Tag: politics

Posted on

AABANY Recognized in City and State’s 2022 The Power of Diversity: Asian 100

AABANY is excited to announce that on May 2, 2022, President William Ng and President-Elect Karen Kim were recognized by City and State’s 2022 The Power of Diversity: Asian 100. The Power of Diversity: Asian 100 identifies New York’s Asian American leaders from a wide range of backgrounds who are gaining political power and advocating for their community. President William Ng and President-Elect Karen Kim are recognized as 50th on the list, an increase from AABANY’s placement last year at 53rd.

City & State wrote:

William Ng took over as president and Karen Kim as president-elect of the Asian American Bar Association of New York in April. Ng is a shareholder at Littler, a major employment and labor law firm. A Brooklyn Law School alumnus, Kim has practiced law for over a decade and serves as counsel to QBE North America. In March, AABANY, together with like-minded organizations, filed a court brief addressing suspected racial bias in a ruling involving a Korean American individual.

AABANY has had the pleasure of working closely with Grace Meng (1), number one on the list and New York’s first Asian American member of Congress. In 2021, Grace Meng spoke at AABANY’s press conference following the release of our anti-Asian violence report, A Rising Tide of Hate and Violence against Asian Americans in New York During COVID-19: Impact, Causes, Solutions.

AABANY also congratulates Assemblymember Ron Kim (3) and State Senator John Liu (4), who both spoke at AABANY’s May 31, 2022 press conference following the release of our second report on anti-Asian hate and violence in New York City, entitled Endless Tide: The Continuing Struggle to Overcome Anti-Asian Hate in New York.

Please join AABANY in congratulating these others AAPI trailblazers who made the list:

  • Sandra Ung (12), City Council member and former treasurer of AABANY;
  • Kevin Kim (17), Commissioner of the New York City Department of Small Business Services and former AABANY Board Officer;
  • Frank Wu (23), Queens College’s first President of Asian descent. AABANY honored Frank Wu with the AABANY Impact Award at our 2021 Virtual Gala: Uniting for Justice and Equity;
  • Joon Kim (29), Partner at longtime AABANY sponsor, Cleary Gottlieb, former acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District, and AABANY member;
  • Faiza Saeed (35), Presiding Partner at Cravath, a longtime sponsor of AABANY;
  • Wellington Chen (47), Executive Director of Chinatown Partnership Local Development Corp and AABANY community partner through CPLDC’s and AABANY’s collaboration on the creation of a dedicated team to address lawsuits under the Americans With Disabilities Act;
  • L. Austin D’Souza & Vidya Pappachan (64), President and President-Elect of the South Asian Bar Association of New York and AABANY members;
  • Justin Yu (78), Chair of The Chinese Chamber of Commerce of New York and AABANY community partner through his past support for our Chinatown Pro Bono Clinic;
  • Anna Mercado Clark (88), Partner at Phillips Lytle, NAPABA’s Northeast regional governor, and AABANY’s current Development Director, an Officer position on the Board; and
  • Elizabeth OuYang (98), Civil Rights attorney and leader of the APA Voice Redistricting Task Force of which AABANY is a member.

AABANY congratulates everyone who made the City & State Asian 100 list and thanks them all for the important work they do on behalf of New York’s AAPI community. To read the full article, please click here.

Posted on

AABANY President and Immediate Past President Listed Among City & State’s 100 Most Influential Asian Americans in New York Politics and Policy

Sapna Palla (top) and Brian Song (bottom)
Sapna Palla (top) and Brian Song (bottom)

AABANY is excited to announce that Immediate Past President Brian Song and President Sapna Palla have been included in the 2020 Power List of the 100 Most Influential Asian Americans in New York Politics & Policy, released by City & State. Song and Palla are jointly recognized as 52nd on the list. 

City & State wrote: 

The Asian American Bar Association’s mission is to ensure “the meaningful participation of Asian-Americans in the legal profession.” It has made strides under Sapna Palla, a partner at Wiggin and Dana LLP, who is the president for the 2020-2021 term, and under her immediate predecessor, Brian Song, a partner at the top law firm Baker & Hostetler LLP. The organization recently surpassed 1,400 paid members.  

Congratulations and thanks to Brian and Sapna to bringing AABANY to these new heights.

In addition to Brian and Sapna, several others among the honorees have worked with or been associated with AABANY, as members, community partners, or sponsors, to whom we also wish to extend our congratulations.

Among the top 10, AABANY has worked with Grace Meng, New York’s first Asian American US Congress Member; John Liu, State Senator and first Asian American to serve on the City Council; Steven Choi, Executive Director of the New York Immigration Coalition; Ron Kim and Yuh-Line Niou, both state Assembly Members; and Margaret Chin, New York City Council Member.

From the top 11-50, AABANY congratulates:

  • Wayne Ho, President and CEO of the Chinese-American Planning Council, which has partnered with AABANY on the Brooklyn Pro Bono Clinic;
  • Jo-Ann Yoo, Executive Director of the Asian American Federation, one of our community partners;
  • Frank Wu, President of Queens College, who co-authored our most performed trial reenactment, Building Our Legacy: The Murder of Vincent Chin; 
  • Preet Bharara who, as United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, was a regular speaker at our annual Prosecutors Reception and an honoree at our Annual Dinner in 2015; 
  • John Park, Executive Director of the MinKwon Center for Community Action, one of our community partners; 
  • Margaret Fung, Co-founder and Executive Director of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, one of our community partners; 
  • Faiza Saeed, a Presiding Partner at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, a Gold Sponsor of AABANY for many years;
  • Honorable Denny Chin, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and past AABANY President (1992-93), who currently helps lead our trial reenactments project.

From 51 – 100 on the list, we extend our congratulations to 

  • Jayasri Ganapathy, President of the South Asian Bar Association of New York (SABANY), one of our sister bar associations and past AABANY member; 
  • My Chi To, Executive Deputy Superintendent of the Insurance Division at the New York State Department of Financial Services, and past AABANY member; 
  • Nancy Yao Maasbach, President of the Museum of Chinese America, one of our community partners; 
  • Wendy Cai-Lee, President and CEO of Piermont Bank, a Bronze Sponsor of the 2019 NAPABA Northeast Regional/AABANY Fall Conference; and 
  • Justin Yu, Chair of the New York Chinese Chamber of Commerce, which has partnered with us for many years for our walk-in Pro Bono Clinic.

AABANY is privileged and honored to have worked closely with so many of New York’s most influential Asian American in politics and policy. Congratulations to everyone who made the list, and we look forward to continuing our collaboration and to partner in the future.

Posted on

Columbia APALSA Third Annual Conference: On the Shoulders of Giants

image

The Columbia Asian Pacific America Law Students Association invites you to attend their third annual conference: On the Shoulders of Giants: New Horizons for Asian Americans in Law and Politics.  The conference will be held on Saturday, March 8 starting at 1pm.  Attend one of three panels on Immigration Reform, Minority Identity, and Professional Development or attend dinner with keynote speaker former NYC Comptroller John Liu.  Among the speakers at the conference will be AABANY President Mike Huang, President-Elect Clara Ohr and Board Member Karen Lim, who will be joining Helen Wan (author, The Partner Track) and Vivia Chen (blogger, The Careerist) on a panel entitled “Navigating the Career Ladder: Professional Development Strategies for Asian American Attorneys.”

CLE credit will be offered.  Tickets are available on our
website at http://blogs.law.columbia.edu/apalsaconference/.

Posted on

From AsianInNY: Learning From Experiences of Asian American Leaders

AsianInNY is a proud sponsor for the Forum on Politics and Governance: Lessons from the experience of Elected Asian American Leaders at the Philippine Consulate General in New York.

Date: Feb 28th 6-8pm
Add: 556 5th Ave, New York, NY 10036

Learn from the lessons through the top Asian American Leaders including:

Congresswoman Grace Meng
State Assemblyman Ron Kim
City Council President Rolando Lavarro
Candidate 2013 NYC Council Elections Mr. Ed Santos

100 seats only including free admission, drinks and light hors d’oeuvres.

Must RSVP: http://www.asianinny.com/?p=38172

  image

Posted on

2014 KALCA Summer College Internship Program

The KALCA Summer College Internship Program, now entering its 14th year, is a unique opportunity for college students and recent graduates of Asian descent with demonstrated leadership potential to gain practical, hands-on exposure to government, politics and non-profit advocacy. Interns will earn a stipend of $3,000 by participating and successfully completing the program. Applications are due by March 21, 2014.
 
Interns are placed in leading government offices, nonprofit organizations, and political campaigns in New York City. In addition to full-time assignments, interns take individualized leadership development courses, meet government and civic leaders, explore community and cultural issues, and seek career advice from professionals in a wide range of public service vocations. Mentorship activities and cultural outings round out the program. 
 
The program will run from the beginning of June, 2014 to the beginning of August, 2014. To be eligible, the applicant must be a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident and a rising sophomore, junior or senior at an accredited university or will have received their Bachelors in Spring 2014. Finalists must be able to attend in-person interviews in New York City.
 
Please visit www.kalca.org to access the program overview and the application checklist. For further information, please contact Jeong Bae, Executive Director, at [email protected] or 212.633.2000.
 
image
 
 
About Korean American League for Civic Action
Korean American League for Civic Action is dedicated to promoting the civic participation of Korean Americans and Asian Pacific Americans. KALCA furthers its mission by investing in leaders with talent and passion to serve the public; educating community members about their rights, duties and responsibilities as American citizens; and providing information about current events of interest to the community.

Posted on

//static.googleusercontent.com/external_content/picasaweb.googleusercontent.com/slideshow.swf

The 2013 NAPABA Northeast Regional/AABANY Fall Conference took place on Saturday, September 21, at the New York offices of Weil Gotshal & Manges. It started with breakfast and registration at 8:00 am. Panel session 1 began at 9:30 am, featuring CLE programs on “Office Politics 101 – How to Win the Popularity Contest at Work,” “Post-Hurricane Sandy: One Year Later and its Impact on the Northeast,” and “The Nexus of IP and Everything Else in the Universe.” The morning session of the Trial Advocacy Program (TAP) began with a lecture.

Panel session 2 followed at 11:00 am with CLE programs on “How to Get Disbarred: Avoiding Ethics Complaints and What to Do if you Can’t,” “Girlfriends: ‘Lean In’ – When, Where and How,” and “Bright Lights, Big Pharma.” TAP breakout sessions took place, allowing participants to engage in actual exercises based on the morning lecture.

At the same time, during the morning session, the In-House Counsel Forum, Judicial Forum, numerous pitch sessions and the AABANY Career Exchange were simultaneously going on. It was a busy morning.