NEW YORK – March 31, 2021 – AABANY’s Pro Bono and Community Services Committee (“PBCS”) and the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (“CCBA”) will launch monthly virtual community presentations and clinic sessions beginning April 2021. This is a joint project to serve members of the Asian Pacific American community who have limited English proficiency by providing free “Know Your Rights” presentations about various common legal issues in housing law, elder law, family law, immigration law, and employment law. Each month will focus on one specific area of law that affects the community, along with a Know Your Rights session on anti-Asian hate and harassment at every virtual presentation. We hope to raise awareness of anti-Asian violence, to inform our audience how to report a hate incident, and to provide helpful resources to victims of hate crime.
On Friday, January 17, 2020, thirty AABANY members and friends braved the cold weather to enjoy a mixer at Citifield for the Hello Panda Lantern Festival.
Members were able to walk around the beautifully crafted structures, lit in colorful lights against the black night sky. Members also took a break from the cold and warmed up with hot cocoa and food while networking.
We thank AABANY’s Government Service & Public Interest, Pro Bono and Community Service, Young Lawyers, and Membership Committees for co-sponsoring this event.
AABANY’s Pro Bono Committee organized and held its first ever Brooklyn Pro Bono Clinic was held on Thursday, September 26, 2019 at A Plus Academy located at 6802 8th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY and it was quite the successful event. With a total of 30 volunteers in attendance, including attorneys, interpreters and a benefits counselor, we were able to provide legal assistance and referrals to 27 clients from the New York community.
The Brooklyn Pro Bono Clinic has allowed AABANY’s Pro Bono Committee to service a new community in need of pro bono legal services and indicates our efforts to grow and expand these services to more New Yorkers in need. Clients local to Brooklyn were able to attend, but clients traveling from Queens and other surrounding areas also made the trip, with some clients stating that they traveled an hour or more just to receive the help they have been looking for.
The evening started off with a community presentation by AABANY’s Membership Director and GSPI Committee Co-Chair, Beatrice Leong, Esq. which focused on family law, specifically matrimonial & divorce law. The presentation alone provided the answers that one client needed. This client was able to leave the presentation knowing what their next steps were without needing any further legal assistance. The remaining 26 clients were all able to sit down with an attorney, and an interpreter when needed, for a consultation session to receive the legal help and resources they were seeking. Common legal issues at this clinic included family, immigration, and elder law matters.
In just a few years, our Manhattan clinic has assisted hundreds of low-income clients and the new Brooklyn clinic provides us the opportunity to grow those numbers and ensure that many more will be able to receive free legal advice and referrals to high-quality, culturally sensitive, and linguistically competent legal services. In order to continue to provide and expand our pro bono services to other New York communities in need, we continue to ask every member to actively support AABANY’s Pro Bono Clinics.
If you know family members, friends, colleagues or businesses, such as your firm, who would like to support the Pro Bono Clinics, please help us connect with them by contacting Karen Yau at karen.yau@aabany.org. Financial contributions can also be made directly by texting APAPROBONO to 443-21 to make a donation through Give Lively.
Thank you to our volunteers:
Lawyers:
Beatrice Leong May Kay Wong Michelle Yeung Jen Rasay Gina Kim Chai Park Francis Chin Michelle DeSousa-Fiore Kwok Kei Ng Zhixian Liu Pauline Yeung-Ha Judy (Ming Chu) Lee Karen Kithan Yau Asako Aiba
Interpreters:
Ruth Poon Wai Yee Chan Shuping Deng Xiaoxiao Pan Guanlan Shen Bo Hu Meng Zhang Steve Mei Alex Hwang
Intake Coordinators/Interpreters:
Breanna Andree-Couturier Henry Man Jay Tang Gary Chen Xinyi Shen Yuying Zhu
Benefits Counselor:
John Colon, NY Connects
Special thanks to Co-Chairs, Pauline Yeung-Ha, Judy (Ming Chu) Lee, Karen Kithan Yau, and Asako Aiba, and Vice Chairs, Kwok Kei Ng and Zhixian (Jessie) Liu, for coordinating this clinic. Additionally, thank you to the various community leaders and organizations whose help made this clinic possible.
AABANY’s Brooklyn Pro Bono Clinic is conducted in collaboration with: NYS Assemblyman, Peter J. Abbate Jr., NYS Senator, Andrew Gounardes, and NYC Councilman, Justin Brannan. Special thanks to our community sponsors: A+ Academy, Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC), Chinese American Social Services Center (CASS), Homecrest Community Services, Academy of Medical & Public Health Services (AMPHS), Brooklyn Community Improvement Association (BCIA), Parent Child Relationship Association, and the United Chinese Association of Brooklyn (UCA).
The Brooklyn Pro Bono Clinic will be a bi-monthly clinic occurring on the fourth Thursday of every other month, except for November which would be Thanksgiving Day. The next clinic will be held on Thursday, November 21, 2019 from 6:30 pm to 8:30pm. If you are interested in volunteering at future Pro Bono Clinics, please contact Asako Aiba at asako.aiba@aabany.org.
On January 6, 2019, members of the Young Lawyers Committee (YLC) spent the afternoon volunteering at Xavier Mission. Over 1450 hot meals were served to less fortunate New Yorkers. Following the event, a few of the volunteers reflected on their experience over tacos and chips at Tortaria.
The YLC thanks all of the volunteers for their hard work and looks forward to planning another rewarding community service event soon!
During each Convention, NAPABA gives back to the city that has hosted our attendees. This year, NAPABA has partnered with the San Diego Rescue Mission, an organization that is committed to ending homelessness and hunger.
Join Convention-goers as we prepare toiletry kits for San Diego Rescue Mission’s community dinner to be held on Nov. 19, 2016, where 2,000 people from the street will attend for a free turkey dinner. Attendees will also be assembling gifts for the men and women living at San Diego Rescue Mission’s Residential Recovery Programs.
Breakfast will be provided.
For a more complete schedule of all of our Convention programs, view the agenda here.
Early-bird registration for the 2016 NAPABA Convention will close on Aug. 26. NAPABA members save an additional $200 off the non-member rate. Not a member? Become a member today and save!
Diversity is a core value of Bryan Cave LLP and an engrained part of our culture. Bryan Cave LLP has partnered with the NAPABA Law Foundation to offer the Bryan Cave / NLF Community Service Scholarship, which will provide a $2,500 scholarship award for one law student who is a summer law intern that works on issues on behalf of, or that benefits, the Asian Pacific American community. Click here to apply or for more information.
