AABANY and KALAGNY File Amici Brief Addressing Implicit Racial Bias in N.Y. Judicial System

An Allen & Overy cross-practice team acted as pro-bono counsel for the Asian American Bar Association of New York (AABANY) and Korean American Lawyers Association of Greater New York (KALAGNY) in filing an appellate brief amici curiae to the New York Appellate Division, Third Department. 

Following his mostly unsuccessful personal injury case brought against the State of New York (Byung Choon Joe v. New York), Plaintiff, Byung Choon Joe, appealed the trial judge’s decision to the Appellate Division, Third Judicial Department. A&O, on behalf of AABANY and KALAGNY, filed a brief amici curiae in support of Mr. Joe, urging the appellate court to consider whether the trial court’s decision was negatively influenced by implicit racial bias.

Terry Shen, President of AABANY, said, “As the largest affinity bar association in New York and the United States, AABANY is devoted to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion. When we learned about the case of Byung Choon Joe, we were concerned about the trial court’s irrelevant reference to his Korean ethnicity in the context of a finding of a lack of trustworthiness, recalling age-old negative stereotypes of Asian Americans. We therefore joined with KALAGNY to file an amici brief to call attention to the fact that judges and the judicial system are not immune to implicit bias.”

The New York State Bar Association and several affiliates of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association also supported AABANY and KALAGNY’s brief including: the Asian American Bar Association of Chicago, the Asian American Bar Association of Houston, the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Pennsylvania, the Connecticut Asian Pacific American Bar Association, the Jacksonville Asian American Bar Association, the Network of Bar Leaders (a coalition of more than fifty bar associations in the Greater New York area), the South Asian Bar Association of New York, and the Thai American Bar Association.

The A&O pro-bono team for this case was led by Sapna Palla (AABANY member and Immediate Past President) along with associates Rebecca Cecchini and Ben Minkoff.


To view the entire press release, please click here.

From KALCA: Are We Prejudiced?

Are we prejudiced?
Many of you probably will immediately answer, “No,” as I have. It is often difficult to fathom that we have biases and prejudices because we have fought so hard all our lives against them. But sometimes, the effects are so subtle, that they go unnoticed. Sam Yoon compares this to a medical condition he suffers from, which creates a blind spot in his eyes. The only way to tell whether the blind spot exists is for him to take a special exam.
 
 Thankfully, social psychologist Anthony Greenwald developed the Implicit Association Test to explore the group-based preferences and stereotypes that may not be accessible to our conscious awareness. And it doesn’t require a visit to the doctor’s office. You can complete the test in front of your computer in less than 10 minutes.

 We invite you to test your own thoughts and feelings that exist outside of your conscious awareness or conscious control. Are you suffering from a blind spot? Sam and I were surprised with our own results. After taking the test, please share your thoughts at KALCA’s facebook page. In order to share your experience, we advise that you at least complete the “Asian-IAT” test. Discuss the results. We look forward to hearing from you.
 

Sincerely,

Jeong Min Bae
Executive Director

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Join us to learn more about implicit bias.
 
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2
8:30am – 11:30am
 
New York Korean Center
149 West 24th St 6th Fl

REGISTER NOW
 

Lecture by:

Professor Jerry Kang
Jerry Kang
 

Facilitated by:

Nayantara SenNayantara Sen
 
 

Prof. Kang to Lecture at NYU on Implicit Bias and Stereotype Threat

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On behalf of The Joseph and Gwendolyn Straus Institute for the Advanced Study of Law & Justice, you are cordially invited to attend a lecture, part of The Straus Public Lectures Series:

“The Grand Challenges of Implicit Social Cognition and the Law”

presented by
 
Jerry Kang
Straus Fellow, David M. Friedman Fellow, NYU School of Law; 
Professor of Law and Asian American Studies (by courtesy), UCLA
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Date:
Tuesday, February 11th, 2014
 
Time:  6:00-7:30pm Lecture
7:30-8:30pm Post-lecture Reception
 
Location: 
Faculty Library
Vanderbilt Hall, 3rd Floor
40 Washington Square S.
New York, NY 10012
 
Please kindly RSVP,  if you would like to attend.

Lecture Synopsis: Recent findings in experimental social psychology have demonstrated the existence of “implicit biases”–attitudes and stereotypes that we are neither aware of nor necessarily endorse. Social scientists have also discovered “stereotype  threat”–that negative  stereotypes can undermine performance when an individual believes that by doing poorly she will confirm those very stereotypes about the groups to which  she  belongs. In this talk, Professor Jerry Kang will survey the science of implicit biases and stereotype threat with emphasis on real-world consequences. Then, he will explore their implications for law, policy, and legal theory. Along the way, Prof. Kang will outline what he sees as the field’s “Grand Challenges” for the next quarter century. 
 
The lecture is open to the public; please feel free to spread the word about the event.