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On June 18, 2013, the AABANY In-House Counsel and Corporate Law Committees co-sponsored AABANY’s 6th Annual Wine Tasting & Networking Reception, at Inside Park at St. Bart’s.  This year’s event was highly successful, with over 125 people in attendance, including in-house attorneys from 46 organizations, such as AIG, BBC, Hess, JP Morgan Chase, Prudential and Xerox. The In-House Counsel Committee is comprised of current in-house lawyers and the Corporate Law Committee is comprised of current and prospective corporate law firm attorneys.

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On Wednesday, June 27, AABANY’s In-House Counsel and Corporate Law Committees held the 5th Annual Winetasting and Networking Reception at the Aicon Gallery in downtown Manhattan.  We had 120 attendees including in-house attorneys from 46 companies or organizations.  We were delighted that the following GCs were able to attend:

  • Vernon G. Chu, BBC Worldwide Americas, Inc.
  • Pearl Hou, Sen Yu International Holdings, Inc.
  • Charles Kwak, GE Capital Real Estate – Global Investment Management
  • Carol Lee, Taconic Capital Advisors LP
  • Parkin Lee, The Rockefeller Group
  • Bobby Liu, MD Sass Investors Services, Inc.
  • Don Liu, Xerox Corporation
  • Sonia Low, Chinese-American Planning Council, Inc.
  • Joseph Yi, Lam Group

We thank Gail Inaba,Managing Director and Associate General Counsel in the Legal Department of J.P. Morgan, for addressing the attendees at the event.  Gail is currently the Global Group Practice head for the securities financing and prime brokerage business in the Investment Bank.

Thanks to our sponsors for making this 5th Annual Winetasting and Networking Reception possible and thanks to everyone who attended.  Congratulations to the In-House Counsel Committee and Corporate Counsel Committee on a successful event.

To learn more about the In-House Counsel Committee, contact the co-chairs Duane Morikawa and Vincent Hull at [email protected]  To learn more about the Corporate Law Committee, contact the co-chairs John Rogers and Stephen Kim at [email protected].

“On the Menu for Asian Pacific Heritage Month: Two Career Perspectives and Tables of Delicious Fare”

In honor of May as Asian Pacific Heritage Month, the Diversity Committee hosted a dialogue and lunch reception last week with Peggy Kuo, General Counsel for the City’s Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings, and Alan Chang, Deputy General Counsel and Vice President of Legal Affairs for the New York Yankees.

Mr. Chang, who grew up in Queens, began his legal career as a litigator in Los Angeles before joining cable sports giant ESPN. A longtime Yankees fan, he recalled telling his wife that ESPN was his “number two dream job,” with the Yankees occupying the top spot. Two years into his role at ESPN, Mr. Chang learned that the Yankees were seeking an attorney with cable sports news experience. He had just bought a home and was feeling settled, but the job was an opportunity he felt he couldn’t pass up.

“And 13 years later, they can’t trade me,” he joked. “I feel like I found my dream job.” When he joined the team, Mr. Chang was one of just four Asian-American attorneys in Major League Baseball (one of whom worked for the Mets). He has done significant work on a Yankees cable television venture and the team’s new Bronx stadium. “It’s never boring,” he said.

Ms. Kuo cited the importance of her City roots. Her father, an immigrant from Taiwan in the 1960s, worked for the Department of Environmental Protection for 44 years, where he designed sewers for the City, and Ms. Kuo was a product of the City’s public school system. Unlike her father, however, she was eager to explore many different careers.

“I have a curious mind, a restless spirit, and no aversion to risk taking,” she said. “Opportunities come up, and you have to be ready to take them.”

Following law school, she pursued trial work with the U.S. Attorney’s Office. “It’s a job I would have done for free,” she said. Years later, she was getting settled into Washington, D.C. and about to buy a home, when she learned of the chance to prosecute crimes stemming from the war in Yugoslavia. Ms. Kuo journeyed to The Hague, where she prosecuted the only mass-rape case in Bosnia, as well as a torture and murder case against a camp commander.

Her return to New York four years later felt like a homecoming. “I always think of the City like a family,” she said. After work in private practice and with the New York Stock Exchange, she took her present role at OATH (which involved an interview with the Corp. Counsel.)

During the Q&A, Mr. Chang and Ms. Kuo were asked what qualities they feel their cultural and ethnic backgrounds contribute to their respective legal careers.

Mr. Chang said that he felt his background lent him an increased sense of cultural sensitivity and understanding that could be applied to the Yankees’ diverse fanbase.

Ms. Kuo noted, “I can see things from more than one viewpoint. My mom struggles with English, and when I was making arguments to the jury, I’d, in my mind, be making those arguments to my mom. I’d say, ‘Would my mom understand this?’”

Editor’s Note: The discussion was complemented by two tables of delicious food. Thanks to the Asian American Bar Association of New York, the South Asian Bar Association of New York, and the Korean American Bar Association of Greater New York, which graciously provided the refreshments.

Thanks also to Andrea Chan, William Ng, Tanisha Byron, Stuart Smith, Michael Wasser, and Raju Sundaran of the Diversity Committee – and Lisa Forrester-Campos, Stephen Kim, Keith Miloscia, Connie Pankratz, Madhu Parthasarathy, Liza Sohn, Peter Tsai, and Gloria Yi.

-NYC Law Department, HEARSAY

– reprinted with permission from NYC Law Dept

Fireworks at Smooth Moves 2012

On Tuesday, April 24, the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA), through its Commercial and Federal Litigation Section, presented Smooth Moves 2012: Career Strategies for Attorneys of Color.  The CLE portion of the event was entitled: “Views from the Corner Office: Diverse GCs Discuss How to Get There and How to Win Their Business.”

The moderator was Hon. Stephen C. Robinson, Partner at Skadden Arps and former judge in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

When Judge Robinson turned to the question of how to get the business of the prominent GCs who were on the panel, he asked how important diversity was in getting hired.

Don LiuDon Liu, Senior Vice President, Secretary and GC at Xerox Corporation replied that with Xerox’s strong leadership on issues of diversity, Xerox placed a high premium on diversity in deciding which outside counsel to retain.

At that point, Sandra Leung, GC and Corporate Secretary at Bristol-Myers Squibb, turned to Don and said, “Let me challenge you a bit on that. Do you mean to tell me that if you had a bet-the-company case and the only lawyer who can win the case for you and who is the proven expert on that type of case and has a winning track record, but he and his firm have a poor showing on diversity, you would not hire that attorney?”

Don answered, “I’ve never been faced with that situation,” which drew appreciative laughter from the audience, “but do you mean to tell me that in this wide world, he would be the only lawyer who can handle that case? I doubt it.  We would certainly consider his qualifications and track record, but we would still place a high premium on diversity.”

Sandra LeungSandra continued to press and was joined by Jeffrey Harleston, Executive Vice President and GC at Universal Music Group, who shared Sandra’s viewpoint and did not think that diversity would take precedence over other factors, especially if the case was not just “bet-the-company” but was “bet-the-industry.” In such a case, diversity or not, the company would go with the best lawyer for the job.

Don, seeming somewhat piqued but contained, replied: “There seems to be a suggestion that picking the diverse candidate somehow implies getting inferior services. I don’t buy that.” The audience applauded loudly for that statement.

The back-and-forth continued and Don seemed to relent slightly in his position but did not retreat from his stance that the hypothetical was unrealistic. Col. Maritza Ryan, Head of the Department of Law at the United States Military Academy, the fourth panelist, noted for the record (yes, transcription was being taken) that she was “the peaceful one.” The audience laughed appreciatively in response.

The debate was certainly lively and enhanced what was already an engaging discussion.  At the end, Don and Sandra, who are long-time friends, gave hearty hugs to each other, making clear that there were no hard feelings.

I didn’t have the benefit of the transcript in recounting the exchanges described above but of all the Smooth Moves programs I have had the pleasure to enjoy these last few years, this is the one for which I would request a copy of the transcript.  If you know how we can get a hold of one, please let me know.

What do you think?  If your company was faced with a bet-the-company or bet-the-industry case, does diversity go out the window in deciding which outside counsel to hire?

No, WE blog @AABANY did not get taken over by a spambot.  This embed of the theme to “Moonlighting” has been inserted on purpose, to congratulate Susan Moon on her first blog column for Above the Law, which is called, appropriately enough, “Moonlighting."  Those who follow blogs regularly might be too young to recall the show from the ‘80s as the comedy-detective show that launched the career of Bruce Willis.  Yes, indeed, he did have a life before "Die Hard."  I won’t even try to explain to you young whipper snappers who Cybil Shepherd or Al Jarreau are.

Anyway, read on to learn more about the life of that magical creature we all envy called "The In-House Counsel."  (Click this link.)  We look forward to reading more of Susan’s entries in the weeks ahead.  Congratulations, Susan!