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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.

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On Wednesday, June 27, AABANY’s In-House Counsel and Corporate Law Committees held the 5th Annual Winetasting and Networking Reception at the Aicon Gallery in downtown Manhattan.  We had 120 attendees including in-house attorneys from 46 companies or organizations.  We were delighted that the following GCs were able to attend:

  • Vernon G. Chu, BBC Worldwide Americas, Inc.
  • Pearl Hou, Sen Yu International Holdings, Inc.
  • Charles Kwak, GE Capital Real Estate – Global Investment Management
  • Carol Lee, Taconic Capital Advisors LP
  • Parkin Lee, The Rockefeller Group
  • Bobby Liu, MD Sass Investors Services, Inc.
  • Don Liu, Xerox Corporation
  • Sonia Low, Chinese-American Planning Council, Inc.
  • Joseph Yi, Lam Group

We thank Gail Inaba,Managing Director and Associate General Counsel in the Legal Department of J.P. Morgan, for addressing the attendees at the event.  Gail is currently the Global Group Practice head for the securities financing and prime brokerage business in the Investment Bank.

Thanks to our sponsors for making this 5th Annual Winetasting and Networking Reception possible and thanks to everyone who attended.  Congratulations to the In-House Counsel Committee and Corporate Counsel Committee on a successful event.

To learn more about the In-House Counsel Committee, contact the co-chairs Duane Morikawa and Vincent Hull at [email protected]  To learn more about the Corporate Law Committee, contact the co-chairs John Rogers and Stephen Kim at [email protected].

This is a reminder that the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs opportunity for free leadership training will start this Saturday the 14th, 11:00 am at the Harlem Y. We are STILL accepting applications, so please forward this application link to anyone who is interested in this wonderful opportunity!

https://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/675588/NLI

The workshops will cover: community organizing, government structure, fundraising, and networking. Micro-grant funds will be available to participants for community improvement projects. The schedule is as follows:

Saturday, April 14, 11 am – 2:00 pm: Harlem YMCA Outreach Center, 180 W 135th St

Saturday, April 21, 11am – 2pm: Harlem YMCA Outreach Center, 180 W 135th St

Wednesday, May 2, 6-10pm: Harlem State Office Building, 163 West 125th St., and Jackie Robinson Center, 181 West 135th Street

Wednesday, May 9, 6-9pm: Jackie Robinson Center, 181 West 135th Street

Please encourage your friends and colleagues to apply!!!!

Best,

Sarah

Sarah Flatto | One NYC One Nation Coordinator | NYC Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs
p: (212)341-9075 | c: (646)409-3116 | nyc.gov/immigrants

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On Saturday, November 12, St John’s APALSA together with AABANY’s Student Outreach Committee presented Networking 101, an interactive networking workshop designed to teach law students the ins and outs and do’s and don’ts of networking by getting students on their feet and engaging in networking exercises. Chris Chan, past AABANY president, led the workshop, attended by students from St. John’s, CUNY, Hofstra and Touro.  Student Outreach Committee Co-Chairs Ben Chan and Liza Sohn attended, along with AABANY members Stephen Kim and Lucian Chen and Executive Director Yang Chen. Enjoy the slideshow with photos taken by Liza and Yang.  If you are interested in bringing workshop to your school or organization, contact us at [email protected].

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSHRyWwetKQ

Next in our series of “Get Connected @ AABANY” videos is Connie Yik Kong, first year associate at Grimaldi & Yeung who graduated last year from Boston University School of Law and got her current position through AABANY. She works with AABANY Solo and Small Firm Committee Co-Chair Pauline Yeung-Ha, name partner at Grimaldi & Yeung and recently recognized as Super Lawyer Rising Star and Best Lawyer 2012.

To quote Connie: “Even though it’s an awkward experience sometimes, networking is worth it because without networking and getting to know [AABANY] I would never find out about this job, and I’m really grateful and want to give back to the legal community.”

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More than 40 law students and lawyers attended the Fall Networking Event at Slate on Thursday, October 20.  Students from Rutgers, Brooklyn, Columbia, New York Law School, and Cardozo were there, along with a mix of lawyers in private practice and the public sector.  Thanks to Irene Tan and Jonathan Li for putting it together! And thanks to Liza Sohn, Student Outreach Committee Co-Chair for the wonderful photos.