Tag: NAPABA

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NAPABA Press Release: Michelle K. Lee First Woman to Lead U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 10, 2015

Contact: Tina Matsuoka
(202) 775-9555

WASHINGTON — Last night, the U.S. Senate confirmed Michelle K. Lee as the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Lee is the first woman and person of color to lead the USPTO.

“We congratulate Michelle Lee on her historic confirmation,” said George C. Chen, president of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA). “Ms. Lee is breaking barriers not only for the Asian Pacific American community, but for all women and communities of color in the tech and legal industries.”

President Obama nominated Lee for the position in October 2014. Lee has over twenty years of experience in intellectual property and patent law. Prior to her confirmation, Lee served as the Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and the acting Director and Deputy Director of the USPTO, and she also headed the USPTO Silicon Valley office. Prior to her public service, she was Google’s first Deputy General Counsel and Head of Patents and Patents Strategy.

Lee holds a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering and Masters of Science in computer science from MIT. She received her JD from Stanford Law School.

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The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) is the national association of Asian Pacific American (APA) attorneys, judges, law professors, and law students. NAPABA represents the interests of over 40,000 attorneys and approximately 70 national, state, and local bar associations. Its members include solo practitioners, large firm lawyers, corporate counsel, legal services and non-profit attorneys, and lawyers serving at all levels of government. NAPABA engages in legislative and policy advocacy, promotes APA political leadership and political appointments, and builds coalitions within the legal profession and the community at large. NAPABA also serves as a resource for government agencies, members of Congress, and public service organizations about APAs in the legal profession, civil rights, and diversity in the courts.

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NAPABA Intellectual Property Committee Seeking Submissions

The Publications Subcommittee of the NAPABA Intellectual Property Committee is seeking submissions to publish in a quarterly newsletter.  Potential types of submissions include:

1)      Legal topics pertaining to IP, such as patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets and the prosecution/enforcement/monetization thereof, in the U.S. or other countries (e.g., analysis/discussion of a particular practice area, trend, court decision, practice pointers, etc.).  Currently, priority will be given to submissions pertaining to licensing and technology transactions.

2)      New administrative decisions/rules/guidelines/programs, such as at the USPTO or other patent offices (e.g., fee changes, guidelines in response to a court decision, pilot programs).

3)      Achievements & career-related news of APA professionals (e.g., honors, awards, recognitions, speaking engagements, promotions, job changes).

4)      Upcoming & recent IP events (e.g., IP events hosted or notably attended by Asian professional organizations and/or Asian law student associations).

Preferably, the length of a submission will be 1000 words or less.  Submitters are also invited to optionally include a profile photo and/or a brief bio (for submission types 1-3 above) and/or a recent event photo (for submission types 3-4 above) for publication.  Please email submissions and/or questions to Alex Chang at [email protected], Srikant Viswanadham at[email protected], and John Gray at [email protected] by June 1, 2015.

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2015 NAPABA Convention: Call for Programs – Open Now!

The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association is now accepting program proposals for the 2015 NAPABA Convention, which will be held in New Orleans, LA, from November 5-8. We welcome program submissions on topics that celebrate the diversity of NAPABA and will provide practical solutions and advice for our attendees’ future development and advancement.

DEADLINE
Tuesday, March 31, 11:59 PST

SUBMISSION INFORMATION
Visit the Call for Programs webpage on the NAPABA website for detailed submission information. Please carefully review the guidelines before beginning your submission.

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McGuireWoods LLP – NAPABA Law Foundation Internships

The McGuireWoods/NLF Internship Program supports students interested in the legal profession and will help students develop a commitment to advocacy on behalf of the Asian Pacific American community. The Program seeks to achieve these goals by providing undergraduate and law school students with meaningful internship experiences at the Washington, DC offices of NAPABA and NLF.

Internship opportunities are now available for the spring and summer. More information can be found here.

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Central Regional Conference: Program Proposals Due March 1

The NAPABA Central Regional Conference is a unique opportunity for Midwest legal professionals to obtain CLE credits while building regional and national connections through networking. The Central Region is comprised of eight states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Members from other regions are more than welcome to attend the Central Regional Conference.

Program proposals are due March 1, 2015. Conference organizers welcome all CLE topics, but will give greater weight to those addressing marketing and business development, ethics and/or elimination of bias, and issues of particular interest to public sector lawyers, members of the judiciary, and in-house counsel.   Program proposal form

If you have any questions, please contact Loan Huynh, the Central Regional Conference content committee chair, at (612) 492-7165 or [email protected].

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NAPABA Southeast Regional Conference: Program Proposals Due March 20

Hosted by the Greater Orlando Asian American Bar Association (GOAABA), the NAPABA Southeast Regional Conference, Ignite Your Voice, will take place on June 12, 2015 in Orlando, FL.

GOAABA invites you to submit program proposals for break-out sessions by Friday, March 20, 2015. 

For program proposals, please provide the following information:

• Program Title
• Program Contact (name, email address, and phone number)
• Program Summary
• Length of Program (60 minute programs are preferred)
• Proposed Moderator and Speakers (name, email address, and phone number)
• Whether the program has already been previously pre-approved for CLE credits. If yes, how many credits were granted and whether any ethics credits were granted.

In addition to program proposals, we are also seeking recommendations for keynote speakers for the Lunch Plenary session.

Please submit program proposals and recommendations for keynote speakers to Anna Meddin at [email protected] and Kim Nguyen at [email protected].

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NAPABA Western Regional Conference 2015: April 16-18, Honolulu, HI

The ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division (GPSolo) and NAPABA Hawaii are proud to be jointly hosting the 2015 GPSolo Spring Meeting and NAPABA Western Regional Conference on April 16 to 18, 2015 at the Westin Moana Surfrider in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Travel Discount

NAPABA has partnered with Hawaiian Airlines to provide attendees with a 5% discount on web fares. To receive your web fare discount, click here and use the code “NAPABA”. The booking period is now through April 15, 2015, for travel from April 1-30, 2015.

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How to Support the Families of Officers Liu and Ramos

NAPABA has received inquiries about donating funds to support the family of slain NYPD Detective Wenjian Liu, who has been reported to be the first Chinese-American NYPD officer killed in the line of duty.  Detective Liu and his partner, Detective Rafael Ramos, were shot to death on December 20, 2014, while sitting in their squad car in Brooklyn.  

After reaching out to APA-serving organizations, NAPABA recommends the following funds to its members:

The NYPD Asian Jade Society has established a fund to support Detective Liu’s family.  Detective Liu was a member of this organization for Asian Americans members of the NYPD.  Donations can be made by checks payable to “PO Wen Jian Liu Family c/o NYPD Asian Jade Society” and mailed to NYPD Asian Jade Society, P.O. Box 969, Peck Slip Station, New York, NY 10272. 

The New York Daily News has established the Ramos-Liu Fund.  All funds will be directed to the slain officers’ families.  More information is available here:  http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/donations-ramos-liu-fund-climbed-384-349-article-1.2065893.

The Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation has established a fund to pay the mortgages of the Ramos and Liu families’ homes.  More information is available here:  http://tunnel2towers.org/.

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2015 Summer NLF Public Interest Internship Awarded to Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County

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The NAPABA Law Foundation (NLF) is pleased to announce the 2015 Summer NLF Public Interest Internship grant has been awarded to Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County (NLSLA).  The NLF Public Interest Intern will work to identify emerging issues in healthcare and workers’ rights in the San Gabriel Valley’s APA community. This project will be a subset of NLSLA’s currently ongoing Legal Needs Study to determine specific legal needs in its service areas. The NLF Public Interest Internship will provide $6,000 in total to NLSLA to fund the NLF Public Interest Internship.

Specifically, the NLF Public Interest Intern will: 

  • Provide direct legal assistance to APA individuals through the Health Consumer Center and Workers’ Rights Clinic
  • Conduct outreach with APA-serving organizations, businesses, and ethnic media outlets to increase visibility of the Health Consumer Center hotline and Workers’ Rights Clinic
  • Survey existing APA services in the San Gabriel Valley and the private bar relating to healthcare access and workers’ rights; in doing so, identify at least three partners in priority cities and interview these partners for referral potential
  • Develop a pitch for NLSLA’s projects to share with elected officials and stakeholders in the San Gabriel Valley with an interest in helping expand legal services
  • Research demographic data of San Gabriel Valley populations from U.S. Census and other population surveys
  • Create two consumer education pieces on a health and workers’ right issue

This project furthers the mission of the NAPABA Law Foundation by placing a law student in the heart of the San Gabriel Valley to educate and serve the APA community. By immersing the legal intern in direct legal services, impact advocacy projects, and interactions with community leaders, attorneys will mentor the intern in the nuts and bolts of community lawyering and foster the intern’s interest in pursuing public interest work.

We thank all of the applicants for their excellent proposals and we encourage organisations to apply for the NAPABA Law Foundation Community Law Fellowship – a two-year fully funded fellowship (applications due on December 31, 2014).