AABANY Student Outreach Committee and Tax Law Committee Present – What Do Tax Lawyers Do?

Top Row (left to right): Sarah Choi, Shu-Ping Shen, Ms. Urvi Doshi Sood
Bottom Row (left to right): Najah J. Shariff, Karen Kim

On April 26, 2023, AABANY’s Student Outreach and Tax Law Committee hosted a virtual panel: “What Do Tax Lawyers Do?” This event ran from 6:30-7:30pm EST on Zoom with remarks from Shu-Ping Shen (Tax Committee Co-Chair). The panel was moderated by Alex Lao (Pace Law) and Sharon Yang (Student Outreach Committee Co-Chair, Fordham Law), and featured the following panelists:

  • Karen Kim (Partner – Mayer Brown LLP)
  • Najah J. Shariff (Assistant U.S. Attorney, Tax Division – U.S. Attorney’s Office)
  • Ms. Urvi Doshi Sood (Vice President of Taxes and General Tax Counsel – Lockheed Martin Corporation)
  • Sarah Choi (Associate General Counsel – NY Life Insurance Company)

Panelists shared what drew them into their respective fields, interview tips and advice to be resourceful, self-starting junior associates. The main takeaways include: tax law touches a wide range of fields, panelists highly encourage gaining some understanding of tax law or accounting and be proactive as a junior associate by asking questions and picking up additional assignments. The event concluded with a Q&A and light mingling among panelists and students.

Students interested in gaining experience in tax law should check out the externship program at the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Students should apply to the Tax Division. Assignments may include legal research, writing pleadings, trial preparation, observing trials and other court proceedings. Interested students can learn more about the program here.

AABANY thanks the Student Outreach Committee, Tax Law Committee and SOC Co-Chair William Lee (Associate, Mayer Brown LLP) for organizing the event.

Special thank you to our sponsors, Mayer Brown LLP and the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association.

To learn more about the Tax Committee, click here. To learn more about the SOC, click here. To learn more about upcoming AABANY events, click here.

AABANY Holds Kick-Off Meeting and Orientation for FY24 Committee Co-Chairs

On Monday, April 24, 2023, Co-Vice Presidents of Programs & Operations, Beatrice Leong and Jeffrey Mok, along with President Karen Kim and Executive Director Yang Chen held a Kick-Off Meeting and Orientation for the Fiscal Year 2024 Co-Chairs. The meeting was held at Alston & Bird near Grand Central. Thanks to Board Director and Bankruptcy Committee Co-Chair Will Hao, Counsel at Alston, for hosting.

This year’s class of Co-Chairs was appointed by President Karen Kim at the start of the fiscal year in April. All Co-Chairs serve for a one-year term co-terminous with Karen’s term as President during the fiscal year which ends on March 31, 2024.

Co-Chairs and Vice Chairs representing 25 out of 27 Committees were present, and the new Co-Chairs received orientation about AABANY’s protocols and goals. The returning Co-Chairs received a refresher.

After the Orientation meeting, everyone walked over to Stout Grand Central for an afterparty where Committee Co-Chairs were able to meet each other and mingle over oysters, tacos, and baos, along with drinks from the well-stocked bar.

We look forward to another productive year of AABANY programs and events brought by our hard working Committees. To see the current list of Committees and Co-Chairs, please click here. If you want to get involved with one or more Committees, email us at main@aabany.org and we can connect you.

Brooklyn Law School APALSA Honors Alumni at Annual Alumni Dinner

Francis Chin, Susan Leung, Hon. Karen Lin, Hon. Christopher Chin, Karen Kim

Brooklyn Law School’s APALSA honored 3 alumni at their annual Alumni Dinner held on March 22, 2023 at the school’s Forchelli Conference Center.

Hon. Karen Lin, Queens Civil Court Judge, received the AAPI Community Service Award. She emphasized studying unsung but pivotal Asian Pacific American cases in legal history, such as U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark, and Yick Wo vs. Hopkins. Judge Lin is an AABANY member and past Co-Chair of the Pro Bono and Community Service Committee.

Hon. David K.S. Kim, U.S. Immigration Judge, received the Public Service Award. He remarked that you should think about what kind of person you want to be before thinking about what kind of career you want, and that there is always something new that you can learn every day.

Ona Lu, Product Lead Counsel at Meta, received the Achievement Award. She talked about the support she received from friends and family during the pandemic in making a career change, and in giving yourself the grace to believe in yourself. Ona is a former AABANY Legal Intern, and we congratulate her on her career achievements.

AABANY board members and Brooklyn Law alums Karen Kim, incoming President, and Francis Chin, Technology Director, joined in the celebration, which featured food from Nom Wah Tea Parlor.

AABANY Recognized in City and State’s 2022 The Power of Diversity: Asian 100

AABANY is excited to announce that on May 2, 2022, President William Ng and President-Elect Karen Kim were recognized by City and State’s 2022 The Power of Diversity: Asian 100. The Power of Diversity: Asian 100 identifies New York’s Asian American leaders from a wide range of backgrounds who are gaining political power and advocating for their community. President William Ng and President-Elect Karen Kim are recognized as 50th on the list, an increase from AABANY’s placement last year at 53rd.

City & State wrote:

William Ng took over as president and Karen Kim as president-elect of the Asian American Bar Association of New York in April. Ng is a shareholder at Littler, a major employment and labor law firm. A Brooklyn Law School alumnus, Kim has practiced law for over a decade and serves as counsel to QBE North America. In March, AABANY, together with like-minded organizations, filed a court brief addressing suspected racial bias in a ruling involving a Korean American individual.

AABANY has had the pleasure of working closely with Grace Meng (1), number one on the list and New York’s first Asian American member of Congress. In 2021, Grace Meng spoke at AABANY’s press conference following the release of our anti-Asian violence report, A Rising Tide of Hate and Violence against Asian Americans in New York During COVID-19: Impact, Causes, Solutions.

AABANY also congratulates Assemblymember Ron Kim (3) and State Senator John Liu (4), who both spoke at AABANY’s May 31, 2022 press conference following the release of our second report on anti-Asian hate and violence in New York City, entitled Endless Tide: The Continuing Struggle to Overcome Anti-Asian Hate in New York.

Please join AABANY in congratulating these others AAPI trailblazers who made the list:

  • Sandra Ung (12), City Council member and former treasurer of AABANY;
  • Kevin Kim (17), Commissioner of the New York City Department of Small Business Services and former AABANY Board Officer;
  • Frank Wu (23), Queens College’s first President of Asian descent. AABANY honored Frank Wu with the AABANY Impact Award at our 2021 Virtual Gala: Uniting for Justice and Equity;
  • Joon Kim (29), Partner at longtime AABANY sponsor, Cleary Gottlieb, former acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District, and AABANY member;
  • Faiza Saeed (35), Presiding Partner at Cravath, a longtime sponsor of AABANY;
  • Wellington Chen (47), Executive Director of Chinatown Partnership Local Development Corp and AABANY community partner through CPLDC’s and AABANY’s collaboration on the creation of a dedicated team to address lawsuits under the Americans With Disabilities Act;
  • L. Austin D’Souza & Vidya Pappachan (64), President and President-Elect of the South Asian Bar Association of New York and AABANY members;
  • Justin Yu (78), Chair of The Chinese Chamber of Commerce of New York and AABANY community partner through his past support for our Chinatown Pro Bono Clinic;
  • Anna Mercado Clark (88), Partner at Phillips Lytle, NAPABA’s Northeast regional governor, and AABANY’s current Development Director, an Officer position on the Board; and
  • Elizabeth OuYang (98), Civil Rights attorney and leader of the APA Voice Redistricting Task Force of which AABANY is a member.

AABANY congratulates everyone who made the City & State Asian 100 list and thanks them all for the important work they do on behalf of New York’s AAPI community. To read the full article, please click here.

Litigation Committee Gathers for Happy Hour on May 9

stag's head

The Litigation Committee celebrated its first Happy Hour for 2013 at The Stag’s Head on May 9 in midtown on the East Side.  After the rain cleared, a group of loyal and enthusiastic members, both old and new, straggled in and enjoyed an evening of friendly banter.  It was a good way to spend a beautiful spring evening in Midtown.

To learn more about the Litigation Committee and to find out how you can get involved, contact co-chairs Karen Kim and Concepcion Montoya at litigation-chairs@aabany.org

Report from the Depositions Bootcamp, 7/11

Depositions Bootcamp & Ethics Minefield

Karen Kim, co-chair of the Litigation Committee, reports on that Committee’s recent CLE program on deposition basics:

On July 11, 2012, the Litigation Committee presented a “Depositions Bootcamp + Ethics Minefield” CLE with the following panel of senior litigators:  Vincent T. Chang (Partner at Wollmuth Maher & Deutsch), James P. Chou (Senior Counsel at Akin Gump Hauer Strauss & Feld LLP), Tristan C. Loanzon (Principal at Loanzon Sheikh LLC), Concepcion A. Montoya (Partner at Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP), James S. Yu (Partner at Seyfarth Shaw LLP) and Yang Chen (Executive Director of AABANY).  The panel was moderated by AABANY Litigation Committee co-chair William Wang (Partner at Lee Anav Chung LLP).  Winston & Strawn LLP did an exceptional job hosting the event, with the assistance of Louis A. Russo, an associate at Winston & Strawn LLP and the staff, taking the event to the next level.

The CLE was well attended and a great success, thanks to the wonderful panelists who explained the basics of depositions, how to prep a witness for deposition, and the nuances of ethics while also doing a demonstration of what not to do in a deposition.  CLE materials were provided, which included resources attendees can reference for guidance, articles, PowerPoint slides and caselaw on important developments and aspects of depositions.  Overall, the attendees found the CLE informative and comprehensive and “one of the best CLEs” with a “very knowledgeable panel."  With the help of Francis Chin from the Professional Development Committee, attendees left with certificates for 3 CLE credits, including one hour in Ethics credit.

Stay tuned to the LC because in October, the committee is planning a depositions workshop where attendees will actually get to take mock depositions and receive critique from this (tentatively scheduled to appear) panel of distinguished litigators.