Tag: diversity

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AABANY’s LGBT Committee Hosts a Roundtable Discussion On Negotiating The Experience of Being Both LGBT and Asian American

On March 5, 2019, the AABANY LGBT Committee held a roundtable discussion titled: “Transactional Identities: Navigating the various contexts of coming out for Asian American lawyers.”  

Presenting were Connie Montoya, Partner, Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP; Janice Jabido, IP Counsel, Pratt & Whitney; and Tony Thomas, Chief Legal & Labor Relations Officer, City University of New York – Brooklyn College.  

Dennis M. Quinio, Manager of Diversity & Inclusion, Milbank, LLP, moderated the discussion.  

Our esteemed presenters jump-started the conversation, sharing their experiences being LGBT and Asian American within the legal profession, their families and their communities at large.  They discussed the struggles of being in the closet; the dynamics of coming out to colleagues, clients, and family members; and strategies for overcoming day-to-day challenges such as microaggressions. Several Asian American LGBT attorneys from private practice, government and the nonprofit sector attended the discussion and shared their experiences in this confidential space, meant to foster a candid and supportive dialogue. We heard about others’ experiences harmonizing identities that may seem to be in conflict and explored how living our “authentic” selves can impact our effectiveness at work.

The law firm of Cleary Gottlieb Steen and Hamilton graciously hosted the event. At the beginning of the roundtable, Sandra Flow, Partner and Chair of the Committee on Diversity and Inclusion at Cleary, delivered warm welcoming remarks, affirming the firm’s commitment to supporting diverse attorneys.  

If you would like to join the AABANY LGBT Committee or learn more, email John Vang at [email protected].  

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Join AABANY in Supporting Portrait Project 2.0

A recent Law360 article entitled “Why Are Law Clerks So White” reported:

Take any five federal law clerks, and at least four of them would probably be white. And nobody can be certain why.

California Supreme Court Justice Goodwin Liu has some guesses about the reasons black, Asian and Latino lawyers are largely shut out of these prestigious positions that can turbocharge a lawyer’s early career. But he says it’s impossible to pinpoint reasons or patterns because so little data exists.

“We actually don’t even know the most basic things about those opportunities,” Justice Liu told Law360. “It would be interesting if we could know even basic things, like do women judges get more women clerks? We have impressions of that, but we don’t know with any precision whether these things are true.”

The article went on to talk about how Justice Liu plans to address these questions in Portrait Project 2.0. AABANY is supporting this research as a Silver Sponsor. AABANY challenges its members to donate to Portrait Project 2.0. AABANY will match member donations up to $5,000. Join AABANY in advancing the work of Portrait Project 2.0. Read more at https://www.aabany.org/page/PortraitProject20

To read the full Law360 article go to https://www.law360.com/articles/1156019?utm_source=ios-shared&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=ios-shared

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Invitation to Town Hall on Federal Contract Compliance Programs and Opportunities

On Wednesday, April 10, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor – Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) is holding a town hall for the legal industry at the Hilton Millennium Downtown New York, 55 Church St., New York, NY from 9 am to 1 pm.

The focus of the OFCCP is to review its compliance assistance efforts and identify options for enhancing contractors’ understanding of their nondiscrimination and affirmative action requirements.

The OFCCP is holding the town hall to learn more about what is important to its stakeholders in the legal industry and to enhance the scope and the quality of OFCCP’s compliance materials.

The Network of Bar Leaders and its members (including AABANY) are invited to attend and provide feedback to help the OFCCP develop policy for stakeholders in the legal industry and related fields. OFCCP will be looking for innovative ideas on how to make its existing compliance assistance efforts more practical and collaborative.

The meetings are open to the public but will be of particular interest to human resource managers, equal employment opportunity specialists, chief compliance officers, and other personnel in the legal industry who are directly involved with ensuring their company’s compliance with OFCCP’s requirements. Workers, job seekers, community groups and anyone interested in OFCCP and our work are also encouraged to attend. Please note only two tickets are available per organization on a first come, first served basis.

You can attend a town hall by registering through OFCCP’s website. 

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Don Liu featured as the Keynote Speaker at the Fourth Annual Alumni of Color Event of Columbia Law School

On Thursday, January 24, 2019, Don Liu was featured as the Keynote Speaker at the Fourth Annual Alumni of Color Event of Columbia Law School. The event took place at the Intercontinental Barclay Hotel in Manhattan and was attended by over 200 Columbia Law School Alumnae.

Don spoke of the challenges of being an APA Attorney and In House General Counsel. He praised all of the pioneering efforts of NAPABA and AABANY to support and encourage the future careers of many APA law students and attorneys.

Of greater importance was how he inspired the audience with what Diversity and Inclusion meant to him and how important it was to embrace it.

We thank Margaret Ling, AABANY’s Director of Development and Co-Chair of AABANY’s Real Estate Committee, for providing the photos and write up for this post.

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Manhattan Community Board Applications Are Open Now!

Interested in what gets built in your community and how government works to deliver services in your neighborhood? Apply to join one of Manhattan’s 12 Community Boards.

Every Community Board has 50 seats which are filled for two-year terms by volunteers, who are selected by the Borough President and local City Council members. Half the seats are up for appointment or reappointment every year.

Community Boards get a seat at the table in high-stakes land use, real estate, and zoning negotiations, and they work directly with city agencies to influence how government services are delivered at the neighborhood level.

If you’d like to serve as a member of your Community Board, apply online here! You can also print the application and drop it off by mail or in-person. The deadline is February 8, 2019.

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Meaningful Diversity: The Next Chapter of the ADR Story | New York Law Journal

Meaningful Diversity: The Next Chapter of the ADR Story | New York Law Journal

Congratulations to Chris Kwok, Director on AABANY’s Board and Chair of the Issues Committee and Co-Chair of the Asia Practice Committee, on being published in the New York Law Journal. Below is a quote from his article, which can be accessed by clicking the link above. Please note that to read the entire article, you must have a New York Law Journal subscription.

Given the historical exclusion of minorities from the legal profession, the lack of diversity in alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is not surprising. The diversity and inclusion issue is magnified by the unique features of the ADR field. Neutrals with diverse backgrounds can help administer justice in today’s increasingly diverse society, as they are a reflection of the people they serve. Of course, mere diversity is not enough; the meaningful inclusion of those diverse candidates in the industry is the next chapter of the ADR story.

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AABANY Co-Sponsors: Information Session on Going In-House at AmEx

On October 16, AABANY co-sponsored an information session on going in-house at AmEx. The event began with a panel discussion moderated by In-House Counsel Committee Co-Chair Grace Fu that engaged in a lighthearted and candid discussion about what it is like to work in-house at AmEx. The panelists, which included AmEx General Counsel Laureen Seeger and Senior Counsel Ming-Hsuan Elders, discussed the various types of matters handled by the company’s legal department and shared their personal experiences to shed light on the company’s culture. The panelists also discussed issues like diversity and steps the company is taking to make the legal field more inclusive for minorities. After the panel concluded, attorneys in attendance were matched with Hiring Leaders at AmEx and given the opportunity to mingle and engage in a more personalized one-to-one discussion.

We thank AmEx’s General Counsel Organization’s Diversity Committee and in particular Cindy Huang, IP Counsel at AmEx, and John Parauda, Managing Counsel at AmEx, for working with AABANY to make this event possible. We thank all the attendees who came and hope that many good and helpful connections were made during the event.

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Judicial Mentor Program

Judicial Mentor Program

In an effort to increase diversity in the judiciary, the Franklin H. Williams Judicial Commission implemented a Judicial Mentor Program. The program provides mentors for attorneys interested in becoming judges through the appointment or electoral process. Click the link in the title to learn more.

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NAPABA Names WilmerHale as Its 2017 Law Firm Diversity Award Recipient

For Immediate Release

Sept. 20, 2017

WASHINGTON — The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) has named WilmerHale as its 2017 Law Firm Diversity Award recipient. NAPABA created the Law Firm Diversity Award to recognize law firms that actively, affirmatively, consistently, and enthusiastically recruit, retain, and promote Asian Pacific American lawyers to equity partnership and firm leadership.

The award will be presented at the NAPABA Anniversary Gala at the 2017 NAPABA Convention in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 4, 2017.

Commitment to diversity and inclusion starts at the top and cascades throughout WilmerHale. It is one of very few AmLaw 100 firms with a woman co-managing partner and an even smaller number of such firms that have had both a woman and a person of color as a co-managing partner. As an equity-only partnership, Asian Pacific American partners represent 6 percent of U.S.-based partners and partners of color represent 11 percent of the partnership.

WilmerHale’s commitment to diversity is also illustrated in its recruitment efforts. The summer associate classes over the past three years have averaged around 31 percent law students of color, with Asian Pacific American summer associates representing the majority of the diverse associates. Similarly, of the firm’s lateral partner hires over the past three years, diverse partners represented 24 percent and Asian Pacific American partners represented 10 percent.

In 2017, WilmerHale was recognized in The American Lawyer’s “A-List” for the 14th time. The “A-List” is an annual compilation that includes the 20 leading U.S. firms and honors overall excellence, including financial success, commitment to pro bono work, workforce diversity, and associate satisfaction.

NAPABA congratulates WilmerHale as its 2017 Law Firm Diversity Award recipient.

For more information, the media may contact Brett Schuster, NAPABA communications manager, at202-775-9555 or [email protected], or Molly Nunes, WilmerHale Public Relations Director, at617-710-0590 or [email protected].

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