Tag: Groombridge Wu Baughman & Stone

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AABANY Hosts 2nd Annual Pre-Holiday Multi-Association Gathering 

On November 19, 2024, AABANY held its 2nd Annual Pre-Holiday Multi-Association Gathering, hosted at the New York City Bar Association in Midtown Manhattan. The event featured a potluck dinner as well as a CLE program, titled “Building a Strong Legal Well-Being Foundation for a Brighter Future.” The dinner was co-sponsored by 12 different associations, each bringing ethnic cuisine and assorted goods for all to enjoy.

Recognizing that the holidays can be challenging for many, for various reasons, the gathering aimed to create a supportive community across multiple associations, to share wellness resources before the holiday season. The event began with participants helping themselves to a wide variety of food options, ranging from noodles to fried chicken to salad. As attendees ate, the CLE program began, which focused on wellness and mental health resources for members of the legal community. The program featured three speakers:

The CLE program was moderated by Karen Kim, Senior Counsel of QBE North America and AABANY’s Immediate Past President.

Eileen Travis began the discussion by emphasizing the prevalence of mental health and substance abuse issues within the legal profession, noting that attorneys were at an especially high risk because of their extensive work in “adversarial environments.” According to the American Bar Association, 19% of lawyers experience depression at some point in their career, while 11% experience suicidal ideation. Despite these numbers, Eileen noted that the “legal profession as a group is reluctant to ask for help… the number one reason is the stigma surrounding it.” Though Eileen believed that this stigma has significantly decreased in recent years, she asserted that there is still much more work to be done. For any attorneys facing mental health or substance abuse issues, Eileen suggested they reach out to the Lawyer Assistance Program, whose services are free and completely confidential.

Katherine Loanzon continued the timely dialogue by describing her role as a parent when her two daughters each lost close friends. When a close friend of Katherine’s first daughter committed suicide, she did not know what to do. She wondered, “What do you do? What happens now?” At the time, she had struggled with these questions but eventually learned that it was best to “give children their space” as well as connect them with a therapist. Katherine then recounted how her second daughter experienced a similarly traumatic experience when a classmate of hers suddenly passed from an undiagnosed brain tumor. She described the event as a “different type of pain,” and noted that “everyone grieves differently” and that every individual must be supported through that process, in whatever way that looks. For Katherine’s daughter, she used music to help overcome her grief. Katherine shared resources to find therapists for children, which can be challenging.

Finally, Micah Kessel shared his experience as the CEO of Empathable, a company focused on disseminating the practice of empathy. Micah related empathy specifically to the legal field, saying that he “works to help people relive their most important moments” so that they can learn from these experiences and progress in their professions. Through this work, Micah has sought to redefine empathy, noting that it does not mean “the ability to understand how other people feel,” as the dictionary states. Rather, empathy is “the ability to acknowledge the validity of another person’s experience to be as valid as your own.” Empathy, he concluded, is a skill that must be trained over time.

Thanks to the following co-sponsoring associations for their support and participation in this event: 

For more photos from the event, view the album here.

Thank you also to our event sponsors, Groombridge Wu Baughman & Stone and Edgar Agents, for their support in prioritizing the importance of wellness and well-being in the legal profession.  We appreciate everyone who attended this event and made it such an amazing experience! With events such as these, AABANY will continue to work to help destigmatize mental health and advance the importance of wellness and well-being in the legal profession. If you have ideas for programs or speakers on the topic of wellness and well-being, please contact AABANY at [email protected]. We hope to see you at future AABANY events.

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AABANY Hosts 2024 Annual Dinner at Cipriani Wall Street to Celebrate our 35th Anniversary

On Wednesday, May 22, 2024, AABANY hosted its 2024 Annual Dinner with the theme “Building a Strong Foundation for a Brighter Future” at Cipriani Wall Street. Celebrating the 35th Anniversary of AABANY, the event was hosted again during Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Month with over 700 attorneys, judges, prosecutors, in-house counsel, government officials, and dignitaries who came out to celebrate with us at the Annual Dinner.

The event began with an invite-only General Counsel Reception which was attended by 40 General Counsels and numerous sponsor guests. We thank our General Counsel Reception sponsor, Groombridge, Wu, Baughman & Stone for helping us start off the night strong! To see the full list of General Counsels who accepted AABANY’s invitation, please click here.

The General Counsel Reception occurred simultaneously with a Cocktail Reception in the West Ballroom where numerous guests mingled, caught up with each other, made new connections, and took photos at the step-and-repeat.

After the Cocktail Reception, the dinner and program began with CeFaan Kim as the night’s excellent host and charismatic Master of Ceremonies. First course was already plated as CeFaan kicked off the program. He invited to the stage Karen Kim, Immediate Past President, to deliver her remarks as the outgoing President. She was followed by our first honoree, Iris Lan, Esq., recipient of AABANY’s Public Service Award.

Iris began her speech by praising AABANY for its work in preventing AAPI Hate, as well as its support for the AAPI legal community. To close out, Iris told a story attributed to United States Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson. The story was centered around three stone basins: “Each stone basin represents a judge or a lawyer,” Iris stated. “Some see their work as merely a way to earn a living. Others perhaps view their work as applying legal precedent molding their decision.” Iris then described the third stone basin as one that builds a “cathedral,” representing the building of a path for others to walk through. She thanked AABANY, as an embodiment of this third basin, for “building the cathedral of the future.”

After Iris received her reward, a short video was shown, celebrating 35 years of AABANY. It discussed the birth of AABANY as an organization established to support the community of AAPI legal professionals and the wider AAPI community. It then chronicled AABANY’s growth from a small group that would host social events to an organization with a wide-reaching mission and membership. It also delved into how AABANY contended with the COVID-19 pandemic and the uptick in anti-Asian hate, and the birth of the anti-Asian Violence Task Force. 

Following the 35th anniversary video, White & Case LLP was presented with the Law Firm Diversity Award for its dedication to improving diversity, equity, and inclusion in the legal field. Sylvia Chin accepted the award on behalf of the firm. Congratulations to White & Case on this well-deserved honor. To read more about the award, read the press release here.

After a brief time for guests to continue networking, AABANY was proud to honor the Honorable Denny Chin, United States Circuit Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, with AABANY’s Impact Leadership Award

Judge Chin delivered a powerful speech on the importance of resilience and highlighted some of his most memorable career moments, such as sentencing Bernie Madoff in 2009.   

In addition, we presented the 2024 class of Don H. Liu Scholars: Felicia Hou, Grace Koh and Yangji Sherpa. Read more about the program here. Before this year’s class of DHL Scholars was presented, a short film celebrated the tenth anniversary of this program and its many accomplished and worthy recipients.

The dinner ended with a short trailer for the documentary, Voices Against Anti-Asian Hate, produced by the AABANY Anti-Asian Violence Task Force. The film featured numerous victims and survivors of anti-Asian hate, including Justin Go, father of Michelle Go, who spoke eloquently about her murder in January 2022. After the trailer played, CeFaan Kim stated, “Do not be afraid, and make sure you are heard.”

Next, AABANY President Joseph Eng made closing remarks, celebrating community leaders, former presidents of AABANY, and founders in attendance, as well as discussing the “next 35 years” of AABANY, expressing the hope that the paths those leaders and founders had forged would become familiar ones for success. He envisioned a future where “exceptional is the norm,” where AAPI voices are strong and heard throughout the legal community and beyond, and where young AAPIs are encouraged and inspired to enter the profession. He finished by again congratulating the night’s award winners, thanking the sponsors, and finally thanking his wife, Alejandra. 

After the dinner, attendees who wished to extend the celebration went up to the Mezzanine for the afterparty, which continued until midnight.

We thank the AABANY 2024 Annual Dinner Planning Committee and volunteers for their hours of hard work to organize this annual dinner and making it a celebration to remember. Thank you to AABANY 2024 President Joseph Eng for his leadership of the 2024 Annual Dinner Planning Committee.

We gratefully acknowledge all our sponsors whose generous contributions allow us to continue our work of supporting the AANHPI legal community and the AANHPI community as a whole. Thank you to our top sponsors: 

Lastly, we thank everyone who attended the 2024 Annual Dinner for making our 35th anniversary so special and memorable. You can view the photo albums and videos from the 2024 Annual Dinner here. 

Please save the date for the 2025 Annual Dinner taking place on May 29, 2025. 

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AABANY Student Outreach Committee Presents: Students Meet Firms- Groombridge, Wu

On July 11th, 2023, AABANY’s Students Outreach Committee organized a Students Meet Firms event, connecting law students with attorneys from Groombridge, Wu, Baughman & Stone. (Groombridge, Wu) The panelists included Josephine Young, Partner at Groombridge, Wu; Karen King, Partner at Morvillo Abramowitz Grand Iason & Anello PC; Ben Hsu, Associate at Groombridge, Wu; and Chih-Wei Wu, Associate at Groombridge, Wu. Serving as the moderator was Jennifer Wu, Partner at the firm and Co-Chair of AABANY’s Women’s Committee. The event took place at the Groombridge, Wu office located in New York City and online via Zoom.

The setting was intimate and informal, with Jennifer fielding questions from attendees, which included sharing personal stories and discussing the significance of being assertive in the legal profession. Jennifer emphasized learning to recognize your own voice and not allow others to walk over you. The conversation also delved into topics such as workplace racism, the advantages and disadvantages of owning a firm versus working for one, the training process, the life of an associate, and the value of learning from mistakes.

One notable piece of advice from Jennifer was to seek out a firm that allows for mistakes and provides opportunities for growth through learning from them. The attendees shared insightful questions, such as when does making mistakes become unacceptable, the experiences of being an Asian American woman while climbing the corporate ladder and making partnership, and the pros and cons of practicing law in a post-COVID world.

Overall, the panel provided comprehensive responses to a range of attendee questions, spanning from the experiences of litigation lawyers to insights into achieving partnership status at a major law firm or running one’s own.

Thank you to our speakers for sharing their insights and to the Student Outreach Committee for organizing this wonderful and informative event. To read more about other Students Meet Firms events, including Cleary Gottlieb and Kirkland & Ellis, click on the links to the blog posts. To learn more about the Student Outreach Committee, please click here.

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