In the News: Johnny Thach Shares His Journey from Laundromat to Principal Law Clerk 

In a recent Queens Daily Eagle feature, reporter Noah Powelson profiles Johnny Thach, principal law clerk to Civil Term Supreme Court Justice Karen Lin. The article traces Thach’s inspiring journey from growing up in a working-class immigrant family in Elmhurst to becoming a first-generation college and law school graduate. As a child of Vietnamese immigrants, Thach spent much of his youth helping his mother run their family laundromat. That experience shaped his understanding of the challenges immigrant communities face and fueled his drive to pursue a legal career.

“When you are growing up in an immigrant family, it’s often very difficult because that road really isn’t paved for you,” Thach told the Eagle. Now serving in the courts, he supports Judge Lin in assisting litigants and mediating legal disputes, while staying deeply connected to the community through pro bono work and his involvement with the Asian American Bar Association of New York, where he serves as one of the Government Service and Public Interest Committee Co-Chairs. “I’m just trying to be as involved in the community as much as possible and give back,” he said.

Congratulations to AABANY member Johnny Thach on this well-deserved recognition!

To read the full article, click here.

In the News: Litigation Committee Co-Chair Luna Barrington Named Top Lawyer under 40 by Law360 Rising Stars

Out of over 1,400 submissions, AABANY Litigation Committee Co-Chair Luna Barrington has been recognized by Law360 as one of this year’s Rising Stars under 40, as she has secured defense trial verdicts in major class action suits against companies like C&S Wholesale Grocers and Johnson & Johnson. On June 4, Law360 published an article highlighting her recent accomplishments as a trial attorney, underscoring the massive damages she saved her clients by skillfully preparing for and conducting the trial with her trial team. Now a partner at Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP, she recalls successfully advocating for a group of Mexican-American students in Tucson, AZ, pro bono, as among the proudest moments of her career: in federal court, Barrington fought a state statute banning a Mexican-American studies program in Tucson’s schools, denouncing it as a violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments. She is also a first-generation lawyer and the first in her family to earn a graduate degree. Please join AABANY in congratulating Luna on being selected by Law360 as one of this year’s Rising Stars under 40, a well-deserved recognition of her achievements and trial skills.

To read the full article, click here (subscription required).

[POSTPONED] From Students to Faculty: Insights for Today’s First-Generation College Students

Asian American Studies Center at Hunter College
Wednesday, March 11th 5pm – 7pm

Hunter College West Building, 3rd Floor Glass Cafeteria
904 Lexington Ave and 68th Street
Guests will need a photo ID to enter the building

More than half of all college students in the United States are first-generation college students (neither parent had a bachelor’s degree). At Hunter College, more than a third of the undergraduates are the first members of their families to attend college. Join this exciting discussion to learn more about the challenges and opportunities of being a first-generation college student from faculty members, who went from being the first in their families to attend college to being professors teaching and mentoring the next generation of students.

The Panelists

Margaret M. Chin
Associate Professor of Sociology, Hunter College & CUNY Graduate Center
Hung Cam Thai
Professor of Sociology & Asian American Studies, Pomona College & CUNY Thomas Tam Visiting Professor (2019-2020)
Van Tran
Associate Professor of Sociology, CUNY Graduate Center, Hunger College Class of 2004

Moderator

Vivian Louie
Professor of Urban Policy & Director fo Asian American Studies, Hunter College

RSVP: http://bit.ly/AASFirstGen

If you have any questions, please contact Gabriel Galindez (ggalinde@hunter.cuny.edu)

Co-Sponsored by the Sociology Department and Urban Policy & Planning Department