Tag: NAPABA

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Celebrate APA Heritage Month with AABANY

May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, and AABANY is celebrating in a variety of ways:

  • May 14 – Hon. Jeffrey K. Oing, Justice of the Supreme Court, State of New York (and long-time AABANY member), will be speaking at Kramer Levin’s APA Heritage Month Celebration, at Kramer Levin’s midtown Manhattan office.  RSVP required by May 10.
  • May 18-20 – NYSBA Commercial and Federal Litigation Section Spring Meeting, in association with the Young Lawyers Section, at Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz, New York.  Past President and current Judiciary Committee Co-Chair James Chou will be speaking on Sunday morning on the panel entitled, “Your Path Through the Court and to the Bench: What You Need to Know to Get Through a Day in Court.”
  • May 22, Asian American Arts Alliance (a4), Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) and AABANY present: “Revisiting Vincent: The Legacy of the Vincent Chin Case 30 Years Later,” a re-enactment of the Vincent Chin trial, with introduction and talkback led by Hon. Denny Chin and Dean Frank Wu, at New York Law School, starting at 6:30 pm.  Tickets now available for purchase in advance.
  • May 24 – AABANY’s Litigation Committee hosts a Happy Hour at the Hill on 29th and Third Ave., starting at 6:30 pm.  Meet and mingle with members of the Litigation Committee.
  • May 24 – AALDEF’s Young Professionals Committee and Cadwalder Wickersham & Taft host a screening of the documentary “Sing Your Song,” about Harry Belafonte and his role in fighting for civil rights for all Americans.  AALDEF Staff Attorney Jerry Vattamala will take part in a Q&A after the screening and discuss the legacy of Harry Belafonte’s activism and its meaning for today’s generation.
  • May 30 – AABANY joins the Asian American Law Fund of New York (AALFNY) in hosting the Annual Summer Reception, open to the legal community and law students.  It will take place at Edwards Wildman Palmer starting at 6 pm, and there is no cost to attend but RSVP is required by May 25.
  • May 31 – June 2: NAPABA Eastern Super Regional Conference, hosted by APALA-NJ at Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City.  Many AABANY members and leaders will be there, speaking on panels and reconnecting with NAPABA friends.  Registration now open.

It’s another event-filled APA Heritage Month.  We hope to see you at one or more of the great programs listed above!

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Miranda Du Confirmed as Federal District Court Judge for Nevada

On Wednesday March 28, NAPABA and The Asian American Justice Center reported:

Today, the Senate voted to confirm Miranda Mai Du to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada. Judge Du is the first-ever Asian Pacific American to serve as an Article III judge in Nevada.

“We congratulate Judge Du on her confirmation, and thank Senator Reid for both suggesting her name to President Obama and scheduling her confirmation vote,” said Nimesh M. Patel, president of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA). “Judge Du is a nominee with a wealth of experiences and qualifications. She also has an inspiring life story, and will add much needed diversity of perspective on the federal court in Nevada.”

Read the full press release here.

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AABANY at NAPABA National Convention 2011

NAPABA’s 23rd Annual National Convention: Sustainability took place last week in Atlanta, Georgia, at the Omni CNN Center from November 17 through 20.  Among the more than 1100 attorneys from around the country was our contingent from New York.

AABANY was well-represented at the NAPABA National Convention. 

Judge Denny Chin, past AABANY President and currently the only active APA Federal appellate circuit judge, was the keynote speaker at Saturday night’s installation banquet.  Judge Chin shared his experiences as a district court judge, regaling the capacity crowd with fascinating, funny and sometimes touching stories from the wide variety of cases he presided over in his fifteen years on the bench as a United States District Court Judge.

Don Liu, General Counsel of Xerox and AABANY member, introduced Friday’s plenary luncheon speaker, Yale Law School Professor and best-selling author Amy Chua.  Don himself was honored with NAPABA’s prestigious Trailblazer Award on Friday evening.  In a moving and heartfelt acceptance speech, Don honored his recently-deceased father as a trailblazer in his own right.

At Saturday night’s installation banquet, NAPABA presented its Best Under 40 award recipients, and AABANY was represented by Director Bobby Liu, General Counsel at MD Sass, and Pauline Yeung-Ha, Co-Chair Solo and Small Firm Committee and name partner at Grimaldi & Yeung.  Also honored was My Chi To, Secretary of AALFNY (Asian American Law Fund of New York) and partner at Debevoise & Plimpton.

On Thursday, at the NAPABA Bar Leadership Institute, AABANY Executive Director Yang Chen was the luncheon speaker, talking about AABANY’s experience as the first affiliate with a full-time executive director.

On Friday, Judge Chin led the AABANY re-enactment team in a program entitled “Race, Color and Citizenship: Ozawa and Thind,” which re-created two Supreme Court cases from the 1920s in which the Court upheld the denial of naturalization to two Asian Americans on the basis of race and color.  The cast, led by Judge Chin and Kathy Hirata Chin, was comprised of AABANY members, including many AABANY Directors: Vincent Chang, Yang Chen, Francis Chin, Lauren Lee, Susan Moon, Esther Nguonly, Liza Sohn, Vinoo Varghese, Jessica Wong and Michael Yap.

Throughout the conference, many other AABANY members, including many past AABANY leaders, spoke on or moderated various panels, including: Sylvia Fung Chin, John Flock, Parkin Lee, and Hon. Doris Ling Cohan.

Congratulations also to Hofstra Law School which was recognized on November 18 as the NAPALSA (National Asian Pacific American Law Students Association) Affiliate of the Year.  NAPALSA held several programs and meetings during the NAPABA National Convention.

Thanks to everyone who took part in the NAPABA 2011 National Convention, and congratulations to all the honorees.  You do AABANY proud!

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Photos from the 23rd Annual National Asian Pacific American Bar Association Convention at the Omni CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, Nov. 17-20, 2011.

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Judges Needed for Thomas Tang Moot Court Competition

Hemanth Digumarthi from the Host Committee of the 2011 NAPABA National Convention in Atlanta sends this message asking for AABANY members to volunteer time at the convention to serve as judges in the Thomas Tang Moot Court Competition finals:

Judges are needed for the Thomas Tang Moot Court competition in Atlanta.  The rounds will take place, Friday, November 18 from 10:00 to 11:30 and from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.  You can judge one or both rounds. If there are any AABANY members planning  to attend the  NAPABA convention and would like to volunteer, please contact Hemanth Digumarthi at [email protected].

The issues in this year’s Thomas Tang Moot Court Competition are:

I. WHETHER THE PRESERVING AMERICAN VALUES IN EDUCATION (PAVE) ACT VIOLATES THE FIRST AMENDMENT’S GUARANTEE OF FREEDOM OF SPEECH.

A. Whether the deferential standard of review articulated in Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, 484 U.S. 260 (1988) for assessing high school curricula should be extended to universities.

B. Whether the PAVE Act’s curricular restrictions violate the free speech clause of First Amendment under either a strict scrutiny or a rational basis standard of review.

II. WHETHER THE PRESERVING AMERICAN VALUES IN EDUCATION (PAVE) ACT VIOLATES THE FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT’S GUARANTEE OF EQUAL PROTECTION.

A. Whether the PAVE Act’s curricular restrictions constitute a racial classification subject to strict scrutiny.

B. Whether the PAVE Act’s curricular restrictions violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment under either a strict scrutiny or a rational basis standard of review.

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3rd Annual Pitch Sessions: One-on-One Partner Presentations and Interviews with In-House Counsel

Members of the NAPABA In-House Counsel Committee are accepting submissions from eligible partners of Solo and Small Firms for private one-on-one firm pitches during the 2011 NAPABA Annual Convention in Atlanta, Georgia taking place November 17-20. 
 
To be eligible, for firms with 25 or less attorneys, each partner who intends to participate in the pitch program must be an individual direct Platinum/$500 member of NAPABA. In addition, you must be registered to attend the 2011 NAPABA Convention.

How to participate: Review the pdf list of IHCs (click on the link), which includes brief descriptions of company industry and IHC specialty. Please note that some companies chose to display an anonymous profile. If you or one of your firm’s partners matches the industry and specialty, you may submit the following information:

1.       Name
2.       Firm name
3.       Direct phone number
4.       Email
5.       Specialty/practice area
6.       State whether your firm is minority and/or women-owned
7.       Indicate by IHC ID Number, the IHCs with whom you wish to meet.
 
Please send all items to NAPABA Programs Associate Azizah Ahmad at [email protected] by October 30, 2011. Incomplete information will not be considered.
 
All submissions will be delivered to the IHCs on November 1st.  If selected, you will be contacted by the IHC directly.  Unfortunately, due to demand, not all law firm partners will be selected for a pitch.

FAQs

When will the Pitch Sessions take place and what is the format?
• IHC and partners can determine the date, time, and length of each Pitch Session, as long as the pitch takes place during the 2011 NAPABA Convention.
 
Is this just a practice pitch for the law firms?
• No.  In-House Counsel will not view these sessions as practice.
 
Will each In-House Counsel have work to give out?
• No.  As work needs are difficult to predict, there is not a requirement that In-House participants have work needs at the time of the pitch.  However, In-House Counsel will have full discretion to engage (or strongly recommend) outside law firms as needed.
 

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Congrats to Alex Lee on Being Elected NAPABA VP of Communications

From Alex Lee, our newly elected NAPABA VP of Communications:

Dear AABANY member:

 

From the bottom of my heart, I would like to thank each and every one of you who supported and voted for me in this year’s NAPABA Board Elections. As the only contested race, I felt it important that the Northeast Region affiliates make a statement and I am very happy to report WE WON!

 

The NAPABA Nominations Committee has told me that it was a very close race and that by NAPABA standards, turnout was very high – could have very easily gone in favor of my esteemed opponent, Bijal Vakil – so every single vote mustered by all of you was extremely important.

To Andy Hahn, Linda Lin, Jean Lee, Yang Chen, Margaret  Ling, James Chou, Vincent Chang, Clara Ohr, Theo Cheng, Michael Yap and the rest of the AABANY Board, I am deeply indebted to you all.

Thank you all again and I hope to see you at an AABANY event soon!

Regards,

Alex Lee

Please join us in congratulating Alex Lee on his election to the NAPABA Board as VP of Communications.

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