NAPABA Announces 2020-21 Board of Governors

NAPABA is proud to announce the 2020-21 Board of Governors —comprised of officers, directors, regional governors, and at-large board members. NAPABA is committed to having a best-in-class governing board that reflects the diverse Asian Pacific American legal community and has the right blend of skill, expertise, community connections, and diverse perspectives as a whole. Tune in and congratulate the NAPABA Board as they are sworn in at the Gala on Saturday, Nov. 7 during the 2020 NAPABA Convention | Virtual Experience.

AABANY congratulates our Board member, David Sohn, and member, Anna Mercado Clark, on their joining the NAPABA Board of Governors. 


Executive Committee

President
A.B. Cruz III I San Antonio, TX

President-Elect
Sidney Kanazawa I Los Angeles, CA

Treasurer
Hogene Choi I Palo Alto, CA

Secretary
Judy M. Lam I Los Angeles, CA

Immediate Past President
Bonnie Lee Wolf I Columbus, OH

Directors
Director
Jim Goh I Denver, CO

Director
Marty Lorenzo I San Diego, CA

Director
Philip Nulud I Los Angeles, CA

Director
Brendan Wong I Toronto, Canada

Regional Governors
Central Regional Governor
Johnny Wang I St. Louis, MO

Central California Regional Governor
Christopher Sukhaphadhana I Tempe, AZ

Eastern California/Nevada Regional Governor
Gino Barrica I Sacramento, CA

Northeast Regional Governor
Anna Mercardo Clark I New York, NY

Northeast Regional Governor
David Sohn I New York, NY

Northern California Regional Governor
Mark Punzalan I San Francisco, CA

Northwest Regional Governor
Elaine Pascua I Seattle, WA 

Southeast Regional Governor
Christine D. Han I Washington, DC

Southern California Regional Governor
Denise Crawford I Santa Ana, CA 

Southwest Regional Governor
Lance Ream I Denver, CO

At-Large Board Members
At-Large Board Member
Sanjeev Bhaskar I Charlotte, NC

At-Large Board Member
Angela Lim I San Francisco, CA

At-Large Board Member
Peter Sabido I Portland, OR

At-Large Board Member
Jennifer Won I Los Angeles, CA

NAPABA Mourns the Passing of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

For Immediate Release: September 21, 2020

Contact: Priya Purandare, Executive Director

WASHINGTON — The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) joins the nation in mourning the passing of legal icon, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. NAPABA extends its sincere condolences to the family of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

“Justice Ginsburg was a brilliant legal mind and a steadfast champion for equal rights throughout her career,” said Bonnie Lee Wolf, president of NAPABA. “The second woman to serve on the Court, Justice Ginsburg paved the way for the women of our generation. Despite graduating first in her class at Columbia Law School, she struggled to find employment. Her confirmation and tenure on the Supreme Court serve as an enduring inspiration and a reminder of the challenges that women face in society and the workplace. I am eternally grateful for her service to our nation. She fought to the very end, and we will honor her memory in doing the same—in our tireless pursuit for justice, equity, and opportunity for all.”

Justice Ginsburg served on the U.S. Supreme Court for 27 years and was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1993. We will strive to honor Justice Ginsburg’s legacy in the next appointment.

Congratulations to 2020 NAPABA Award Winners

On September 3, 2020, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) announced its 2020 award winners.

AABANY congratulates the following:

Daniel K. Inouye Trailblazer Award Recipients:

Glenn D. Magpantay, Executive Director of the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance

Mari Matsuda, Professor of Law at the University of Hawaii

The Honorable Rosa Peng Mroz, Judge of the Maricopa County Superior Court in the State of Arizona

L. Song Richardson, Dean and Chancellor’s Professor of Law at the University of California

Eric Yamato, Fred T. Korematsu Professor of Law and Social Justice at the University of Hawaii

Affiliate of the Year Award Recipient:

Filipino Bar Association of Northern California (FBANC)

APA-Owned Law Firm Award Recipient:

Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho

Law Firm Diversity Award Recipient:

Littler Mendelson P.C.

Best Under 40 Award Recipients:

Jasmeet Kaur Ahuja, Senior Associate at Hogan Lovells US LLP 

Kristin Asai, Partner at Holland & Knight LLP

Thy B. Bui, Partner at Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete LLP 

Vicki Chou, Of Counsel at Hueston Hennigan LLP 

Pankit Doshi, Partner at McDermott Will & Emery LLP 

Benjamin H. Huh, Legal Counsel at Apple Inc. 

Sofia Jeong, Associate General Counsel of IP Legal at Facebook, Inc. 

Robin Jung, Senior Attorney of Litigation at Dykema Gossett LLP 

Naephil “Naf” Kwun, Partner at Lee Anav Chung White Kim Ruger & Richter LLP 

Erica Lai, Antitrust & Commercial Litigation Counsel at Cohen & Gresser LLP 

Bonnie Lau, Litigation Partner at Morrison & Foerster LLP

Rotsen “Chinny” Law, Attorney at The Ramos Law Firm 

Mark L. Legaspi, Associate General Counsel and Director of Corporate Strategy, M&A, Investments and Emerging Technologies at Intel Corporation 

Abigail Rivamonte Mesa, Chief of Staff at Office of Supervisor Matt Haney, District 6

Lisa Kim Anh Nguyen, Partner at Latham & Watkins LLP

Phi Nguyen, Litigation Director at Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Atlanta 

Philip Nulud, Senior Counsel at Buchalter

Judge Rizza O’Connor, Chief Magistrate Judge at Magistrate Court, Toombs County, Lyons, Georgia 

Candice Wong, Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General & Chief of Staff of U.S. Department of Justice – Criminal Division 

Maya Yamazaki, Partner at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP 

Women’s Leadership Award Recipient:

Sandra Yamate, Chief Executive Officer at Institute for Inclusion in the Legal Profession

Military and Veteran Service Award Recipient:

Colonel Kay K. Wakatake, U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps

Pro Bono Award Recipient:

Alice Hsu, Partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

Karen Kithan Yau, Of Counsel at Kakalec Law LLP

AABANY congratulates its members who were honored by NAPABA:

Glenn Magpantay, Daniel K. Inouye Trailblazer Award

Naf Kwun, Best Under 40 Award

Alice Hsu, Pro Bono Award

Karen Yau, Pro Bono Award

AABANY also congratulates Littler, an AABANY Silver Sponsor, on receiving the Law Firm Diversity Award.

All these award winners will be recognized during the month of October on NAPABA social media channels. Follow NAPABA’s Facebook and LinkedIn to hear the winners give their acceptance speeches and more!

Congratulations to 2020-21 Elected NAPABA Officers and Directors

On September 10, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) announced its newly elected Officers and Directors for the 2020-21 NAPABA board of governors. Board members will be sworn into office on November 7 during the NAPABA Virtual Experience.

AABANY would like to extend congratulations to the following individuals:

Sid Kanazawa, President-Elect

Hogene Choi, Treasurer

Judy M. Lam, Secretary

Jim Goh, Director

Marty Lorenzo, Director,

Philip Nulud, Director

Brendan Wong, Director

To register for the NAPABA Virtual Experience where these individuals will be sworn in, see here.

2020 NAPABA Virtual Experience November 4-7, 2020 NAPABA Scholarship Program

We recognize that our members may be facing financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In partnership with Prudential, NAPABA will offer scholarships to waive the registration fee for the 2020 NAPABA Virtual Experience for our members who have been financially impacted by COVID-19.

Assistance: Scholarships will be awarded in the form of a discount code equal to the amount of your NAPABA Virtual Experience registration fee at the early bird rate.

Eligibility: You must be a NAPABA member and demonstrate financial need due to COVID-19 to receive an award. Become a member today to apply for the scholarship!

Scholarship Deadline: Submit an application by 5 pm ET, Monday, October 12.

For more information and to apply, click the button below:

APPLY NOW

The NAPABA Scholarship Program is generously supported by:

Prudential

NAPABA Statement on the Yale Affirmative Action Case

For Immediate Release: August 18, 2020

Contact: Priya Purandare, Executive Director
Email: [email protected]

WASHINGTON—Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice asserted that Yale University had violated federal civil rights law against Asian American and white applicants by using race as a determinative factor in its undergraduate admissions process. NAPABA strongly disapproves of any form of racial discrimination, including in college admissions. The organization understands the importance of diversity in education, and that race is one of the many factors in a holistic admissions process as established by the U.S. Supreme Court.

“While we continue to review information on the Department of Justice’s findings to fully evaluate the Yale University case, diversity remains a critical and compelling interest for universities to achieve,” said Bonnie Lee Wolf, president of NAPABA. “NAPABA is in support of race-conscious standards as a part of a holistic admissions process. We also support continuing efforts by colleges and universities to improve their admissions processes, including their work to recognize and address implicit bias. Our support of these principles has included filing of amicus briefs in the seminal cases of Grutter v. Bollinger and Fisher v. University of Texas in support of the universities and the importance of diversity. NAPABA will closely monitor the alleged claims against Yale University.”

Two years ago, NAPABA supported the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts’ ruling that upheld the use of race conscious admissions in Students For Fair Admissions v. Harvard. In 2015, NAPABA issued an organizational statement in support of Affirmative Action and that the policy is necessary to increase diversity, equity and inclusion in education.

NAPABA Organizational Statement: Coalition of Bar Associations of Color Urges State Bars to Enact Alternative Licensing Measures Amid COVID-19

For Immediate Release:
Date: August 19, 2020

Contact: Priya Purandare, Executive Director

WASHINGTON, DC — The Coalition of Bar Associations of Color (CBAC) issued the following statement in response to several proposals calling for alternatives to the traditional in-person bar examination used to license new attorneys as a direct response to the ongoing challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic:

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented extraordinary challenges to just about every aspect of how we conduct our lives. As lawyers, it is our duty to meet these extraordinary circumstances with grace and swiftness, and to adapt as necessary to ensure continued access to justice and protection of the rule of law. In this spirit, the Coalition of Bar Associations of Color supports ABA Resolution 10G strongly urging all state bars to cancel in-person or potentially vulnerable online administrations of the bar exam and consider adopting alternative methods of licensing new attorneys until a safe and secure method of administering a bar exam is available. This will protect the future of the legal profession and ultimately, our society.

Protection of the public in the administration of justice should remain the top priority of state bars. However, during the ongoing pandemic, traditional methods of testing, like large in-person exams, pose tremendous health risks to test takers and those around them and in many instances would violate government-issued restrictions to large gatherings.

Although we commend the states that opted to cancel in-person examinations in favor of online proctored exams, this method has met significant challenges in its administration. These challenges have included fairness, privacy, and technology concerns with the most recent example being the Florida bar. In Florida, bar examinees were informed of the cancellation of the online exam two days before its scheduled date due to numerous issues with the online proctoring system. No official new date or method of testing has been offered. The Michigan online bar exam system crashed during the examination. The State of Indiana encountered similar technology issues when the program was being tested, and they changed to an open book exam allowing answers to be emailed. The current infrastructure for online testing, which presents significant security concerns and glitches, is simply not workable for an exam of this magnitude and import.

As leaders of the Bar Associations of Color we are particularly concerned with the disparate impact that COVID-19 has had on communities of color and more specifically bar examinees of color. As noted in the report accompanying ABA Resolution 10G on this issue, a recent survey showed “a majority of bar applicants do not believe they have reliable internet access, and that white applicants are about 71 percent more likely to have such access when compared to black applicants.” The same survey noted that the majority of bar examinees “do not have access to a quiet space to take a remote bar examination, with white applicants again being substantially more likely to have access to a quiet place than an applicant of color.” People of color and non-traditional students, who have already faced and conquered institutional challenges to complete their legal education, will face additional barriers in the event of additional delays.

Further delays in licensing attorneys are unfair, placing the careers of thousands of attorneys in limbo. Instead, flexibility from state bars is of paramount importance. Adopting alternatives like open book examinations, extended CLE, a diploma privilege, or a Certified Legal Intern program that leads to a provisional license and then to full licensing within 3-6 months, is the most efficient way to adequately safeguard the futures of all bar examinees and the legal profession as a whole.

Additionally, the delays in testing have further exacerbated the stressful circumstances experienced by bar examinees. Graduates have been preparing since May for one of the most important examinations of their careers. To do so, they have sacrificed their income and time for an extended period. Many are facing severe financial difficulties, have no health insurance, and they are competing for jobs in one of toughest job markets in years. Further delays in licensing will disrupt employment plans and leave thousands of graduates with no way of supporting themselves or their families in a moment of global crisis.

Bar examinees have demonstrated their ardent commitment to the legal profession through their resiliency in the last months. The protection of the public in the administration of justice should be extended to bar examinees by decisive action from the state bars that they will serve in their long and successful careers. We call on state bars to consider the options set forth in ABA Resolution 10G that are most protective of bar examinees, their careers, their families, and the legal profession. Options include but are not limited to allowing diploma privileges, administration of remote open book examinations, and creation or expansion of certified legal intern programs leading directly to licensure, a form of diploma privilege.

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The Coalition of Bar Associations of Color (CBAC) was established in 1992 and is comprised of the Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA), the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), the National Bar Association (NBA), and the National Native American Bar Association (NNABA).

NAPABA Applauds Nomination of Senator Kamala Harris

For Immediate Release:
Date: August 19, 2020

Contact: Priya Purandare, Executive Director

WASHINGTON — The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) recognizes the historic significance of Sen. Kamala Harris’ nomination as vice president on the Democratic ticket. Harris is the first woman of color to be nominated on a presidential ticket for a major party. If elected, she would become the highest ranking Asian Pacific American ever in line for presidential succession.

“Sen. Harris has defined herself as a leader and legislator in the U.S. Senate,” said Bonnie Lee Wolf, president of NAPABA. “Her nomination is not only historic, but deeply meaningful to the Asian Pacific American community. Sen. Harris is the daughter of Indian and Jamaican immigrants, and she understands the priorities and concerns of Asian Pacific American and Black communities, which have been underrepresented at all levels of government. Since her tenure in the Senate, Sen. Harris has shown a strong commitment to diversity—including having one of the most diverse staff in the Senate and elevating people of color to leadership positions.”

“As a non-partisan organization, NAPABA works with presidential administrations and members of Congress from both parties to advance the interests of the Asian Pacific American community. NAPABA applauds Sen. Harris’ nomination and looks forward to greater representation and diversity of political candidates, executive branch appointees, and judges.”

NAPABA Presents: Board of Governors Election President-Elect Candidates Forum


On Tuesday, August 18 at 1 PM PDT/4 PM EDT, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) will be hosting a virtual Meet the President-Elect Candidates Forum.

Don’t miss this valuable opportunity to learn more about the President-Elect candidates! Submit your questions for the candidates to [email protected] prior to the forum.

Candidates for President-Elect

Headshot - Sid Kanazawa
Sid Kanazawa
Headshot - Gary Zhao
Gary Zhao

Moderator

Headshot - Christine Chen
Christine Chen
Executive Director,
APIAVote

Take the time to consider the vision each candidate has for NAPABA and the diverse perspectives across the Board as a whole.

Register here.

NAPABA Supports Call for Inclusion of Native American Women in Law School Survey Study

In response to the exclusion of Native American women law students in the Center for Women in Law and the NALP Foundation’s study, “Women of Color – A Study of Law Student Experiences,” NAPABA urges the inclusion of Native American women. 

NAPABA supports the National Native American Bar Association’s call to include Native American Women in the Center for Women in Law and the NALP Foundation “Women of Color – A Study of Law Student Experiences.” While NAPABA believes the omission was unintentional, it is important when addressing the experiences of communities of color that efforts are made to ensure that the final study is inclusive of all communities. As an organization that represents the interests of Asian Pacific American attorneys, NAPABA is too familiar with the frustration of being excluded or lumped into an “Other” category. Within NAPABA itself, there is a concrete effort to be representative of our diverse Asian Pacific American community.

NAPABA strongly advocates that all studies of the legal profession ensure that Native Americans are included when issuing these important and necessary studies.