Taa Grays at [email protected].

2. Law Student Mentoring – The Business Law Section is kicking off its 2022 – 2023 mentoring program. Law students seeking a mentor, please sign-up via this link 

https://nysba.org/blsmentoringprogram. Please submit your application by Friday, October 21.

Please send any questions to Juan Soto at [email protected].

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AABANY Honored with the New York State Bar Association Bar Leaders Innovation Award for the Anti-Asian Violence Task Force (AAVTF)

On September 20th, 2022, AABANY’s Anti-Asian Violence Task Force was honored with the prestigious Bar Leaders Innovation Award in the category of large-sized bar association (2,000 members or more) at the New York State Bar Association headquarters in Albany, making AABANY a recipient of this award for the third year in a row. Beatrice Leong, Esq., AABANY’s Co-Vice President of Programs and Operations, went to Albany to accept the award from the New York State Bar Association’s Committee on Bar Leaders, on behalf of AABANY.  

On September 20, Beatrice met with bar leaders from across New York state during a Bar Leaders Symposium and discussed how AABANY was able to maintain membership and actively keep its members and community engaged. During the reception following the Symposium, Beatrice accepted the award on behalf of AABANY. In her acceptance speech, she emphasized why AAVTF was created and the impact the Hate Eradication Active Response Team (“HEART”) had on helping community members navigate the criminal justice process. Beatrice also described how AAVTF worked with community organizations, the police, local prosecutors, elected officials, and law firms to gather data on hundreds of hate incidents while also directly assisting survivors. The event concluded with a dinner among the assembled bar leaders, providing another opportunity for Beatrice to share how AABANY was able to bring its leaders and members together to fight anti-Asian violence in New York City.

In AABANY’s press release about the award, President Willam Ng further commented: “With the support and acknowledgment of NYSBA and other partner organizations, AABANY and its AAVTF are confident that we can create safe and just communities and legal systems for Asian New Yorkers and all New Yorkers.” To read the press release issued by AABANY, please click here.

To read the AAVTF’s Endless Tide report, please click here.

To support the efforts of AAVTF, please click here.

To learn more about the HEART project, please click here.

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AABANY’s Academic Committee Co-Sponsors Workshop for Asian American and Pacific Islander and Middle Eastern and North African Women at UC Davis School of Law

AABANY’s Academic Committee was proud to co-sponsor the second ever Workshop for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) and Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) Women in the Legal Academy at UC Davis School of Law, held on Friday, September 16, 2022. This conference is designed to support and mentor women aspiring to enter or who are in the legal academy. AABANY’s generous co-sponsorship allowed travel stipends for individuals to attend. It was a fantastic two-day event. Academic Committee Co-chairs Catherine Kim, Donna Lee, and Elaine Chiu were delighted to attend. To learn more about the Academic Committee, click here.

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NAPABA Commends Justice Goodwin H. Liu as Recipient ABA Spirit of Excellence Award

WASHINGTON — Oct. 5, 2022. This week, the American Bar Association’s Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession announced California Supreme Court Associate Justice Goodwin H. Liu as a recipient of its 2023 Spirit of Excellence Award. Each year, the ABA honors lawyers who have excelled in their fields and who have demonstrated an abiding commitment to promoting diversity and inclusion in the legal profession with this prestigious distinction.

An accomplished jurist, scholar, and professor, Justice Liu is a nationally recognized expert on constitutional law, education law and policy, implicit bias, and criminal justice reform. A graduate of Stanford, Oxford, and Yale Law School, and a former Rhodes Scholar, Justice Liu’s distinguished career includes serving as a former Supreme Court clerk, a key policy advisor at two federal agencies, and as a tenured professor and Associate Dean at the UC Berkeley School of Law. In 2011, Justice Liu was nominated and confirmed as an Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court.

Justice Liu is a towering figure in the Asian American legal community, and in particular for his groundbreaking work on the Portrait Project, a comprehensive, multi-year, data-driven study of Asian Americans in the law, conducted in partnership with NAPABA, which was a game-changer for raising awareness about the successes, challenges, and obstacles confronting Asian Americans in the legal profession.

“Justice Goodwin Liu has opened doors, broken down barriers, and been an unflinching champion of diversity and inclusion in the legal profession, not just for Asian Americans, but lawyers of all backgrounds,” said Acting NAPABA President A.B. Cruz III. “NAPABA is proud of its longstanding partnership with Justice Liu on the Portrait Project, and it was a privilege to nominate him for the ABA’s Spirit of Excellence Award. He is an inspiration for our members and beyond, as a role model for overcoming adversity in the pursuit of excellence in the legal profession.” 

In 2017, Justice Liu was the recipient of the NAPABA President’s Award, given to NAPABA members who demonstrate an exceptional commitment to NAPABA, the legal community, and the greater Asian Pacific American community.

Also receiving the 2023 Spirit of Excellence Award are:

  • Hon. Roger L. Gregory, Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit 
  • Reginald M. Turner, Immediate Past President of the ABA
  • Diandra Benally, General Counsel of the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation

The 2023 Spirit of Excellence Awards will be presented during a ceremony on February 4 at the ABA Midyear Meeting in New Orleans.

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The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), represents the interests of over 60,000 Asian Pacific American (APA) legal professionals and nearly 90 national, state, and local APA bar associations. NAPABA is a leader in addressing civil rights issues confronting APA communities. Through its national network, 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 all backgrounds in the legal profession.

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NAPABA Announces 2022 President’s Award Winners

WASHINGTON – October 4, 2022. The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) is proud to announce that the 2022 NAPABA President’s Award will be presented to two groundbreaking organizations that have made a true impact toward the betterment of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AA & NH/PIs) during a period of great upheaval for these communities. This year’s recipients are: The Asian American Foundation (TAAF) and the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF).

The NAPABA President’s Award is given annually to individuals or entities who demonstrate an exceptional commitment to the Asian Pacific American community.

“NAPABA is proud of our partnerships with these two remarkable organizations,” said Acting NAPABA President A.B. Cruz III. “The twin pandemics of COVID-19 and the resulting wave of anti-Asian hate have created unprecedented challenges for AA & NH/PIs. Both TAAF and APIAHF have responded by creating the desperately needed infrastructure to empower communities to meet these challenges head-on.”

TAAF was established to close the vast AA & NH/PI philanthropic and influence gap in the United States—despite being the fastest growing population in the country, only 0.20% of foundation grantmaking and less than 1% of corporate giving is directly targeted toward AA & NH/PI communities. Founded at the height of the pandemic and anti-Asian hate wave, TAAF has made the largest philanthropic commitment in history focused specifically on AA & NH/PI communities, with particular emphasis on combating anti-Asian hate, education, and narrative change, all areas of priority for NAPABA. Since its launch, TAAF has committed millions in order to develop a strategic response to anti-Asian hate, producing critical resources such as its Rapid Response Toolkit, and building infrastructure through AAPI Action Centers across the country. NAPABA serves as one of TAAF’s National Network partners in the ongoing effort to combat anti-Asian hate.

APIAHF is the oldest and largest health policy advocacy organization working with AA & NH/PI communities across the nation, in the US Territories, and with the US-affiliated Pacific jurisdictions. In partnership with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and over 30 national and community AA & NH/PI organizations—including NAPABA—APIAHF launched the National AA & NH/PI Health Response Partnership, a community-centered model that provides on-the-ground public health resources and assistance across the nation. The largest outreach and educational campaign ever conducted for the AA & NH/PI community, APIAHF and its partners provided linguistically tailored and culturally sensitive outreach and educational materials to increase COVID-19 vaccinations. In addressing the “dual pandemic,” NAPABA and APIAHF partnered together to develop a ground-breaking collection of Combat Hate Crimes Toolkits translated into 25 different Asian and NH/PI languages—the largest compilation of its kind. The two organizations also co-developed fact cards for those who may be unsure of their rights to a COVID-19 vaccination. Translated into 26 different Asian and NH/PI languages, this resource educates community members on the benefits of getting vaccinated and encourages them to receive their free COVID-19 vaccinations regardless of immigration status, health insurance coverage, and/or Social Security identification.

NAPABA congratulates TAAF and the APIAHF as this year’s honorees and will bestow the prestigious award on Friday, November 5 at the Cosmopolitan Las Vegas during the 2022 NAPABA Convention.

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Center on Asian Americans and the Law & Fordham Law School Present a Screening of the Documentary “Free Chol Soo Lee”

On September 29, 2022, Fordham Law School Professor Thomas H. Lee and 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Denny Chin presented a screening of the documentary “Free Chol Soo Lee” at Fordham University’s Lincoln Center campus. Professor Lee currently co-chairs AABANY’s Academic Committee. Judge Chin served as AABANY’s President from 1992 to 1993. 

Judge Chin and Professor Lee hosted the screening in collaboration with Fordham Law School’s Center on Asian Americans and the Law. Judge Chin, Kathy Hirata Chin, Professor Thomas H. Lee, and other Fordham faculty members worked together to establish this new center earlier in 2022. The Center on Asian Americans and the Law is dedicated to promoting public education on the legal history of AAPIs, serving as a research hub for AAPI legal issues, and coordinating public advocacy and outreach efforts through law firms, corporations, and the public to advance justice for the AAPI community as a whole. 

The 2022 documentary “Free Chol Soo Lee,” by Julie Ha and Eugene Yi, tells the story of the pan-Asian, grassroots movement which mobilized in the ‘70s and ‘80s to assist Chol Soo Lee, a Korean immigrant who was wrongfully convicted for the 1973 murder of San Francisco Chinatown resident Yip Yee Tak. “Free Chol Soo Lee” follows the formation of the defense committee which came to Lee’s aid, along with the efforts of community members and attorneys who worked tirelessly to free Lee from prison. 

After the movie screening, Professor Thomas H. Lee held a Q&A session with Judge Chin. Judge Chin first spoke to the grim ending of the documentary, which covers the post-release struggles which faced Chol Soo Lee in his adjustment to freedom. Judge Chin noted that, “In recent years, a lot of re-entry courts have popped up. We started a re-entry court [The RISE Court] in the Southern District of New York in 2019 …. It’s such a terrific program. We had our second session of this group just yesterday, and we had three graduates talk to these guys [the enrollees of the current RISE Court cohort presided over by Judge Chin]. We’re up to five RISE courts in the New York City area.” Judge Chin stressed the important role which systems of support must play even after a person has been released from prison. 

Professor Lee capped off the event by asking Judge Chin a question geared towards law students and practicing attorneys: “How can law students and lawyers get involved [in issues of wrongful conviction such as that in the documentary]?” 

Judge Chin responded by reflecting on the effects of the movement around Chol Soo Lee on Asian American communities: “The real positive for this was the community. Ranko [Yamada] went to law school. Jeff Adachi became pretty high up in the legal field. Many of them [individuals involved with the defense committee for Chol Soo Lee] were inspired to go to law school…I think the law gives you tools to do a lot of different things. But whatever you do, you find some way to give back…For example, [trial] reenactments with AABANY, which have proven to be a great educational tool…Whether you realize it, lawyers do have power. When you’re learning the trade, you’re really learning how to make a change.” 

Judge Chin’s reference to AABANY’s trial reenactments recalls AABANY’s Trial Reenactment Team performing “Alice in Chinatown: Chol Soo Lee and His Fight for Freedom” at the 2018 NAPABA convention in Chicago. AABANY’s Trial Reenactment Team has scripted and performed scripted a number of other famous cases such as “Korematsu v. United States,” and the trial following the murder of Vincent Chin. Anticipating the foundational mission of Fordham Law School’s Center on Asian Americans and the Law, the AABANY Trial Reenactment Project was created to educate audiences about Asian American contributions to the development of American law and society. 

We are grateful to Judge Chin and Professor Lee for hosting this film screening, and thank Fordham Law School’s Center on Asian Americans and the Law for organizing this event.

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