Tag: mentoring

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Get Involved with AABANY’s New Trusts & Estates Committee

AABANY is pleased to announce the launch of the Trusts & Estates Committee. This new committee serves as a professional and community network for AABANY members and non-members interested in the practice of Trusts & Estates law, which spans trusts, estates, and tax planning to Surrogate’s Court practice and litigation. The Committee is dedicated to providing a platform for networking, mentoring, and professional development, as well as opportunities for public service.

Pang-Mei Natasha Chang, Co-Chair of the Committee, is a member of Dunnington Bartholow & Miller LLP’s estates, trusts and private clients practice group, as well as its international France desk, and charitable, not-for-profit and religious institutions practice groups. She counsels both domestic and international individuals, businesses and charitable organizations in estate and trusts planning, and wealth transfer planning. She represents clients of all ages, and advises in insurance planning, IRA/retirement benefit planning and the use of trusts for not only estate planning but asset protection. She also serves on the Trusts, Estates and Surrogate’s Court Committee of the New York City Bar Association, where she has participated as a writer and presenter. 

Yi W. Stewart, the other Co-Chair of the Committee, works at the firm Farrell Fritz as a trusts and estates litigation associate. She performs pretrial discovery, conducts legal research, and prepares motions and memoranda of law for litigated Surrogate’s Court proceedings. Prior to joining Farrell Fritz, Yi served as associate law clerk to the Hon. Rita Mella for three years in New York County Surrogate’s Court, where she assisted the Surrogate with decisions on typical contested probate and accounting matters, complex issues of will construction and reformation, as well as novel issues such as a fiduciary’s authority to administer digital assets stored in Google and Apple accounts.

To contact the Committee Chairs for this Committee, click “Contact Us” at the top of the AABANY website and fill out the form, and tell us in the Comment field what in particular you would like to know about the Committee and its activities.

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AABANY Membership Committee Hosts Meet the Board Series Event Featuring President Karen Kim and Board Director Won Shin

On Thursday, July 20th, 2023, the AABANY Membership Committee held the first event of the Meet the Board Series this year, at which attendees heard from AABANY President Karen Kim and AABANY Board Director Won Shin about their respective careers. The event was hosted by FTI Consulting in Midtown Manhattan, and co-sponsored by AABANY’s Women’s, Government Service & Public Interest, and Prosecutors’ Committees.

At the beginning of the night, attendees chatted and mingled over dinner before sitting down to participate in a Q&A session with Karen Kim and Won Shin moderated by Membership Director Christopher Bae. Christopher started by asking how the two became involved with AABANY, their most memorable cases, and how working with AABANY has changed their careers.

Won talked about his early career, starting with his work as a litigation associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz for six years, his position as Assistant Solicitor General at the New York State Attorney General’s office and his stint in complex frauds and cybercrime in the United States Attorney’s Office. Finally, Won described his entrance into his office’s appeals unit, where he now serves as Chief of Appeals of the Criminal Division. 

Karen spoke about her work at a small firm doing mainly litigation, residential real estate, and construction law, before serving as Vice President of Operations and Strategic Development at Minority Corporate Counsel Association in D.C. and finally landing a position at QBE Insurance through former AABANY president Linda Lin. Karen believes her experience at the small firm she first worked at prepared her for her presidency at AABANY, because she worked on “a hodgepodge of everything” in both positions. 

Christopher turned to the guests for one last question before taking inquiries from the audience. “So how do mentees make themselves stand out so that you would want to mentor them? What can younger attorneys be doing to find more than a mentorship in name and instead build an actual relationship with you?”

Karen paused to think of an answer. “Well, I like chocolate.”

After around half an hour of audience questions, Christopher concluded with a round of rapid fire questions for Karen and Won. We learned that Won’s favorite legal show is “Jury Duty,” and Karen’s favorite judge, past or present, is Judge Judy (the TV judge, not Hon. Judy Kim). The evening wrapped up with more mingling and enjoying food and drinks in FTI’s stylish and modern space.

Thank you to Karen Kim and Won Shin for sharing your experience and wisdom with us, and Christopher Bae for moderating an insightful conversation. We look forward to hosting more Board Members in the Meet the Board Series. To learn more about the Membership Committee, go here.

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Announcements: New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) Business Law Section

The NYSBA Business Law Section would like you to know about their Speakers Bureau as well as the opening of this year’s mentorship program. Please see below for further details:

1. NYSBA – Business Law Section Speakers Bureau – The Business Law Section is creating a faculty of speakers that they can contact for their various programs during the year. They want to make sure they have diverse attorneys as part of that faculty. Please complete this link 

https://nysba.org/app/uploads/2020/02/BUS_Speaker-Bureau-Form.pdf to submit an application to be a part of the faculty.  Please submit by Friday, October 21.  Please send any questions to Taa Grays at [email protected].

2. Law Student Mentoring – The Business Law Section is kicking off its 2022 – 2023 mentoring program. Law students seeking a mentor, please sign-up via this link 

https://nysba.org/blsmentoringprogram. Please submit your application by Friday, October 21.

Please send any questions to Juan Soto at [email protected].

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SOC and NOBL Present: Experiences and Tips to Sustain your Legal Career

On March 31, AABANY’s Student Outreach Committee and the Network of Bar Leaders hosted a mentoring session for law students. The event was titled “Experiences and Tips to Sustain Your Legal Career” and featured five distinguished bar leaders: 

  • Vincent Chang, President, New York County Lawyers Association and Past President, AABANY (2007)
  • Jean Dassie, Treasurer, Federal Bar Association SDNY Chapter
  • Austin D’Souza, President, South Asian Bar Association of New York
  • Karen Kim, President-Elect, Asian American Bar Association of New York
  • Meredith Miller, Past President, Network of Bar Leaders and LeGal 

The moderators were Margaret Ling, Vice President of the Network of Bar Leaders, and William Lee, Vice Chair of AABANY’s Student Outreach Committee. 

Reflecting on their career paths, the speakers agreed on the importance of setting professional goals with an open mind. Both Karen and Margaret encouraged students to explore broadly, get to know their classmates and warned about tunnel vision in law school. Meredith shared that membership in a bar association has been important to her career as it helped her form many meaningful connections. Vincent added that many bar associations host mentorship programs that are especially beneficial to students and young attorneys. 

In the second part of the event, attendees had the opportunity to talk informally with the speakers. Attendees introduced themselves and received advice tailored to their areas of interest. The conversation ranged from law practice in real estate to how COVID is changing legal academia. 

Thank you to the speakers, moderators and attendees for a festive and informative event. To learn more about the Student Outreach Committee, please visit https://www.aabany.org/page/121. To learn more about the Network of Bar Leaders, go to https://www.networkofbarleaders.org/. 

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AABANY Presents Ask a Mid-Level: How to be a Stellar Associate

On March 11, AABANY’s Corporate Law Committee hosted a panel discussion on how junior associates can become star team players. Over 60 attendees were present over Zoom. The moderator was Ashley Wong of Sidley Austin and the speakers, all mid-levels at leading law firms, were: 

  • Keli Huang, Kirkland & Ellis
  • Douglas Kim, Debevoise & Plimpton
  • Amrita Mukherjee, Weil, Gotshal & Manges
  • James Park, Sidley Austin

The purpose of the panel was to provide guidance to junior associates on how to build stronger workplace relationships and produce deliverables more efficiently. This was an instructional program that provided 1.0 CLE credits in Law Practice Management. 

Advice from the speakers included researching a deal team’s working style before accepting an assignment, getting to know the firm’s research tools and letting people know when one has made a mistake so it can be solved faster. 

The event ended with a gift card raffle. Congratulations to Terry Shen and Evelyn Mau for being the lucky winners of a Seamless gift card! 

Thank you to all who attended this event. To learn more about the Corporate Law Committee, please visit https://www.aabany.org/page/128. 

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AABANY Mentorship Program Hosts Welcome Reception at Fried Frank

On Wednesday evening, February 5, AABANY’s Mentorship Program held its Welcome Reception at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP.

Yang Chen, the Executive Director of AABANY, shared some words of wisdom and encouraged mentees to build informal mentorship relationships with their connections in addition to the formal pairings provided by AABANY’s Mentorship Program. Then, after learning more about how members can get involved with the program for the upcoming year, mentors and mentees from the program got together over drinks and hors d’oeuvres to reconnect, mix, and mingle with each other and other attendees.

Thanks to Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP for their generous support and for providing the drinks and refreshments for the event. Shruti Chopra and Tristan Loanzon currently serve as Co-Chairs of the Mentorship Committee. If you would like to learn more, please visit the committee’s page here.

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Attorney Mentors Needed: Summer BAR Preparation Mentoring Program

PALS would like to match you, a practicing attorney, with a recent law school graduate of color for The PALS Summer BAR Preparation Mentoring Program, where you will simply serve as a supportive resource during this intense study period prior to the exam.

Please join us and commit 1 hour per week, for 8 weeks, to help positively guide a law graduate with time management techniques, work-life balance advice, and best practices for successfully passing the Bar. Be a reassuring advocate to build his or her confidence level while explaining the necessary commitment to this intense uninterrupted study period.  

This year, the New York State Summer BAR Exam is scheduled for Tuesday, July 28th and Wednesday, July 29th.    

Click here to volunteer!

PALS Mission StatementPALS is dedicated to enhancing the skills and careers of minority law students and early career attorneys. PALS does this by offering customized mentoring, educational and professional development opportunities. PALS provides resources to augment the law school and employer training of, respectively, minority law students and beginning lawyers, and will continue to offer its services free of charge.

PALS is a 501©(3) not-for-profit organization 

Providing Mentoring, Career and Skills Development for Minorities in the Legal Profession Since 1984

www.palsprogram.org