Tag: prosecutors

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AABANY Hosts 2024 Annual Dinner at Cipriani Wall Street to Celebrate our 35th Anniversary

On Wednesday, May 22, 2024, AABANY hosted its 2024 Annual Dinner with the theme “Building a Strong Foundation for a Brighter Future” at Cipriani Wall Street. Celebrating the 35th Anniversary of AABANY, the event was hosted again during Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Month with over 700 attorneys, judges, prosecutors, in-house counsel, government officials, and dignitaries who came out to celebrate with us at the Annual Dinner.

The event began with an invite-only General Counsel Reception which was attended by 40 General Counsels and numerous sponsor guests. We thank our General Counsel Reception sponsor, Groombridge, Wu, Baughman & Stone for helping us start off the night strong! To see the full list of General Counsels who accepted AABANY’s invitation, please click here.

The General Counsel Reception occurred simultaneously with a Cocktail Reception in the West Ballroom where numerous guests mingled, caught up with each other, made new connections, and took photos at the step-and-repeat.

After the Cocktail Reception, the dinner and program began with CeFaan Kim as the night’s excellent host and charismatic Master of Ceremonies. First course was already plated as CeFaan kicked off the program. He invited to the stage Karen Kim, Immediate Past President, to deliver her remarks as the outgoing President. She was followed by our first honoree, Iris Lan, Esq., recipient of AABANY’s Public Service Award.

Iris began her speech by praising AABANY for its work in preventing AAPI Hate, as well as its support for the AAPI legal community. To close out, Iris told a story attributed to United States Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson. The story was centered around three stone basins: “Each stone basin represents a judge or a lawyer,” Iris stated. “Some see their work as merely a way to earn a living. Others perhaps view their work as applying legal precedent molding their decision.” Iris then described the third stone basin as one that builds a “cathedral,” representing the building of a path for others to walk through. She thanked AABANY, as an embodiment of this third basin, for “building the cathedral of the future.”

After Iris received her reward, a short video was shown, celebrating 35 years of AABANY. It discussed the birth of AABANY as an organization established to support the community of AAPI legal professionals and the wider AAPI community. It then chronicled AABANY’s growth from a small group that would host social events to an organization with a wide-reaching mission and membership. It also delved into how AABANY contended with the COVID-19 pandemic and the uptick in anti-Asian hate, and the birth of the anti-Asian Violence Task Force. 

Following the 35th anniversary video, White & Case LLP was presented with the Law Firm Diversity Award for its dedication to improving diversity, equity, and inclusion in the legal field. Sylvia Chin accepted the award on behalf of the firm. Congratulations to White & Case on this well-deserved honor. To read more about the award, read the press release here.

After a brief time for guests to continue networking, AABANY was proud to honor the Honorable Denny Chin, United States Circuit Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, with AABANY’s Impact Leadership Award

Judge Chin delivered a powerful speech on the importance of resilience and highlighted some of his most memorable career moments, such as sentencing Bernie Madoff in 2009.   

In addition, we presented the 2024 class of Don H. Liu Scholars: Felicia Hou, Grace Koh and Yangji Sherpa. Read more about the program here. Before this year’s class of DHL Scholars was presented, a short film celebrated the tenth anniversary of this program and its many accomplished and worthy recipients.

The dinner ended with a short trailer for the documentary, Voices Against Anti-Asian Hate, produced by the AABANY Anti-Asian Violence Task Force. The film featured numerous victims and survivors of anti-Asian hate, including Justin Go, father of Michelle Go, who spoke eloquently about her murder in January 2022. After the trailer played, CeFaan Kim stated, “Do not be afraid, and make sure you are heard.”

Next, AABANY President Joseph Eng made closing remarks, celebrating community leaders, former presidents of AABANY, and founders in attendance, as well as discussing the “next 35 years” of AABANY, expressing the hope that the paths those leaders and founders had forged would become familiar ones for success. He envisioned a future where “exceptional is the norm,” where AAPI voices are strong and heard throughout the legal community and beyond, and where young AAPIs are encouraged and inspired to enter the profession. He finished by again congratulating the night’s award winners, thanking the sponsors, and finally thanking his wife, Alejandra. 

After the dinner, attendees who wished to extend the celebration went up to the Mezzanine for the afterparty, which continued until midnight.

We thank the AABANY 2024 Annual Dinner Planning Committee and volunteers for their hours of hard work to organize this annual dinner and making it a celebration to remember. Thank you to AABANY 2024 President Joseph Eng for his leadership of the 2024 Annual Dinner Planning Committee.

We gratefully acknowledge all our sponsors whose generous contributions allow us to continue our work of supporting the AANHPI legal community and the AANHPI community as a whole. Thank you to our top sponsors: 

Lastly, we thank everyone who attended the 2024 Annual Dinner for making our 35th anniversary so special and memorable. You can view the photo albums and videos from the 2024 Annual Dinner here. 

Please save the date for the 2025 Annual Dinner taking place on May 29, 2025. 

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AABANY’s Litigation, Prosecutors’ and Labor & Employment Committees Host Litigators’ Happy Hour at Three Monkeys

On June 21, 2022, the Litigation, Prosecutors’ and Labor & Employment Committees hosted a Litigators’ Happy Hour at the Three Monkeys. Conveniently located in Midtown, law clerks, litigators, prosecutors, and lawyers in various practice areas enthusiastically attended the event after work. A range of platters including buffalo chicken spring rolls, macaroni and cheese bites, and nachos were served for everyone to share. The night was filled with lively conversations among the attendees. Many expressed their continued excitement for more in-person programming and happy hours as part of the hosting committees’ efforts. Litigation Committee Co-Chair, Aakruti Vakharia, reminisced about this year’s Annual Dinner and even shared a few tips with other attendees as to how to stay stylish by securing a free personal shopper from nearby department stores. Others were celebrating successes on their cases, while new members and first-time attendees were welcomed by introducing them to AABANY’s extensive network. 

The committees also discussed ideas for programming and events for the upcoming year. Thanks again to everyone who attended the first joint event of the fiscal year from the Litigation, Prosecutors’ and Labor & Employment Committees. We look forward to many more events to come, whether collectively or individually, from these committees. To learn more about the different committees, please visit the Litigation Committee here, the Prosecutors Committee here, and the Labor and Employment Committee here. 

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AABANY Hosts Weekly Membership Mixer on August 14

On August 14, 2020, the Membership Committee hosted their weekly Zoom Membership Mixer, with 19 participants in attendance. The icebreaker question this week asked participants “What were the worst fashion trends you participated in?” Some answers included fanny packs, turtlenecks, mini skirts, flood pants, Jnco Pants, Success Curls, baggy clothes, cargo pants, Structure zippered clothes, Hawaiian puka shell necklace, and sweater vests. 

At the mixer, AABANY Board Member and Assistant United States Attorney Won Shin, Chief of Appeals, Criminal Division, SDNY, was our featured guest. He gave advice to young lawyers on legal writing and talked about how he went from Big Law to the US Attorney’s Office in SDNY.  The mixer was co-hosted by the Government Service & Public Interest Committee and Prosecutors’ Committee, and many members from both committees were in attendance.

Congratulations to GSPI Co- Chair Jonathan Hernandez for winning this week’s prize: a year long subscription to the podcast CAFE Insider, hosted by former SDNY United States Attorney Preet Bharara.

The Membership Committee previously hosted Monthly Mixers at bars, ballparks, stadiums, operas, etc. but due to COVID, we have moved online to offer members a weekly outlet to share their feelings, see old friends, and make new connections. Mixers start at 6:30pm on Friday and the main event ends at 7:30pm but people usually stay on after 7:30pm for smaller breakout groups.

Membership Committee will continue to host weekly Zoom mixers until it is safe to gather together again in person. 

We are giving away door prizes during some weeks. In order to win, you must be a member and must RSVP on the aabany.org calendar entry to get a raffle number. Non-members can join the Zoom mixer but won’t be eligible to win a prize. 

Mixers are not recorded and are LIVE, so don’t miss out. Register for this week’s mixer by Thursday, August 20 at https://www.aabany.org/events/event_details.asp?legacy=1&id=1366649

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AABANY Hosts Screening of the Documentary “Blowin’ Up”

On Thursday, April 11, AABANY hosted a screening of “Blowin’ Up,” a feature documentary that explores the complex realities of sex work in New York City and the compassionate approach of a human trafficking court in Queens County. The film features AABANY member Honorable Toko Serita, Queens Supreme Court, as well as other heroines of the Human Trafficking Intervention Court, that work with victims of sexual exploitation who face prostitution-related charges.

After the screening, Beatrice Leong, AABANY Government Service and Public Interest Committee Co-Chair, led a panel discussion featuring speakers from the NYPD/FBI Joint Human Trafficking Task Force and a Queens Assistant District Attorney who prosecutes human traffickers. The panelists talked about how they worked together to prosecute the traffickers and how one can identify and help a suspected trafficking victim. The panel gave important insight into how gangs and traffickers target their victims, and the audience learned that many victims are new immigrants, local high school students or children in the foster care system. “Drugs can only be used once, but a person can be used over and over.”

If you suspect someone is a victim of trafficking,  you can email New York Police Department, at [email protected] or visit https://www1.nyc.gov/site/acs/youth/identify.page to report them.

We thank Beatrice Leong and Emily Arakawa for providing the photos and write-up for this blog post.

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Chinatown’s Ghost Scam

Chinatown’s Ghost Scam

Congratulations to Kin Ng, AABANY member and co-founder of the AABANY Prosecutors’ Committee, for his work at the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office prosecuting scammers who had run off with the life savings of an elderly Chinese immigrant, mentioned in the New Yorker article above! 

Fraud that exploits the religious and spiritual beliefs of immigrant communities continues to be a pervasive problem in Chinatowns around New York and the world. Please join AABANY in thanking Kin Ng for helping to protect those in the Chinese-American community who are vulnerable.

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So You Want to be a Prosecutor—Upholding Truth, Justice, and the American Way

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to work as prosecutor at the federal, state or local level? Do you have what it takes to be an elite trial lawyer or argue in front of Supreme Court Justices? Have you ever wanted to work at place where the job description is to pursue justice? Do you want to help keep your community safe? Do you want to be the voice for individuals who can’t speak for themselves? If your answer is “yes” to any of the questions above, join us for a candid discussion with prosecutors from around the country as they discuss their on the job experiences and share their secrets on how to put together a competitive resume and ace the interview process.

Informational session (elimination of bias credit pending in CA)

2017 NAPABA Convention
Friday, Nov. 3, 3 p.m.-4 p.m.
Room: Supreme Court

Scheduling Interviews

To schedule interviews with individual offices, please click here. Interviews will be conducted on-site during the NAPABA Convention on Saturday, Nov. 4.

About the NAPABA Convention

The NAPABA Convention is an annual gathering of Asian Pacific American attorneys, judges, law professors, and law students. NAPABA represents the interests of over 50,000 attorneys and more than 80 state and local Asian Pacific American bar associations. Join us as we celebrate our 29th Convention and convene over 2,000 attendees in Washington, D.C.!

Click here for more information about the Convention.

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