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On Friday, May 31, AABANY’s Membership Committee presented the second of its Get to Know AABANY Happy Hours, this time featuring the Corporate Law, Young Lawyers and Student Outreach Committees. More than 70 attendees gathered at K2 Lounge in the Rubin Museum of Art. Apart from mixing, mingling and networking with fellow AABANY members and friends, guests got to enjoy the Himalayan and Buddhist art collection at the museum, music provided by a live DJ, delicious finger foods and 2-for-1 drink specials. It was a great way to wrap up APA Heritage Month and a wonderful wind-down to a busy week. All who attended seemed to enjoy the space, the surroundings and the good company. Stay tuned for future announcements of upcoming Get to Know AABANY events!

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On January 24, 2013, AABANY held its Annual Meeting. It was hosted by Cravath, Swaine & Moore, in their New York office, and the firm generously provided space, food and drinks for all our attendees.  At the meeting, many AABANY members and friends got to meet and mingle before the business portion of the Annual Meeting began. President Jean Lee led the meeting and invited members to cast their votes for officers and directors if they had not already done so. While the votes were being counted, she gave an overview of AABANY’s active and productive year in 2012. Executive Director Yang Chen reported on the activities of AABANY’s numerous committees, after which he announced the Outstanding Committee of the Year award. This year’s top committee was the Women’s Committee for the excellent variety of substantive programs and networking events that greatly enhanced AABANY and its mission. President-elect Mike Huang gave closing remarks and would have announced the results of the election had they been ready at that time, but they were not, so the audience was invited to continue enjoying food, drink and each other’s company. At about 8:45 pm, the results were ready, and Mike proudly announced that the following Officers had been elected:

  • Clara Ohr, President-elect
  • James Yu, Vice President of Programs and Operations
  • William Wang, Vice President of Finance and Development
  • Jane Chuang, Treasurer
  • Karen Kim, Recording Secretary
  • Judy Kim, Membership Secretary

The following Directors were elected:

  • James Lin
  • James Chou
  • Francis Chin
  • Linda Lin
  • Teena-Ann V. Sankoorikal

AABANY’s Year-End Report for 2012 was distributed at the meeting along with the current issue of AABANY’s newsletter, The AABANY Advocate. To review a copy of the Year-End Report online go to http://bit.ly/ann_rpt13.

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Annual Meeting, and thanks to everyone who submitted proxies to help us obtain quorum. We hope to see you at our upcoming events in 2013, in particular our 24th Annual Dinner at Cipriani Wall Street coming up on February 27.

(Source: http://bit.ly/)

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On Saturday, September 22, at the Subotnick Center in Brooklyn Law School, more than 30 law students, including many from Brooklyn Law School and some from the law schools at Fordham, Cardozo and St John’s, spent a few hours in the afternoon meeting the leaders of the Asian American Bar Association of New York (AABANY) and learning about different career paths for law students and the skills needed to survive and thrive in law school.

Irene Tan and Ben Chan, Co-Chairs of the Student Outreach Committee, planned and organized this first-time event.  It began with an introduction to AABANY given by Executive Director Yang Chen, followed by several Committee Chairs talking about the work of the committees and how law students can get involved.  This panel included Liza Sohn, Co-Chair of the Women’s Committee, Will Ng, Co-Chair of the Student Outreach and Communication Committees, Karen Lim, Co-Chair of the Intellectual Property Committee, Rio Guerrero, Co-Chair of the Immigration and Nationality Law Committee, and Richard Tsai, Co-Chair of the Government and Public Sector Committee.

After the law students were introduced to AABANY and some of its Committees, the discussion turned to a career panel that included Jean Lee, AABANY President and in-house counsel at JP Morgan Chase, who spoke about practicing litigation as a civil litigator and as an in-house lawyer; Sam Yee, Assistant Attorney General at the New York State Attorney General’s office, who spoke about litigating as a prosecutor; Michael Huang, AABANY President-elect and Partner at Boies Schiller & Flexner, who spoke about practicing as a corporate transactional lawyer; Tim Wong, past AABANY Treasurer and solo practitioner, who spoke about opening up his own general practice in Chinatown; Rio Guerrero, founder of Guerrero Yee, who talked about starting his own immigration practice; Chris Chan, past AABANY president, who shared his experiences as a criminal defense lawyer; and Richard Tsai, court attorney for Hon. Michael Stallman, who discussed working in public service.  The panel was moderated by Yang Chen.

After the career panel, Ben Chan spoke about exam-taking and other skills that new law students need to master to survive in law school and to success beyond it.

The workshop concluded with a networking session that gave the law students a chance to speak directly with all the panelists to ask questions one-on-one or in smaller group settings.

Thanks to BLS APALSA for hosting the event, and thanks to everyone who came.  To learn more about the Student Outreach Committee, contact Ben and Irene, the Co-Chairs at [email protected]. (Thanks to Francis Chin for the photos.)

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More than 100 AABANY members and friends registered for the End of Summer Happy Hour on August 29 at Tavern 29 (on 29th and Park Avenue South) and from about 6 pm to 9 pm, it seemed like everyone who signed up showed up to join AABANY to bid a fond farewell to summer 2012.  Attorneys, law students, in-house counsel, members and non-members met, mingled and caught up with each other over drinks and munchies.  We took over the second floor, and for those who wanted some fresh air, they could take their networking to the outdoor rooftop space. 

About an hour into the event, President Jean Lee stood on a chair and at the top of her voice encouraged everyone to sign up for the Fall Conference.  For those who didn’t hear everything she said, Fall Conference brochures were available for everyone to take with them.  Thanks to all for coming and making this our biggest End of Summer Happy Hour yet.  We wish everyone a happy, safe and fun Labor Day Weekend.