PRESS RELEASE: NAPABA Announces Its 2015 Best Lawyers Under 40

For Immediate Release
Sept. 23, 2015

For More Information, Contact:
Brett Schuster, Communications Manager
bschuster@napaba.org, 202-775-9555

NAPABA Announces Its 2015 Best Lawyers Under 40

WASHINGTON — The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) has selected 14 attorneys to receive the 2015 Best Lawyers Under 40 Award (BU40). The BU40 recognizes talented individuals in the Asian Pacific American (APA) legal community who are under the age of 40 and have achieved prominence and distinction in their respective fields while demonstrating a strong commitment to the APA community at relatively early stages in their careers.

The BU40 Award will be presented on Nov. 5, 2015, during the 2015 NAPABA Convention in New Orleans, to the following recipients:

  • Christine Bautista — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
  • Christopher Y. Chan — RedMart Limited
  • Mark J. Furuya — Clark Construction Group LLC
  • Josh M. Hsu — U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Office of Senator Patrick Leahy
  • Miranda L. Lam — McCarthy Tétrault LLP
  • Gloria Lee — Rutan & Tucker LLP
  • Christine Li — Nationwide
  • Sujit Raman — U.S. Department of Justice
  • Darren S. Teshima — Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
  • Stacey H. Wang — Holland & Knight
  • Karen I. Wu — Perlman & Perlman LLP
  • Hli Xyooj — Farmers’ Legal Action Group Inc.
  • Amy Yoshimi Yeung — ZeniMax Media Inc.
  • Gary Zhao — SmithAmundsen LLC

“These distinguished lawyers represent some of the best in their field under the age of 40,” said NAPABA President George C. Chen. “As these 14 men and women continue to make strides in their respective careers, the pipeline for national Asian Pacific American leaders in the legal profession appears bright.”

The 2015 class of honorees continues the BU40 legacy of excellence and leadership in both the legal and APA communities. This year’s BU40 honorees have vast and varied experiences — representing clients in nationwide high-stake and complex business litigation matters, investigating violations of federal securities laws, providing legal services to family and underrepresented farmers, serving as the senior counsel to a ranking member of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, and assistant general counsel for one of the nation’s oldest construction firms. NAPABA congratulates the 2015 Best Lawyers Under 40 award winners and looks forward to their future successes.

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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 40,000 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.

To learn more about NAPABA, visit www.napaba.org, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter (@NAPABA).

NAPABA AWARDS DEADLINE EXTENDED — JUNE 23

The nomination deadline for the following NAPABA awards has been extended to June 23, 2014!

Nomination forms can be found here. Completed nomination forms must be emailed to assistant@napaba.org by 5:00 pm ET on June 23, 2014. All emails will be acknowledged with a reply.

We look forward to receiving your nominations and seeing you all at the 2014 NAPABA Convention where the award recipients will be honored.

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AABANY turned out in force for the 24th Annual NAPABA Convention held at the JW Marriott and hosted by APABA-DC, from November 15-18.  The theme was “Reaching Monumental Heights."  Five AABANY members were recognized as being among this year’s class of NAPABA Best Lawyers Under 40: Steve Choi, Rio Guerrero, Blossom Kan, Teena-Ann V. Sankoorikal and Vinoo Varghese. (Read the press release here on this blog.)  Membership Secretary Judy Kim was officially sworn in as Northeast Regional Governor. (Read that press release here on this blog.)

Many AABANY members and leaders took part as moderators and speakers on various panels, including: Vincent Chang, Yang Chen, Hon. Denny Chin, Francis Chin, Kathy Hirata Chin, Eve Guillergan, Alexander Lee, Lauren U. Y. Lee, Vinny Lee, Robert Leung, Michael Lewis, Peter Ligh, Linda Lin, Hon. Doris Ling-Cohan, Don Liu, Tony Lu, Glenn Magpantay, Hugh Mo, Kin Ng, Chul Pak, Maria Park, Teena-Ann V. Sankoorikal, Vinoo Varghese, Jessica Wong, Michael Yap. (Apologies if we left anyone out.)

The slideshow above includes shots from the Heart Mountain re-enactment and the Saturday evening gala at which NAPABA’s Best Lawyers Under 40 were honored.

Approximately 1800 attendees took part in the NAPABA Convention. The keynote speaker at the Gala on Saturday evening was U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in a conversation co-moderated by the Hon. Denny Chin, past AABANY president who was a colleague of Justice Sotomayor when they both served in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Congratulations to everyone who participated! Thanks for helping AABANY to reach monumental heights at the NAPABA Convention!