Contact: Rahat N. Babar, Deputy Executive Director for Policy
WASHINGTON -On January 30, 2024, the Florida State Bar confirmed following public reporting that the Florida Supreme Court eliminated all funding for the Bar’s diversity and inclusion initiatives in its next budget. This ends the existence of the Bar’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee. Created in 2010, the Committee’s mission was to advance diversity and inclusion within the state’s legal profession and administer, among other programs, the Voluntary Bar Association Diversity Leadership Grant, which supported “initiatives and programs which encourage diversity, diversity training and dialogue among lawyers in Florida.”
The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), together with the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Tampa Bay (APABA-TB), the Greater Orlando Asian American Bar Association (GOAABA), and the Jacksonville Asian American Bar Association (JAABA) express concern with the decision to discontinue funding and its adverse impact on essential work performed by the Florida State Bar. Regardless of this action, we remain steadfast in our collective mission to support the Asian Pacific American legal community, and we will continue to focus unrelentingly on advancing diversity and inclusion within the legal profession.
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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 Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander 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.
On February 1, 2023, the IP Committee hosted its inaugural “Dumplings & Discussion” fireside chat series, with Andy Yoo, SVP & General Counsel at Savvas Learning Company as the guest.
Over a sumptuous spread of dumplings and other Chinese dishes, Andy shared his insights on intellectual property in the education industry, reflected on his career path, discussed his responsibilities as General Counsel, and offered advice to young attorneys. Andy also discussed how he leads his team, and his views on the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). The attendees were made up of in-house counsel attorneys in private practice and law students, and represented a wide range of experience levels.
Andy talked about his start at a prominent law firm and his move in-house to a media company. His next in-house move was to another media company that was also prominent in producing educational materials, and his current company focuses on those products. Andy enjoys the variety of challenging work he does as an in-house counsel and noted that nearly a third of his work involves IP, because the company manages a portfolio of hundreds of trademarks and thousands of copyrighted materials.
Andy has been deeply involved with DEI as an in-house counsel and reflected on changes in DEI over the past three decades. Compared to when he started as an associate to present day, he has observed a shift from the legal profession barely talking about DEI to robust efforts driven by the corporate sector to increase DEI across the board. The change, noted Andy, “is like night and day.” Yet, Andy recognizes that much still needs to be done and laments that during times of economic downturn, corporate DEI budgets tend to shrink, leading to cycles of advancement and retreat that make lasting progress hard to maintain.
After the in-depth discussion and lively Q&A that followed, attendees continued to enjoy drinks and food in a networking reception.
Thanks to Jeff Mok, Co-Chair of the IP Committee for moderating an insightful conversation, and to Fish & Richardson for being such gracious hosts. Thanks to Andy Yoo for sharing his time, experiences and knowledge with us.
Look out for the next IP Committee “Dumplings & Discussion” fireside chat. To learn more about the IP Committee, go to https://www.aabany.org/page/145.
AABANY congratulates Margaret Ling on her New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) member profile published on July 25, 2022. Focusing on her career path and the importance of promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion, the member profile speaks to the necessity of making progress against discrimination in the legal profession.
Margaret noted that “women and people of color are [still] not making partner and leaving prestigious firms after 20 years of service.” Discussing her personal experiences with racism and sexism in the field, Margaret stated, “now I mentor young lawyers because there was no one there to help me. I tell them that you have to speak up for your work and fight to be recognized for it.” Read more here.
NYSBA was founded in 1876 and currently has a membership base of over 70,000 individuals, with its headquarters in Albany, NY.
The Asian American Bar Association of New York together with the New York City Bar Association ADR Committee and the New York State Bar Association Dispute Resolution Section and partner bar associations are committed to increasing the selection of ADR professionals from historically underrepresented communities. To promote this goal, the partnering bar associations have created the New York Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Neutral Directory (“NY DEI Neutral Directory).
The directory is a list of ADR professionals who self-identify as a member of a historically underrepresented community including but not limited to: a person of color, a member of the LGBTQ+ community, as having a disability, or identify as a woman. Individuals seeking ADR professionals can search the directory alphabetically, by practice area, by language ability, and by other self-identifying characteristics. Individuals who wish to be included in the directory must be members of one of the partnering bar associations, and have filled out the Directory Questionnaire which is available here: https://bit.ly/3d1Nn3q Inclusion in this directory does not imply endorsement or recommendation by any organization
Directory Partners include the following bar associations: The Amistad Long Island Black Bar Association, Asian American Bar Association of New York, The Bar Association of Erie County, The Brehon Law Society, Caribbean Attorney Network, Dominican Bar Association, Hispanic National Bar Association, New York Chapter, LGBT Bar Association of New York, Macon B. Allen Black Bar Association, Metropolitan Black Bar Association, The Network of Bar Leaders, New York County Lawyers Association, Rochester Black Bar Association, South Asian Bar Association of New York, Puerto Rican Bar Association, Westchester Bar Association and the Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York.
