Tag: corporate law

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AABANY Corporate Law Committee Hosts Meet & Greet

On Thursday, June 13, 2024, the Corporate Law Committee (CLC) hosted a Meet & Greet via Zoom. The Meet and Greet was led by Co-Chairs Tracy Feng, Alice Hsu, Keli Huang, and John Hwang, and was an opportunity for committee members to meet the leadership team.

After the Co-Chairs introduced themselves, they completed a brief recap of various events CLC had hosted in the past year, including a Winter Soiree and a Happy Hour at Maru. Attendees were then asked to introduce themselves as well as share any suggestions for events they would like to see CLC host this year. Many attendees expressed their interest in networking events, especially with senior associates. Other ideas included professional and personal development programs, collaborations with other committees where corporate law may intersect, as well as events about artificial intelligence and what it means to be a good corporate lawyer.

The CLC Co-Chairs wrapped up the meet and greet by giving attendees a sneak peek of some potential upcoming events, including the Fall Conference, a spa day, and career development panels, with a goal of hosting at least one event per quarter.

Thank you to those who attended the CLC Meet and Greet event. To learn more about CLC, please click here.

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AABANY Presents Ask a Mid-Level: How to be a Stellar Associate

On March 11, AABANY’s Corporate Law Committee hosted a panel discussion on how junior associates can become star team players. Over 60 attendees were present over Zoom. The moderator was Ashley Wong of Sidley Austin and the speakers, all mid-levels at leading law firms, were: 

  • Keli Huang, Kirkland & Ellis
  • Douglas Kim, Debevoise & Plimpton
  • Amrita Mukherjee, Weil, Gotshal & Manges
  • James Park, Sidley Austin

The purpose of the panel was to provide guidance to junior associates on how to build stronger workplace relationships and produce deliverables more efficiently. This was an instructional program that provided 1.0 CLE credits in Law Practice Management. 

Advice from the speakers included researching a deal team’s working style before accepting an assignment, getting to know the firm’s research tools and letting people know when one has made a mistake so it can be solved faster. 

The event ended with a gift card raffle. Congratulations to Terry Shen and Evelyn Mau for being the lucky winners of a Seamless gift card! 

Thank you to all who attended this event. To learn more about the Corporate Law Committee, please visit https://www.aabany.org/page/128. 

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AABANY Presents Corporate Law Program at NYU Stern Business & Law Association

On Thursday, Oct. 10, AABANY collaborated with the NYU Stern Business and Law Association (SBLA) to present a program on corporate law. The lunchtime program took place in Tisch Hall at the NYU Stern School of Business. The panelists included Michael Ye, an associate at Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz, and Vincent Jian Wu, international lawyer at Kobre & Kim. Michael spoke about the practice of corporate law from a transactional perspective, while Jian described it from the litigation and dispute resolution perspective. Both are AABANY members and Jian is co-chair of AABANY’s Asia Practice Committee. In attendance were undergraduates from NYU who are interested in learning more about the legal world and possibly pursuing law school or the legal profession as a career path. Those in attendance found the discussion engaging and the speakers impressive.

Thanks to former AABANY intern Jason Cheung for spearheading the outreach to NYU Stern, and thanks to Alex Chiang, Director of External Events, SBLA, and SBLA Co-Presidents, Gloria Zheng and Maurice Elbaz, for inviting us. We hope this event is the first of many as AABANY extends its outreach to students beyond law schools. (Thanks to Jason for the photos.)

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AABANY Pre-OCI Information Session: What Do Corporate Lawyers Do?

On Tuesday, July 22nd, AABANY’s Corporate Law Committee and Student Outreach Committee hosted an insightful Pre-OCI Information session, “What do corporate lawyer do?”, at Paul, Weiss. With more than 30 law school students and undergraduate students in attendance, Executive Director Yang Chen welcomed everyone and introduced the moderator, Terry Shen. 

The panel started with Terry introducing each distinguished panel speaker. The panelists comprised both in-house attorneys from top firms in the industry and corporate law lawyers at prestigious law firms, each with a different specialty practice area within the landscape of corporate law:  

•    Jasmine Ball, Partner, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP

•    Parkin Lee, Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer, The Rockefeller Group 

•    Marianne Chow-Newman, Counsel, The Hearst Corporation

•    Lawrence G. Wee, Partner, Paul Weiss Rifikind Wharton & Garrison LLP 

•    Terry Shen (Moderator), Partner, Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP

Addressing the question “what do corporate lawyer do?”, the panelists talked about why they chose corporate law, their daily role as a corporate lawyer, the interaction and relationship with corporate clients, the kind of tasks a junior associate will encounter, and interview techniques for the upcoming OCI (on-campus interview) season on campus. 

First, the panelists explained five different subdivisions of corporate law: Capital Markets, Credit & Leverage Finance, Mergers & Acquisitions, Restructuring, and Investment Management. Different from litigation and what has been portrayed in the media, corporate lawyers rarely go to court or draft motions. Instead, corporate lawyers offer legal advice to corporations who attempt to operate and grow their business. Coming from an engineering background in his early career, Parkin Lee characterized his role as a corporate lawyer as “engineering with words.” The nature of corporate operation requires lawyers to write a tight contract, understand the needs of their clients and negotiate on their behalf, build trust between two parties who want to do business, and explain complicated deal structures to the client. Young lawyers need to have the capability to negotiate, conduct due diligence, and strengthen relationships with clients.  

The event concluded with a discussion of the deal team culture and “bro culture” in law firms. Although one does not need to thrive in the bro culture to succeed, Terry drew a connection between bro culture with the work ethic of a young lawyer, illustrating the reliability, can-do mindset and intellectual curiosity embodied in both deal team culture and bro culture.  

We would like to sincerely thank Larry Wee and Paul, Weiss for hosting the event by providing food, beverages, and an excellent space. We also thank the Corporate Law Committee and Student Outreach Committee for putting together this valuable and meaningful program for current or prospective law students.

To learn more about the Corporate Law Committee, please click here.

To learn more about the Student Outreach Committee, please click here.

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On Tuesday, June 17, the In-House Counsel Committee and Corporate Law Committee held their 7th Annual Winetasting and Networking Reception at La Fonda Del Sol in Midtown Manhattan. Blossom Kan and Austin So, Co-Chairs of the In-House Counsel Committee, kicked off the event by welcoming all the attendees and introducing Dwight Yoo, Larry Wee, and Charlotte Kim, Co-Chairs of the Corporate Law Committee.

Following the welcomes, Clara Ohr, AABANY President, introduced and thanked all the sponsors for the event, especially the anchor sponsors, Planet Depos and Summit Financial Printing.

As part of the event, in-house counsel and corporate attorneys had the opportunity to network over hors d’oeuvres and wine. As an icebreaker, in-house counsel attorneys had an incentive to network with corporate attorneys; they had the opportunity to win an iPad Mini. Austin So, Co-Chair of the In-House Counsel Committee explained that the in-house counsel attorney with the most business cards from law firm attorneys would win the iPad Mini. Congratulations to Jean Lee, who won with a total of 59 business cards! Jean raffled off the iPad Mini amongst the attendees who dropped his or her business card in Planet Depos’ raffle bowl. Congratulations to Francis Chin, who won the raffle! Francis Chin generously raffled the iPad Mini amongst the volunteers who are also law students. Congratulations to Christina Nguyen! [Note: Christina is an AABANY Legal Intern and she wrote this summary – not on her iPad Mini, though, as far as we know.]

Thank you to our anchor sponsors, Planet Depos and Summit Financial Printing, our premier sponsor Perkins Coie, and other Wine Tasting sponsors, Archer & Greiner, Dentons, Haynes and Boone, Mayer Brown, Morgan Lewis, Paul Weiss, Reed Smith, and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. We would also like to acknowledge all of our Annual Dinner sponsors, without whom the events throughout the year would not be possible.

The event was a great success and we hope to continue to enjoy the In-House Counsel Committee and Corporate Law Committee’s annual wine-tasting and networking reception. Thank you to all our sponsors, attendees, and volunteers. (Thanks to Kevin Wong for the photos!)

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Press Release: Moon Festival Honoree Gala | Honorees Announced

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 15, 2013

AABANY APPLAUDS NAAAP-NY’S SELECTION OF ALICE YOUNG AS THE 2013 CORPORATE LAW HONOREE AND YANG CHEN AS A 2013 COMMUNITY EXCELLENCE AWARDEE FOR FIRST ANNUAL MOON FESTIVAL HONOREE GALA

NEW YORK – October 15, 2013 – The Asian American Bar Association of New York (“AABANY”) applauds the National Association of Asian American Professionals (“NAAAP”) New York’s selection of Alice Young as the 2013 Corporate Law Honoree and Yang Chen as a 2013 Community Excellence Awardee. 

NAAAP New York will recognize Ms. Young and Mr. Chen along with other honorees and leaders in the Asian American community during its first annual Moon Festival Honoree Gala to be held at Gotham Hall in New York City on Friday, October 25, 2013.  The Moon Festival Honoree Gala will honor New York’s most influential Asian & Pacific Islander Americans (“APIA”) in various professions, including media, public service, entrepreneurship, culinary arts and corporate (law).  Preet Bharara, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, was also named NAAAP-NY’s 2013 Public Service Honoree.  Proceeds from the event will benefit the NAAAP-NY Scholarship Fund, a program instituted over a decade ago to benefit APIA scholars in the greater New York metropolitan area.  The Honoree Reception will be hosted by Richard Lui, MSNBC Anchor.

“We congratulate Alice and Yang for being recognized by NAAAP-NY for their outstanding professional achievements and influence in the APIA community in New York.  Alice has been a consummate professional and a leader in corporate law for nearly four decades and Yang has quickly become a well-known and trusted leader in the greater APIA community,” said Mike Huang, AABANY’s President.

Alice Young is Special Counsel and Chair of the Asia Pacific Practice at Kaye Scholer. She advises multinationals and entrepreneurs on their business activities and investment considerations in the United States and throughout Asia, including complex cross-border transactions and sensitive legal and governmental strategies, and compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”). She also assists clients in identifying potential Asian partners and resources. She has been lead advisor on projects in China, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, India and the Philippines. She has been in private practice for more than thirty-five years.

Alice has been based in New York, Hong Kong and Tokyo and speaks Japanese, Mandarin Chinese and French. She is a member of the Board of Directors and on the Executive and Examining Committees of Mizuho Trust & Banking Co. (USA); member of the Board of Directors and Audit Committee of Axis Capital Holdings Limited (AXS); Lifetime Trustee of the Aspen Institute and The Asia Foundation and Give2Asia.  Alice is listed in Who’s Who, Crain’s “Top 100 Minority Executives” (one of only three corporate lawyers named), by Avenue Asia magazine as one of the five most influential Asian-American corporate lawyers in the United States, and by Harvard Law Bulletin as one of the top 50 women graduates of Harvard Law School.

Alice was in the first class of women graduates of Yale College, where she majored in East Asian Studies. A graduate of Harvard Law School, Alice was a member of the East Asian Legal Studies Program.

Yang Chen is the Executive Director of the Asian American Bar Association of New York (AABANY), a position he has held since August 2009.  Mr. Chen is AABANY’s first Executive Director.  He has been active in AABANY for many years, having served on the Board and numerous committees, including the Judicial Affairs (now Judiciary) Committee, of which he was a chair.  Mr. Chen served as AABANY’s President in 2008. Before becoming AABANY’s Executive Director, Mr. Chen was a partner in the firm of Constantine Cannon, a law firm specializing in antitrust and complex commercial litigation.  He was among the group that founded the firm in 1994, which started as Constantine & Associates. Before joining Constantine Cannon, Mr. Chen was an associate in the New York office of McDermott, Will & Emery and before that he was associated with Breed, Abbott & Morgan (now Winston & Strawn).  Mr. Chen is admitted to practice in the State of New York, the United States District Court, Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of the United States.  He is a graduate of the New York University School of Law and Binghamton University.

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The Asian American Bar Association of New York was formed in 1989 as a not-for-profit corporation to represent the interests of New York Asian American attorneys, judges, law professors, legal professionals, paralegals and law students.  The mission of AABANY is to improve the study and practice of law, and the fair administration of justice for all by ensuring the meaningful participation of Asian Americans in the legal profession.

NAAAP New York is the founding chapter of the National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP). The organization was founded over thirty years ago, and today has thousands of members in 27 chapters across North America.  As a 501©(3) non-profit organization, NAAAP is dedicated to developing and advancing Asian Americans across all industries and career stages by providing premier career-oriented and cultural programming.

Additional information about NAAAP New York’s 2013 Moon Festival Honoree Gala is available at http://naaapny.org/10-25-2013-moon-festival-honoree-gala/

 

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On June 18, 2013, the AABANY In-House Counsel and Corporate Law Committees co-sponsored AABANY’s 6th Annual Wine Tasting & Networking Reception, at Inside Park at St. Bart’s.  This year’s event was highly successful, with over 125 people in attendance, including in-house attorneys from 46 organizations, such as AIG, BBC, Hess, JP Morgan Chase, Prudential and Xerox. The In-House Counsel Committee is comprised of current in-house lawyers and the Corporate Law Committee is comprised of current and prospective corporate law firm attorneys.

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