On September 17, 2025, AABANY’s Labor & Employment Law and In-House Counsel Committees hosted a fireside chat with Grace Fu, Chief Legal & Administrative Officer at Nanit. Grace shared her experience with AABANY members about working with unions in her prior role as Chief Legal and Administrative Officer and Executive Vice President at Barneys New York.
The event, hosted at Littler Mendelson P.C.’s midtown Manhattan office, aimed to explore the “labor” side of the practice of labor and employment law. Grace explained that her role at Barneys was the first time she had in-depth exposure to labor and employment law, and highlighted the learning curve that came with participating in collective bargaining and addressing the needs of a unionized workforce. She shared stories from her interactions with employees and union officials at Barneys, and expressed gratitude for the unique experience she gained in her dual role in both the Legal and Human Resources departments while at Barneys.
The fireside chat was followed by a Q&A session where Grace continued to provide insight and perspective on her role at Barneys, and shared how she has carried lessons from those experiences to her current role at Nanit.
The Labor & Employment Law Committee plans on scheduling quarterly fireside chats with leaders in the field of labor and employment law. Please be on the lookout for future events, which will be posted on the AABANY calendar!
Over 40 attendees gathered for a virtual breakfast hosted by AABANY’s Women’s Committee on March 10th. The featured speakers were Grace Fu, General Counsel of KAYAK/Open Table and incoming AABANY Board Director, and Kazuko Wachter, Chief Legal and Strategy Officer of Prism Financial Products and current AABANY Board Director. The conversation was moderated by Jennifer Wu, Partner at Paul, Weiss and AABANY Women’s Committee Co-Chair.
The discussion opened with the speakers’ transition to an in-house career path. Grace and Kazuko both had to quickly gain business knowledge in their new roles. Both affirmed the importance of asking questions from people with different types of expertise. Grace and Kazuko then shared their views on making connections in the workplace, taking risks and trying to achieve work-life balance.
One key theme from the conversation was authenticity at work. Coming from her own experience as a mother of three, Jennifer asked Grace and Kazuko how much of their personal lives they bring into their professional ones. Kazuko said she makes a point to be herself even if it does not align with conventional expectations. Grace highlighted that the pandemic has given many people, herself included, the opportunity to show more of themselves when taking calls at home or with family in the background.
Attendees were engaged throughout the hour-long conversation, most keeping their cameras turned on until the end. Those who pre-registered received a Grub Hub gift card to enjoy breakfast delivered to their homes. The Women’s Committee hopes to resume in-person breakfast meetings going forward, as has been done in the past, before the pandemic.
Thank you to everyone who attended and to the Women’s Committee for organizing this event. To learn more about the Women’s Committee, please visit https://www.aabany.org/page/122.
Every year, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (“NAPABA”) presents its Best Under 40 Awards to honor exceptional Asian American Pacific Islanders (“AAPI”) attorneys under the age of 40 from across the country who have excelled in their respective fields and have demonstrated a strong commitment to the AAPI community. Among those being recognized for this year’s award is Grace Fu, General Counsel of KAYAK/OpenTable, and a Co-Chair of AABANY’s In-House Counsel Committee. Grace has achieved much success as a senior executive and in-house leader in various companies such as Barneys New York, Tiger Management, and KAYAK/OpenTable.
Grace has also demonstrated an exemplary commitment to the AAPI community. At Skadden, she was a co-lead of the Asian American Affinity Group Steering Committee, and was committed to increasing awareness of the Asian American experience at Skadden and within the legal profession. Additionally, as Co-chair of the In-House Counsel Committee at AABANY, Grace worked hard to recruit new members to the committee and to AABANY. She also currently serves as the UVA School of Law’s Dean’s Alumnae Council and the Alumni Advisory Council, where she has worked on DE&I initiatives, including AAPI recruiting.
Grace personally chose to become more deeply involved with AABANY because she wanted to gain new perspectives and be part of a community of people who have a collective interest in furthering the AAPI legal community. She is thankful for her experiences with AABANY, where she has had the opportunity to meet many talented lawyers and individuals who are passionate about the AAPI legal community. Grace also emphasizes the importance of engaging with organizations that also promote diversity beyond AAPI diversity, because she believes that diversity encompasses much more than simply race or ethnicity.
When asked to give advice to students and aspiring lawyers, Grace emphasizes the importance of building strong relationships and networking with other professionals. Grace also believes that doing excellent work and thus building a solid reputation for oneself is a must. In terms of job searching advice, Grace encourages those still exploring careers to consider their strengths and interests while being open-minded about opportunities that present themselves.
When asked what being nominated for the Best Under 40 Award means to her, Grace stated that she is truly flattered and surprised to have been recognized given that there are so many other outstanding potential candidates. She feels very honored to be able to represent the AAPI community because it is a community filled with so many accomplished professionals, and she is extraordinarily grateful for being awarded this honor.
NAPABA’s National Convention takes place in Washington, D.C., this year, and Grace will be honored at a reception for the Best Under 40 honorees on the evening of December 9th, 2021 and she will be presented the award at the Gala Dinner on Saturday night, along with the other BU40 awardees. Please join AABANY in congratulating Grace on this well-deserved recognition and honor.
On Thursday, March 14, 2019, the In-House Counsel Committee hosted a very successful networking event at the cozy and upscale Freds at Barneys Downtown. In-house counsel from numerous prominent companies gathered and mingled over drinks and light bites.
The attendees took the time to get to know one another and shared insights into what their work entails. The general consensus appeared to be that the in-house counsel legal experience is vastly different from that of any other practice area and to be successful in this role, one has to learn to be a jack of all trades.
We thank everyone that attended and made the event a great success.
We also thank our In-House Counsel Committee co-chairs Grace Fu, General Counsel at Barneys New York, and Blossom Kan, Assistant General Counsel at Metlife, for hosting this event. A special thank you to Grace Fu for arranging such a beautiful venue for the event.
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.
