AABANY’s Asia Practice Committee Presents: 2026 Legal Careers Panel at NYU School of Law

On Sunday, September 27, 2026, AABANY’s Asia Practice Committee (APC), together with the NYU Chinese Law Students Association (CLSA) and the Chinese American Lawyers Forum (CALF), hosted “Career Panel Insights from the Bar: 2026 Legal Careers Panel & Networking” at Lipton Hall, New York University School of Law. The afternoon brought together more than 100 law students, LL.M. candidates, recent graduates, and practicing attorneys for a candid conversation about launching and building a legal career in New York.

The panel featured:

The panelists reflected on the paths that led them to their current roles, from in-house practice at a global financial institution (Lian Duan) and partnership at an international law firm (Jonathan Zhou), to co-founding a law firm (Angus Ni) and practicing litigation (Simona Xu) and tax at a national law firm (Hardy Zhou). Their stories showed that legal careers are rarely linear and that the skills, relationships, and reputation built early on carry forward across very different settings.

The conversation also addressed questions of particular interest to the audience, including choosing a practice area, making the transition from law school to practice, cross-border and China-related work, and considerations facing internationally trained lawyers and LL.M. graduates entering the U.S. legal market. Panelists also shared practical advice on mentorship, networking, and professional development.

After the panel, attendees put their own questions to the speakers in an open Q&A before the event moved into a networking reception. Over refreshments and mooncakes – a nod to the Mid-Autumn Festival just days earlier – students and attorneys continued the conversation, exchanged contacts, and connected with the panelists one-on-one.

AABANY and the Asia Practice Committee thank Lian Duan, Jonathan Zhou, Angus Ni, Simona Xu, and Hardy Zhou for generously sharing their time and insights; our co-hosts, NYU CLSA and CALF; and NYU School of Law for hosting us. To learn more about the Asia Practice Committee and its upcoming programs, visit this page and keep an eye on the AABANY calendar. 

– Written by Ruixi Fu, Vice Chair, AABANY’s Asia Practice Committee

Prof. Kang to Lecture at NYU on Implicit Bias and Stereotype Threat

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On behalf of The Joseph and Gwendolyn Straus Institute for the Advanced Study of Law & Justice, you are cordially invited to attend a lecture, part of The Straus Public Lectures Series:

“The Grand Challenges of Implicit Social Cognition and the Law”

presented by
 
Jerry Kang
Straus Fellow, David M. Friedman Fellow, NYU School of Law; 
Professor of Law and Asian American Studies (by courtesy), UCLA
_________________________________

Date:
Tuesday, February 11th, 2014
 
Time:  6:00-7:30pm Lecture
7:30-8:30pm Post-lecture Reception
 
Location: 
Faculty Library
Vanderbilt Hall, 3rd Floor
40 Washington Square S.
New York, NY 10012
 
Please kindly RSVP,  if you would like to attend.

Lecture Synopsis: Recent findings in experimental social psychology have demonstrated the existence of “implicit biases”–attitudes and stereotypes that we are neither aware of nor necessarily endorse. Social scientists have also discovered “stereotype  threat”–that negative  stereotypes can undermine performance when an individual believes that by doing poorly she will confirm those very stereotypes about the groups to which  she  belongs. In this talk, Professor Jerry Kang will survey the science of implicit biases and stereotype threat with emphasis on real-world consequences. Then, he will explore their implications for law, policy, and legal theory. Along the way, Prof. Kang will outline what he sees as the field’s “Grand Challenges” for the next quarter century. 
 
The lecture is open to the public; please feel free to spread the word about the event.

NYU Symposium on Perry v. Brown

The N.Y.U. Review of Law & Social Change and NYU OUTLaw invite you to attend our upcoming symposium, Making Constitutional Change: the Past, Present, and Future Role of Perry v. Brown. The symposium will focus closely on this landmark Ninth Circuit case– holding California’s Proposition 8 in violation of the U.S. Constitution– and gathers many of its key players, including the lead Perry litigators themselves.

On Friday, October 5, at 9:00 a.m., MSNBC host Rachel Maddow will interview Perry litigators David Boies (LL.M. ‘67) and Theodore B. Olson. After, from 11:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., three panels will address Perry’s effect on the larger LGBTQ-rights movement, its effect on other marriage-equality litigation strategies, and how, in an ideal world, Perry should be decided if it goes to the Supreme Court. Panelists include Matt Coles, Erwin Chemerinsky, David Cruz ’94, Jon W. Davidson, William Eskridge, Jr., Roberta A. Kaplan, Melissa Murray, Jennifer C. Pizer ’88, Reva Siegel, Paul M. Smith, Therese Stewart, Andrea J. Ritchie, Adam Umhoefer, Evan Wolfson, and Kenji Yoshino, Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law at NYU School of Law.

Five and a half CLE credits are available for those attending all of the events on Friday, October 5.

We will also be hosting a staged reading of the American Foundation for Equal Rights and Broadway Impact’s 8, a play by Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black the night before, on Thursday, October 4 at 7:00 p.m. The play draws verbatim on Perry’s trial transcript and supplemental interviews. Will Pomerantz, of Epic Theater Ensemble, is directing and producing our show. The 90-minute reading will be followed by a discussion with Perry lay witness Ryan Kendall, Executive Director of the American Foundation for Equal Rights Adam Umhoefer, Executive Director of Epic Theater Ensemble Ron Russell, and the performers. Vice Dean Randy A. Hertz will moderate a conversation about how stories change minds. The panelists will also take questions from the audience. 

All events are free and open to the public and will be at NYU School of Law, in Vanderbilt Hall, at 40 Washington Square South, New York, New York.

To attend any of these events, please register at http://nyulaw.imodules.com/makingconstitutionalchange.

Please click here to view the flyer and schedule of the event.

Cordially,
Mateya Kelley
Symposium Editor
N.Y.U. Review of Law & Social Change

Geoffrey Wertime
Co-Chair
NYU OUTLaw

18th Annual Justice William J. Brennan Jr. Lecture

18th Annual Justice William J. Brennan Jr. Lecture