NAPABA Archives - Page 19 of 75

December 20, 2021December 20, 2021

NAPABA Applauds the Nomination of Judge Kenly Kiya Kato to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California

WASHINGTON –Today, President Biden nominated Judge Kenly Kiya Kato to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

“NAPABA congratulates Judge Kato on her nomination to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. She is an experienced jurist and has served as a U.S. Magistrate Judge on that court since 2014,” said Sid Kanazawa, president of NAPABA. “Judge Kato’s life experience, as a daughter whose parents and family were incarcerated during World War II solely because they were of Japanese descent, has shaped her interest in constitutional protections and her work to ensure access to justice. Active in the AAPI community in Riverside, CA, she is a member of the Asian Pacific American Lawyers of the Inland Empire.

“We thank President Biden for nominating Judge Kato, and Senators Feinstein and Padilla for recommending her. With only 30 out of the 673 district court judges being AAPI, we urge the Senate to quickly confirm Judge Kato.”

Judge Kato serves as a U.S. Magistrate Judge in the U.S. District Court, Central District of California. Prior to her appointment to the bench, she maintained a private practice and has served as a deputy federal public defender. Judge Kato was a law clerk to the late Judge Robert M. Takasugi of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and is a graduate of the University of California at Los Angeles and Harvard Law School.

The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), represents the interests of over 60,000 Asian Pacific American (APA) legal professionals and nearly 90 national, state, and local APA bar associations. NAPABA is a leader in addressing civil rights issues confronting APA communities. Through its national network, NAPABA provides a strong voice for increased diversity of the federal and state judiciaries, advocates for equal opportunity in the workplace, works to eliminate hate crimes and anti-immigrant sentiment, and promotes the professional development of people of all backgrounds in the legal profession.

November 15, 2021November 15, 2021

NAPABA Partners with Queens-Based Main Street Patrol to Encourage Young Adults to Get Vaccinated Against COVID

Hailing from Flushing, Queens, Main Street Patrol protects elders from hate and abuse as they go about their daily routines. They have partnered with NAPABA to encourage young adults to get vaccinated against COVID. Check out their fun and informative PSA on keeping us all safe—not only in the streets, but in life. Get vaccinated!

November 1, 2021November 1, 2021

NAPABA Celebrates the Historic Confirmation of Tana Lin to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington

On Oct. 21, the U.S. Senate confirmed Tana Lin to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.

“NAPABA congratulates Tana Lin on her historic confirmation to become the first Asian American Article III district court judge in the state of Washington,” said A.B. Cruz III, president of NAPABA. “She is a devout public servant who has an exemplary legal career as a civil rights attorney and former public defender who’s enforced civil rights statutes, federal anti-discrimination laws, and a variety of other complex litigation matters.

“In addition to her impeccable qualifications, Judge Lin has a life experience that many in our community can relate to. She immigrated to the United States from Taiwan when she was three years old, worked her way through school, and is a leader in the community. Judge Lin has also served as a past board member of the Asian Bar Association of Washington, where she continues to be an active member.”

AAPIs represent nearly 10% of the population and constitute the largest community of color in the state of Washington. President Biden has nominated two AAPIs to the Federal courts in Washington State.

With 30 years of legal experience, Judge Lin has been named as a Super Lawyer for Washington for her practice at Keller Rohrback LLP. She has worked at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Michigan Poverty Law Program. Judge Lin is a graduate of the New York University School of Law and Cornell University.

NAPABA commends President Biden for nominating Judge Lin to the bench and thanks Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell for their support of her nomination. Judge Lin’s confirmation increases the number of active AAPI Article III judges to 40 nationwide: 10 federal appellate court judges and 30 federal district court judges.

The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), represents the interests of over 60,000 Asian Pacific American (APA) legal professionals and nearly 90 national, state, and local APA bar associations. NAPABA is a leader in addressing civil rights issues confronting APA communities. Through its national network, NAPABA provides a strong voice for increased diversity of the federal and state judiciaries, advocates for equal opportunity in the workplace, works to eliminate hate crimes and anti-immigrant sentiment, and promotes the professional development of people of all backgrounds in the legal profession.

October 11, 2021October 11, 2021

NAPABA Receives Grant from American Arbitration Association’s International Centre for Dispute Resolution Foundation to Combat Anti-Asian Bullying in Schools

In recognition of October as National Bullying Prevention month, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) is proud to announce that the American Arbitration Association’s International Centre for Dispute Resolution (AAA-ICDR) Foundation has awarded it grant funding under its Rapid Response Fund which focuses on conflict-resolution initiatives helping Asian American/Pacific Islander communities combat the surge in anti-Asian hate across the United States.

“NAPABA is grateful to the AAA-ICDR Foundation for its generous support on this critical project,” said A.B. Cruz III, president of NAPABA. “With thousands of cases of anti-Asian hate crimes and incidents—and seemingly no end in sight—we must do all we can to protect the most vulnerable victims of hate—children, and stand up for them harnessing the power of our nationwide network of affiliates as trained advocates.”

The award, made through the NAPABA Law Foundation, will be used, in part, to develop a toolkit to combat COVID-19-driven anti-Asian bullying in schools as well as for other anti-bullying advocacy efforts. The toolkit will seek to equip and train NAPABA affiliates on legal and non-legal responses alike and provide best practices on how to interact with school officials. The toolkit is aimed at educating not only NAPABA lawyers on conducting best advocacy practices, but also to help families, students, educators, and communities understand the availability of remedies including appropriate alternative dispute resolution approaches to addressing anti-Asian bullying. For more on the AAA-ICDR Foundation and its Rapid Response efforts to combat the surge in anti-Asian hate, please visit here.

The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), represents the interests of over 60,000 Asian Pacific American (APA) legal professionals and nearly 90 national, state, and local APA bar associations. NAPABA is a leader in addressing civil rights issues confronting APA communities. Through its national network, NAPABA provides a strong voice for increased diversity of the federal and state judiciaries, advocates for equal opportunity in the workplace, works to eliminate hate crimes and anti-immigrant sentiment, and promotes the professional development of people of all backgrounds in the legal profession.

October 6, 2021October 6, 2021

NAPABA Applauds the Historic Judicial Nominations of John H. Chun, Dale E. Ho, Jinsook Ohta, and Loren L. AliKhan

WASHINGTON – On September 30, 2021, the White House announced its eighth slate of judicial nominees to serve on the Federal and Washington, D.C. benches, with four Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) candidates including several with strong ties to the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA). President Biden has nominated: Judge John H. Chun to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington; Dale E. Ho to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York; Judge Jinsook Ohta to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California; and Loren L. AliKhan to serve on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

“NAPABA offers its congratulations to Judge Chun, Dale Ho, Judge Ohta, and Loren AliKhan on their nominations,” said A.B. Cruz III, president of NAPABA. “We applaud President Biden for putting forth a strong and historic slate of highly qualified AAPI candidates and for continuing to broaden the diversity of backgrounds and professional experiences to the bench. We urge the Senate to swiftly confirm them.”

Judge John H. Chun
Judge John H. Chun currently sits as a Judge on the Washington State Court of Appeals in Seattle, Washington, after previously serving as a judge on the King County Superior Court from 2014-2018. If confirmed, Judge Chun would be the first AAPI man to preside in the Western District of Washington. He has been recognized as a top Washington “Super Lawyer.” Judge Chun previously served as the President of the Korean American Bar Association of Washington and is also a member of the Asian Bar Association of Washington and NAPABA. He previously clerked for the Hon. Eugene A. Wright on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Judge Chun is a graduate of Columbia University and Cornell Law School.

Dale E. Ho
Dale E. Ho currently serves as director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) Voting Rights Project and supervises the ACLU’s voting rights litigation across the country. Notably, Ho has argued two crucial cases before the Supreme Court challenging the inclusion of a citizenship question on the 2020 Census and the exclusion of undocumented immigrants from the population count to determine apportionment for the House of Representatives. If confirmed, Ho would be the only active AAPI judge in the district. In 2019, Ho was the recipient of the NAPABA President’s Award and in 2017, was named one of the best Asian American Lawyers Under 40 by NAPABA. He is endorsed by the Asian American Bar Association of New York. Ho previously clerked for the Hon. Barbara Jones on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and Judge Robert S. Smith of the New York Court of Appeals. He is a graduate of Princeton University and Yale Law School.

Judge Jinsook Ohta
Judge Jinsook Ohta currently sits as a judge on the California Superior Court in San Diego. Previously Judge Ohta served as a Supervising Deputy Attorney General with the California Attorney General’s Office. If confirmed, she would be the first AAPI female judge to preside in the Southern District of California. Judge Ohta is a member of NAPABA and the Korean American Bar Association of San Diego. Judge Ohta previously clerked for the Hon. Barry Ted Moskowitz on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. She is a graduate of Yale University and the New York University School of Law.

Loren L. AliKhan
Loren L. AliKhan currently serves as the Solicitor General of the District of Columbia where she directs the District’s appellate litigation and has overseen more than 1,800 appeals before the D.C. Court of Appeals, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States. If confirmed, AliKhan would be the first AAPI judge to sit on the D.C. Court of Appeals. She is endorsed by the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of the Greater Washington DC Region. Alikhan has been recognized with the Public Sector Trailblazer Award by the South Asian Bar Association of Washington D.C., and previously clerked for the Hon. Thomas L. Ambro on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and the Hon. Louis Pollack on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. AliKhan is a graduate of Bard College at Simon’s Rock and the Georgetown University Law Center.

NAPABA thanks Senators Schumer and Gillibrand of New York, Senators Feinstein and Padilla of California, Senators Murray and Cantwell of Washington, and Delegate Norton of Washington D.C. for their support of these nominees.

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October 5, 2021October 5, 2021

Register for the 2021 NAPABA Convention: One Spectacular Convention, Two Ways to Participate

October 4, 2021October 4, 2021

Announcing NAPABA’s 2021-22 Board of Governors

NAPABA is proud to announce the 2021-22 Board of Governors—comprised of officers, directors, regional governors, and at-large board members—who will be sworn in virtually this November. NAPABA is committed to cultivating a Board as diverse as the members we serve—leveraging their skills, expertise, and community connections in advancement of NAPABA’s vision to achieve optimal representation and influence of Asian American and Pacific Islander attorneys in every facet and level of the legal profession and beyond. Congratulations to our newly elected and appointed Board members!

Executive Committee

President

Sidney Kanazawa | California

President-Elect
Sandra Leung | New York

Treasurer
Hogene Choi | California

Secretary

Judy M. Lam | California

Immediate Past President
A.B. Cruz III | Texas

Directors
Marty Lorenzo | California
Kristin Haugen | Minnesota

Regional Governors
Central Regional Governor
Johnny Wang | Missouri

Central California Regional Governor
Jen Won | California

Eastern California /Nevada Regional Governor
Albert Montefalcon | California

Northeast Regional Governor
Anna Mercado Clark | New York

Northeast Regional Governor
James Y. Lee | New York Regional Governors

Northern California Regional Governor
Mark Punzalan | California

Northwest Regional Governor
Elaine Pascua | Washington

Southeast Regional Governor
Zarra Elias | Florida

Southern California Regional Governor
Denise Crawford | California

Southwest Regional Governor
Stacey Cho Hernandez | Texas

October 4, 2021October 4, 2021

NAPABA Congratulates Judge Florence Pan on her Confirmation to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) congratulates Judge Florence Pan on her historic and overwhelmingly bipartisan (68-30) confirmation to serve as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Judge Pan will become the first Asian Pacific American (APA) woman to serve as an Article III judge in the District of Columbia.

In 2009, Judge Pan was nominated by President Obama to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and was confirmed by unanimous consent by the Senate. She was the first judicial nominee to be confirmed under the Obama Administration, and became the first APA judge to be appointed to any court in the District of Columbia. Judge Pan has over a decade of judicial experience serving in the Criminal, Family Court, and Civil Divisions, and has presided over more than 650 trials. She also has sat by designation on the D.C. Court of Appeals twice.

“Judge Florence Pan, who has ably served our nation’s capital for over a decade on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, is now the first Asian American woman to serve on the U.S. District Court,” said A.B. Cruz III, President of NAPABA. “NAPABA applauds the Senate’s historic bipartisan vote confirming this eminently qualified jurist.” Previously, Judge Pan served for 10 years as an Assistant U.S. attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, including two years as the deputy chief of the appellate division. She also held positions in the Department of the Treasury and at Main Justice, notably in the Office of the Solicitor General. Judge Pan taught at Georgetown University Law Center and American University, Washington College of Law, and is active in her community having served as the Secretary of NAPABA’s Judicial Council.

Judge Pan is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Stanford Law School. Following law school, she clerked for the Honorable Ralph K. Winter, Jr., of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the Honorable Michael B. Mukasey of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), represents the interests of over 60,000 Asian Pacific American (APA) legal professionals and nearly 90 national, state, and local APA bar associations. NAPABA is a leader in addressing civil rights issues confronting APA communities. Through its national network, NAPABA provides a strong voice for increased diversity of the federal and state judiciaries, advocates for equal opportunity in the workplace, works to eliminate hate crimes and anti-immigrant sentiment, and promotes the professional development of people of all backgrounds in the legal profession.

October 4, 2021October 4, 2021

NAPABA Receives Grant from The Asian American Foundation to Serve as National Network Partner for Anti-Asian Hate Crimes Response

The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) is proud to announce that The Asian American Foundation (TAAF) has named it a National Network partner in its investment, coordination, and collaboration efforts to combat anti-Asian hate. NAPABA, along with other leading advocacy organizations, has received initial grant funding to support ongoing activities in anti-hate tracking, protection, response, and prevention measures. TAAF has invited NAPABA to partner in this effort in part due to recognizing NAPABA’s work in building a national civil rights infrastructure that harnesses the legal power, strength in numbers, geographic diversity, and linguistic abilities of NAPABA’s nearly 90 affiliated Asian Pacific American organizations.

“TAAF recognizes that the prolonged underinvestment in Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) populations resulted in our communities being unprepared for, and more vulnerable to the most recent onslaught in anti-Asian hate,” said A.B. Cruz III, president of NAPABA. “We are grateful not only to be a grant recipient, but also an ongoing partner with TAAF and its network of organizations dedicated to the common cause of protecting our AAPI populations.”

To address anti-AAPI hate locally, TAAF is piloting AAPI Action Centers led by on-the-ground partner organizations that will serve as hubs for addressing hate in their respective cities. These Action Centers will first be piloted in New York City, Chicago, and Oakland. Each Action Center will be connected to each other, and they will feed into the umbrella of TAAF’s Anti-Hate National Network to ensure best practices are being transmitted between the national and local levels of work. NAPABA intends to leverage its strength in numbers—which includes three affiliates in New York City, five in Chicago, and 10 affiliates in northern California—to contribute its expertise in assisting hate crimes and help hate incident victims seek pro bono legal assistance.

The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), represents the interests of over 60,000 Asian Pacific American (APA) legal professionals and nearly 90 national, state, and local APA bar associations. NAPABA is a leader in addressing civil rights issues confronting APA communities. Through its national network, NAPABA provides a strong voice for increased diversity of the federal and state judiciaries, advocates for equal opportunity in the workplace, works to eliminate hate crimes and anti-immigrant sentiment, and promotes the professional development of people of all backgrounds in the legal profession.

September 27, 2021September 27, 2021

NAPABA Donates $10,000 to Assist AAPI Crime Victims

On September 21, 2021, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), proudly announced an award of $10,000 to the AAPI Crime Victims and Education Fund (“Fund”) to support the Fund’s efforts to assist crime victims and implement educational programs specifically aimed at reducing violence targeted against the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) population across the nation. Created by NAPABA affiliate the Georgia Asian Pacific American Bar Association (GAPABA) and the GAPABA Law Foundation out of the aftermath of the Atlanta spa shootings, the Fund will provide emergency monies to victims in need of urgent assistance. The Korean American Bar Association of Georgia (KABA-GA) is also a founding partner. The Fund is also committed to raising awareness about rights of AAPIs, providing linguistic access to justice, and supporting other educational activities such as bystander training.

“NAPABA is honored to support the AAPI Crime Victims and Education Fund and all the critical work the Fund will undertake not only to help victims recover from the wounds of anti-Asian hate crimes, but the affirmative educational work that will help prevent future hate from occurring,” said A.B. Cruz III, President of NAPABA. “The Fund’s mission aligns with NAPABA’s priorities of forging meaningful relationships between law enforcement and the communities they are sworn to protect, as well as combating stereotypes, and raising awareness and visibility of AAPI’s not only in legal circles, but in civic life in this country.”

“GAPABA is grateful for NAPABA’s continuing support and collaboration in our shared goal of ensuring that AAPIs remain visible and receive the support they need,” said Angela Hsu, President of GAPABA. “While we have launched the AAPI Crime Victims and Education Fund from Georgia, which became the epicenter for the rebirth of an anti-Asian hatred movement in the wake of the Atlanta spa shootings, we recognize that AAPIs around the country have been systemically overlooked for philanthropy, crime victim support, and other social services. This is why we established the fund to operate at a national level.” The Fund is currently overseen by the GAPABA Law Foundation, which is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and has an Advisory Board consisting of legal and community leaders from across the United States. The effort is led by a six-person volunteer executive committee, consisting of Angela Hsu, of Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, and President of GAPABA; BJay Pak, of Alston & Bird LLP, former U.S. Attorney, N.D. Georgia; Christopher Chan, of Eversheds Sutherland; Edward Sohn, of Factor Law, Inc, and the GAPABA Law Foundation; Sara Hamilton, of Thompson Hine LLP, President of KABA-GA; and Timothy Wang, of Delta Air Lines, and President Elect of GAPABA. To contribute to the Fund please visit GAPABA Law Foundation for details.