On Tuesday, November 19, 2019, AABANY’s Career Placement Committee presented its inaugural Dress for Success event. The event took place at J.Crew Fifth Avenue. Over 20 people attended the event. The event provided attendees with personal styling advice, an opportunity to shop, and wardrobe demonstrations that would allow each attendee to put their best foot forward in dressing. Special thanks to the Government Service & Public Interest Committee, Litigation Committee, Solo & Small Firm Practice Committee, Student Outreach Committee, and Women’s Committee for co-sponsoring the event. Special thanks to Flavor Fuzion Catering and Ashvini Persaud, Sr. Business Banker at Capital One, for her generous donation.
On October 29, 2019, AABANY’s Government Service & Public Interest Committee, Career Placement Committee, Student Outreach Committee, and New York Law School’s APALSA teamed up to present Pathways to Government Service and Public Interest Career Panel.
Panelists included:
Mihea Kim, Staff Attorney, Homicide Defense Task Force, The Legal Aid Society; Hon. Donald Leo, New York City Criminal Court Judge, New York Supreme Court; Nelson Mar, Senior Staff Attorney, Education Law Unit, Bronx Legal Services Kin Ng, Bureau Chief of the Red Zone Trial Bureau, Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office; Won Shin, Assistant United States Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York
Moderator: Hon. Grace E. Lee, Administrative Law Judge, New York Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance
The panelists shared what experiences led them to their current position in the public interest/government sector. Fun tidbits were also revealed — two of the panelists litigated cases against each other, while two other panelists went to high school together. Attendees and panelists enjoyed friendly banter and discussion after the panel.
We thank the Government Service & Public Interest , Career Placement, and Student Outreach Committee Committees for hosting this panel. To learn more about the GSPI Committee, go here. To learn more about the Career Placement Committee, go here. To learn more about the Student Outreach Committee, go here.
On October 24, AABANY’s Student Outreach Committee and Career Placement Committee co-sponsored a resume review/interview skills workshop at Fordham Law School. Students had the opportunity to have their resumes reviewed and practice interview questions with attorneys from a variety of different fields including, but not limited to, IP, Antitrust, Corporate, Litigation and Criminal Law. There were about 25 students and 10 reviewers in attendance. Attendees also enjoyed dinner from Panda Express.
A special thank you to Fordham APALSA, who helped organized the event, and to the reviewers who took time out of their busy schedules to review resumes and practice interview skills, including Aakruti Vakharia, Jonathan Li, Yang Chen, Christopher Bae, William Hao, Darley Maw, Jeffrey Mok, Kevin Yim, Jayashree Mitra, and Quentin Wong. Also, thank you to the students who attended and made the event a big success.
We look forward to seeing the attendees at future AABANY events. For information information about the Student Outreach Committee go to https://www.aabany.org/page/121. For more information about the Career Placement Committee, go to https://www.aabany.org/page/372.
On October 16, AABANY’s Student Outreach Committee presented a resume review workshop at New York University School of Law. Practicing attorneys from various fields attended the event to review the resumes of 30 students from NYU’s APALSA group and provide the students with useful substantive feedback on their resumes. The attorneys also offered 1-on-1 advice about networking, job hunting, how to succeed in the legal profession, and answered questions about their respective practice areas.
Thanks to all the NYU APALSA members who attended. A special thanks to all of the attorneys including Christopher Bae, Ming Cheung, Eunkyong Choi, William Hao, Jonathan Li, Daniel Ng, Aakruti Vakharia, Sahng-Ah Yoo, and Alice Zhang who took time out of their busy schedules to attend the event and be a resource for the students. We look forward to seeing NYU APALSA members taking part in upcoming AABANY events.
On Tuesday, July 22nd, AABANY’s Corporate Law Committee and Student Outreach Committee hosted an insightful Pre-OCI Information session, “What do corporate lawyer do?”, at Paul, Weiss. With more than 30 law school students and undergraduate students in attendance, Executive Director Yang Chen welcomed everyone and introduced the moderator, Terry Shen.
The panel started with Terry introducing each distinguished panel speaker. The panelists comprised both in-house attorneys from top firms in the industry and corporate law lawyers at prestigious law firms, each with a different specialty practice area within the landscape of corporate law:
• Jasmine Ball, Partner, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
• Parkin Lee, Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer, The Rockefeller Group
• Marianne Chow-Newman, Counsel, The Hearst Corporation
• Lawrence G. Wee, Partner, Paul Weiss Rifikind Wharton & Garrison LLP
Addressing the question “what do corporate lawyer do?”, the panelists talked about why they chose corporate law, their daily role as a corporate lawyer, the interaction and relationship with corporate clients, the kind of tasks a junior associate will encounter, and interview techniques for the upcoming OCI (on-campus interview) season on campus.
First, the panelists explained five different subdivisions of corporate law: Capital Markets, Credit & Leverage Finance, Mergers & Acquisitions, Restructuring, and Investment Management. Different from litigation and what has been portrayed in the media, corporate lawyers rarely go to court or draft motions. Instead, corporate lawyers offer legal advice to corporations who attempt to operate and grow their business. Coming from an engineering background in his early career, Parkin Lee characterized his role as a corporate lawyer as “engineering with words.” The nature of corporate operation requires lawyers to write a tight contract, understand the needs of their clients and negotiate on their behalf, build trust between two parties who want to do business, and explain complicated deal structures to the client. Young lawyers need to have the capability to negotiate, conduct due diligence, and strengthen relationships with clients.
The event concluded with a discussion of the deal team culture and “bro culture” in law firms. Although one does not need to thrive in the bro culture to succeed, Terry drew a connection between bro culture with the work ethic of a young lawyer, illustrating the reliability, can-do mindset and intellectual curiosity embodied in both deal team culture and bro culture.
We would like to sincerely thank Larry Wee and Paul, Weiss for hosting the event by providing food, beverages, and an excellent space. We also thank the Corporate Law Committee and Student Outreach Committee for putting together this valuable and meaningful program for current or prospective law students.
To learn more about the Corporate Law Committee, please click here.
To learn more about the Student Outreach Committee, please click here.
On Wednesday, May 28, 2019, AABANY’s Career Placement and Student Outreach Committees hosted the first Membership Mixer of the new fiscal year at Cajunsea on West 33rd Street.
Well over 30 attendees gathered and mingled while enjoying drinks, oysters, and snacks. The Membership Mixer is just oneof many events that AABANY’s Membership Committee is hosting to engage current and future members. Co-Chairs from the Career Placement Committee and Student Outreach Committee were present to meet with attendees and introduce them to the work of those committees.
Membership Committee Co-Chairs, Beatrice Leong and Christopher Bae, were on hand and made an announcement about upcoming events, which include an off-Broadway outing for “You never touched the dirt” and a Mets game at Citi Field. Please visit our calendar to learn more about our upcoming events by going to https://www.aabany.org/events/event_list.asp.
We thank everyone that braved the rain to attend the event and made it a great success.
On Thursday, March 28th, AABANY’s Student Outreach Committee hosted a Resume Review Workshop in collaboration with Fordham Law School’s APALSA. Students had the opportunity to meet experienced attorneys and receive substantive feedback on their resumes. The attorneys also offered 1-on-1 advice about networking, job hunting, and answered questions about their respective practice areas. Attendees enjoyed chicken kebabs and Mediterranean tapas from Kashkaval Garden.
Thanks to all the Fordham APALSA members that attended. A special thanks to all the attorneys that took time out of their busy schedules to participate in the event and be a resource for the students. We look forward to seeing Fordham APALSA members taking part in upcoming AABANY events.
We also thank Aakruti Vakharia, Student Outreach Committee Co-Chair, for this write-up.
On January 31, AABANY presented a road show and conducted mock interviews at New York Law School for members of the law school’s AALSA (Asian American Law Students Association). AABANY members and leaders, including President James Cho, Executive Director Yang Chen, Student Outreach Committee Co-Chair Jonathan Li, and Intellectual Property Committee Co-Chair Jeffrey Mok, visited New York Law School and met with AALSA members to talk to them about AABANY and how they can get involved. Following the meet-and-greet, attorneys and law students met one-on-one for mock interview sessions, to practice their interview skills and get feedback from attorneys.
We thank AALSA President Corinne Chen for inviting AABANY to present the roadshow and conduct mock interviews. For information about setting up a road show or event at your law school with AABANY, contact the Student Outreach Committee.
On January 29, 2019, a CLE panel on Access to Justice, Legal Needs and APA Communities was held by AABANY at Cardozo Law School. The panel was organized as a part of an impressive collaborative effort between AABANY’s Academic, Government Service & Public Interest (GSPI), Pro Bono & Community Service and Student Outreach Committees. The panel came from a broad mix of public interest attorneys, law professors and private practitioners. The moderators for the panel were Academic Committee co-chair Suzanne Kim (Professor of Law, Rutgers University) and GSPI co-chair Jonathan Hernandez (Staff Attorney, Legal Aid Society).
The event discussed how lack of access to income-based legal assistance and to the judicial system affects lower- and middle-income families and individuals, including New York City’s Asian & Pacific American communities that experience under-recognized poverty. Using multiple examples drawn from their own experiences as attorneys, the panelists discussed the impacts of this civil justice gap in family law, elder law, housing, employment law, domestic violence, immigration, language-access, and access to courts. The panelists also encouraged all concerned attorneys and law students alike to engage in pro bono work and community service.
Attendees at the event included AABANY President James Cho, numerous AABANY Committee Chairs, law students and attorneys from a wide range of backgrounds. Attorney attendees also received 1.5 hours of CLE credit under the new Diversity, Inclusion and Elimination of Bias requirement. After the panel presentation, Pro Bono Committee co-chair Karen Kithan Yau, made a direct appeal to all the attendees to support AABANY’s monthly Pro Bono Clinic, whether as volunteers or as donors or both, as ways to help tackle the many pressing issues discussed by the panel.
Thanks to all of the speakers for a compelling and informative discussion. Thanks to all who attended and to Cardozo Law School APALSA and Cardozo Law School for hosting.
We thank Kevin Hsi, Co-Chair of AABANY’s Government Service & Public Interest Committee, for providing the photos and write up for this post.
