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AABANY CONGRATULATES GLENN MAGPANTAY AS
RECIPIENT OF THE NEW YORK STATE BAR ASSOCIATION’S HAYWOOD BURNS MEMORIAL AWARD
For immediate release: February 2, 2015
Contact: Yang Chen, Executive Director, (718) 228-7206
NEW YORK – February
2, 2015 – The Asian American Bar Association of New York (“AABANY”) is proud to
announce that AABANY’s LGBT Committee Chair Glenn Magpantay was the recipient
of the 2015 Haywood Burns Memorial Award, presented by the New York State Bar
Association (“NYBSA”) on January 29, 2015 at the New York City Hilton Midtown
as part of their Annual Meeting.
The Haywood
Burns Memorial Award, given to honor the late civil rights lawyer and academic
Dean W. Haywood Burns, is presented each year by NYBSA’s Committee on Civil
Rights to an individual who has contributed to New York State in a manner that
reflects Dean Burns’ commitment to the struggle for justice and the qualities
that made him an outstanding advocate for civil rights and the empowerment of
the powerless. AABANY was proud to nominate Mr. Magpantay’s nomination for this
award.
Mr. Magpantay
is now the Executive Director of the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander
Alliance. Immediately before that, he spent sixteen years at the Asian American
Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), defending and promoting the voting
rights of Asian Americans. Mr. Magpantay has fought to expand access to the
right to vote, leading AALDEF’s Annual Asian American Election Protection
Project, the nation’s largest poll monitoring and multilingual voter survey
program for Asian Americans. As a civil rights litigator, Mr. Magpantay engaged
in impact litigation and has filed several briefs for the U.S. Supreme Court
regarding involving voting rights and language access in the Asian American
community. He has fought for the fair political representation of racial and
ethnic minorities in Congress, the State House, and City Hall and worked on
many redistricting battles. Mr. Magpantay is an adjunct law professor at
Brooklyn Law School, and an undergraduate teacher at Hunter College. In
addition to inspiring many lawyers and law students to engage in pro bono work
through his organizing efforts as a former Chair of AABANY’s Pro Bono
Committee, he also inspires the legal community through his teaching and
scholarship on many topics, such as constitutional theory and strategies to
safeguard minority political participation. Mr. Magpantay currently serves as
the Chair of AABANY’s LGBT Committee, which he founded.
As stated by
Executive Director Yang Chen in the introductory remarks given on the night of
the awards ceremony, “Glenn is an exemplary advocate, scholar, mentor and
leader in the public interest. He gives voice to the voiceless, power to the
powerless. He stands up for the unrepresented and under-represented in our society….
Now more than ever we need lawyers and individuals like Glenn to teach us and
remind us of the need to continue fighting for the civil rights of all
Americans. AABANY commends NYSBA for recognizing Glenn with the Haywood Burns
Memorial Award, and we congratulate Glenn on a well-deserved and auspicious
honor.”
_
For more
information, please contact Yang Chen, AABANY Executive Director, at (718)
228-7206, or direct any inquiries to main@aabany.org.
The Asian American Bar
Association of New York is a professional membership organization of attorneys
concerned with issues affecting the Asian Pacific American community. Incorporated in 1989, AABANY seeks not only
to encourage the professional growth of its members but also to advocate for
the Asian Pacific American community as a whole. AABANY is the New York regional affiliate of
the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA).
###
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information about AABANY is available at www.aabany.org
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Photos courtesy of Francis Chin.
(Source: http://www.aabany.org/)
World Journal’s Report on the AABANY/NYCLA Reception for Glenn Lau-Kee
World Journal’s Report on the AABANY/NYCLA Reception for Glenn Lau-Kee
知名律師劉德光之子劉藹明律師(Glenn Lau-Kee)去年當選紐約州律師公會(New York State Bar Association)2014年度主席，自去年6月1日起作為準主席(president-elect)累積經驗，並於今年6月1日正式開始主席職務。16日，紐約州律師公會及亞裔律師協會舉辦劉藹明就任慶祝活動，劉藹明鼓勵後進加入律師公會，幫助法律與時俱進、讓社會更公正。 64歲的劉藹明畢業於耶魯學院和波士頓大學法學院，1977年加入父親於1956年設立的Kee & Lau-Kee律師樓，他精通於地產和商業法，曾於1997年至1999年出任紐約亞裔律師協會主席。從去年6月1月起，劉藹明先出任紐約州律師公會準主席，今年6月1日…
Translated article:
On June 16, 2014, New York County Lawyers Association (NYCLA) and Asian American Bar Association of New York (AABANY) held a reception to congratulate Glenn Lau-Kee for becoming the first Asian American to lead the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA).
Glenn Lau-Kee graduated from Yale College and Boston University School of Law. In 1977, he joined Kee & Lau-Kee, PLLC, a firm founded by his father in 1956. Ever since, Lau-Kee has concentrated his practice in real estate and business law. From 1997 to 1999, Lau-Kee served as President of AABANY. On June 1, 2014, following his year as President-Elect, Lau-Kee assumed office as President of NYSBA.
In his reception remarks, Lau-Kee expressed his belief that the law should continue to change to keep up with modern times and innovative technology. In the upcoming year, he plans to make efforts to amend outdated and impractical laws. In his term as President, he also plans to better publicize the association and to attract more young attorneys to join. He personally intends to visit fifteen law schools in the state of New York to build a better connection between practicing attorneys and law students.
Lau-Kee joined NYSBA fourteen years ago. As one of the earliest Asian American members of NYSBA, Lau-Kee is proud to serve as its current president. His leadership is a signal of not only NYSBA’s but the legal profession’s increasing openness to people of different sexes and ethnicities.
(Translation courtesy of Phil Chen.)
At the NYCLA-AABANY Reception for Glenn Lau-Kee, NYSBA’s 117th President and the first Asian American President of NYSBA, Past AABANY President Vince Chang, Margaret Ling, Chair of NYCLA’s Asian Practice Committee and Director on AABANY’s Board, and Norman Kee, Glenn’s father, introduce Glenn to present his speech to all who gathered for the celebration. Thanks to Francis Chin, Director on AABANY’s Board, for the video.
(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)
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On July 16th, NYCLA and AABANY honored Glenn Lau-Kee for his historical accomplishment of becoming the 117th President of the New York State Bar Association and the first Asian-American to hold this position.
Margaret Ling, Chair of NYCLA’s Asian Practice Committee and co-chair of AABANY’s Real Estate Committee, began the program by introducing Presiding Justice of the Second Department, Hon. Randall T. Eng, to present the first remarks of the evening.
Margaret then introduced representatives from the many organizations Glenn has impacted or been part of, many of whom shared personal stories of their work with or connection to Glenn. Among the speakers were Lewis Tesser, President of NYCLA, Bridgette Ahn, Vice President of Programs and Committees for KALAGNY, Nadine Fontaine, Immediate Past President of the Metropolitan Black Bar Association, Rosevelie Marquez Morales, Co-Chair of NYSBA’s Committee on Diversity and Inclusion, Alex Lee, Vice President of Finance and Development for NAPABA, and Clara Ohr, President of AABANY.
NYCLA’s Solo and Small Firm Committee was a co-sponsor of the event, and Co-Chairs Tsui Yee and Paige Zandri offered remarks on behalf of that committee. Tsui also co-chairs AABANY’s Immigration and Nationality Law Committee. Vince Chang, a Past President of AABANY, presented remarks on behalf of NYCLA’s Federal Courts Committee, another co-sponsor of the event.
Representatives from Federal, State and City government were on hand to honor Glenn. The Governor’s Office, represented by Mecca Santana, Chief Diversity Officer, presented a greeting letter from the Governor to Glenn. Sandra Ung, Chief Legislative Assistant for Congresswoman Grace Meng, presented a commendation to Glenn from Congresswoman Meng’s office. Jimmy Yan, Chief Deputy General Counsel for New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer, offered congratulations on behalf of the Comptroller.
All of the speakers extolled Glenn for his outstanding record of leadership and status as a significant role model for Asian American, minority and under-represented groups.
After all the speeches were given, Glenn’s father, Norman Kee, a trailblazer in his own right, introduced Glenn. Glenn expressed his gratitude for the honors bestowed upon him at the reception. He urged everyone, especially young lawyers, to get involved in bar associations – any bar association – as a way to develop as lawyers and serve the profession.
Congratulations to Glenn on his historic achievement, and thanks to Margaret Ling for organizing the reception and NYCLA for hosting it. Thanks to all the government officials, bar leaders, friends and family who came out to celebrate.
AABANY Co-sponsors: Achieving Diversity in ADR
The AABANY Litigation Committee encourages anyone interested in pursuing a career as a neutral (arbitrator, mediator, etc.), and, in particular, learning about the specific advantages and challenges as a person of color, to attend the New York State Bar Association’s program entitled, “Achieving Diversity in the ADR Field: Overcoming Old Challenges and Seeking New Opportunities.” The program will be held on Tuesday, March 25th from 5:30-9:00 p.m. and, because AABANY is a participating and sponsoring bar association, the program will offer 2.5 FREE NY CLE credits in Skills to all AABANY members. A panel of renowned ADR providers, scholars, and administrators will discuss their practices for recruiting and selecting neutrals, the efforts they have undertaken to diversify their rosters of neutrals, and their efforts to further expose the users of their ADR services to racially and ethnically diverse panels of arbitrators and mediators. Another panel, moderated by AABANY member Theo Cheng, and comprising distinguished ADR neutrals, will provide perspectives on how to navigate a successful career as a neutral; recommending specific networking, marketing, and promotional activities; discussing how best to leverage diversity issues; and providing practical tips for increasing the opportunities for being selected as a neutral. Finally, there will be a discussion about strategies for addressing cross cultural issues in dispute resolution, followed by a networking reception. For more information go to http://bit.ly/nysbareg.
P.S. For those of you who are experiencing difficulties registering via the NYSBA’s website, you can alternatively send an email to Beth Gould at bgould@nysba.org with your full contact information (name, address, email, phone number), indicating that you are a member of AABANY. She will handle registering you for the event.
