American Bar Association Spirit of Excellence Award Nomination

Due Monday, May 22, 2017 | 5 p.m. EDT

Each year, the NAPABA Awards Committee reviews the pool of well-qualified NAPABA members and selects an individual to be nominated on behalf of NAPABA for the ABA Spirit of Excellence Award. Most recently, NAPABA nominated Hon. Jacqueline Nguyen and Peggy Nagae, both of whom were honored with this prestigious award in 2015 and 2017, respectively. The Awards Committee now seeks nominee recommendations for consideration of the 2018 award.

The Committee is looking for NAPABA members who have:

  1. achieved professional excellence in their fields;
  2. served as role models in overcoming hardships or barriers and achieved success and excellence in the legal profession;
  3. influenced racially and ethnically diverse individuals to pursue and/or to succeed in legal careers;
  4. opened doors, broken down barriers, or otherwise promoted the full and equal participation of racially and ethnically diverse individuals in the legal profession; and
  5. worked with or on behalf of racially and ethnically diverse lawyers from racial or ethnic groups other than their own.

Please e-mail nominee recommendations to NAPABA Membership Manager AuriaJoy Asaria at aasaria@napaba.org by5 p.m. EDT on May 22, 2017. You will be notified if the NAPABA Awards Committee selects your recommendation for nomination.

National Asian Pacific American Bar Association | 1612 K St. NW, Suite 510 | Washington, D.C. 20006 | www.napaba.org

2017 Call for Nominations

2017 Call for Nominations
NAPABA Board of Governors Officer Positions
Deadline | July 11, 2017, at 8 p.m. EDT

Submit a Nomination

The NAPABA Nominating and Elections Committee is accepting nominations for election to the officer positions of the NAPABA’s Board of Governors for the 2017-18 term. Please submit your nominations for the following positions:

  • President-Elect
  • Vice President for Finance and Development
  • Vice President for Membership
  • Vice President for Programs and Operations
  • Vice President for Communications
  • Treasurer
  • Secretary

Click here for more information or to submit a nomination. The submission deadline is July 11, 2017, at 8 p.m. EDT.

Collaborative Bar Leadership Academy

Applications are now available for the fifth annual Collaborative Bar Leadership Academy (CBLA) in Minneapolis on June 25-27, 2017. The CBLA is a collaborative effort among the American Bar Association, Hispanic National Bar Association, National Bar Association, National Native American Bar Association, and NAPABA. The CBLA will strengthen the pipeline of diverse bar association leaders through leadership training and professional development programs.

The CBLA is intended for up-and-coming bar leaders who have been in practice for 5-15 years and have served as officers of a NAPABA affiliate and/or chair/co-chair of a NAPABA committee.

Apply by Friday, May 12

  • Applications can be found here.
  • Deadline to submit an application is Friday, May 12 at 8 p.m. EDT.
  • Applicants will be asked to submit a brief essay of 250-500 words, a CV/resume, and two letters of recommendation.

More information about the program can be found on the CBLA website. Please contact CBLA Steering Committee member Gary Zhao with any questions at gzhao@salawus.com or at 312.894.3377.

National Asian Pacific American Bar Association | 1612 K St. NW, Suite 510 | Washington, D.C. 20006 | www.napaba.org

Pro Bono General Counsel Program – National Asian Pacific American Bar Association

Pro Bono General Counsel Program – National Asian Pacific American Bar Association

Affiliate Grant Program – National Asian Pacific American Bar Association

Affiliate Grant Program – National Asian Pacific American Bar Association

NAPABA Outraged by Trump PAC Spokesperson References to WWII Japanese Incarceration

In times of sweeping changes facing our nation, Americans of all backgrounds must come together to move this nation forward — not backwards. NAPABA condemns the comments about the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II made by Carl Higbie, a spokesman for the pro-Trump Great America PAC.                                    

During an interview with Megyn Kelly on the Nov. 16, 2016, taping of Fox News’ “The Kelly File” regarding President-elect Donald Trump’s plan for a Muslim registry system, Higbie argued in favor of a plan modeled after the highly controversial National Security Entry-Exit Registration System implemented after 9/11. In so doing, Higbie stated, “We’ve done it based on race, we’ve done it based on religion, we’ve done it based on region. We’ve done it with Iran back — back a while ago. We did it during World War II with [the] Japanese.”

These offensive and incendiary remarks invoked the distrust and xenophobia that led to the unjustifiable imprisonment of thousands of Japanese Americans during World War II, a time that is considered to be one of the darkest moments in American history, in order to justify current policy proposals. This is unacceptable and such intolerance has no place in our country. After a divisive election, we must move forward as one and not instill fear into our nation’s citizens.

The lesson of incarceration is that we cannot engage in discriminatory conduct and must oppose policies that profile and target the Muslim American community with hate and bigotry at its core.

We must work together to unite our membership and our nation and to find common ground for a better path forward. We must refuse to act based on fear and intolerance. As history has shown, such actions do not make our country safer and reject the basic tenets of what it means to be Americans.

For more information, the media may contact Brett Schuster, NAPABA communications manager, at 202-775-9555 or bschuster@napaba.org.