On May 5, 2023, the Society of Asian Federal Officers held its 32nd Annual Awards and Scholarship Banquet at Golden Unicorn Restaurant. AABANY Board Member, Won Shin, Chief of Appeals, U.S. Attorney’s Office, S.D.N.Y., was awarded Prosecutor of the Year. Charlie Lai and Jack Tchen, Founders of The Museum of Chinese in America (MoCA), received the Civilians of the Year award.
Pictured are (left to right): David Sohn, Karen Kim, Won Shin, Katherine Loanzon and David Chiang.
Congratulations to Won Shin on this well-deserved award and recognition! Click here to read AABANY’s press release on Won Shin being awarded Prosecutor of the Year by the Society of Asian Federal Officers.
On May 1, City & State published their 2023 list of the Power Asian 100 in New York. As stated in the article:
City & State’s Power of Diversity: Asian 100 list features these elected officials and also highlights other power brokers who are managing government agencies, running businesses, advocating for policy changes – and ensuring Asian Americans have a voice at the table.
AABANY is pleased to announce that our Immediate Past President William Ng has been named one of City & State’s Power Asian 100 at 56 on the list.
Please join AABANY in congratulating William Ng along with the following attorneys connected to AABANY (numbers in parentheses indicate ranking):
Sandra Ung, New York City Council Member and Former AABANY Treasurer. (10)
Frank Wu, 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. (22)
Faiza Saeed, Presiding Partner at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, a Sponsor of AABANY for many years. (40)
Asim Rehman, Commissioner and Chief Administrative Law Judge, New York City Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings. Longtime AABANY Member. (46)
Preet Bharara, Partner, WilmerHale. AABANY honored Preet Bharara, when he was the United States Attorney of the Southern District of New York, at the Annual Dinner in 2015. (48)
Anna Mercado Clark, Partner, Phillips Lytle. Previously served as the Development Director of AABANY during FY2023 and currently President-elect of NAPABA. (78)
Tai Park, Partner, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, a long-time sponsor of AABANY. (91)
Vincent Chang, Partner, Litigation and Dispute Resolution Group, Wollmuth Maher & Deutsch. First Asian American President of the New York County Lawyers Association and past AABANY President 2007. (96)
AABANY congratulates all the accomplished individuals who appear in City & State’s 2023 Power Asian 100 List.
The Asian American Bar Association of New York (“AABANY”) congratulates Won S. Shin, AABANY Board Director, on his recent promotion from an Assistant United States Attorney to Chief of Appeals at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Criminal Division, Southern District of New York.
Before his promotion, Won S. Shin served as an Assistant United States Attorney at the same office. In that role, Mr. Shin oversaw briefing and argument in criminal appeals in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and advised other prosecutors on legal issues arising in their investigations and prosecutions. He was previously a member of the office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit and is a recipient of the FinCEN Director’s Law Enforcement Award for Cyber Threats.
Before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Mr. Shin was an Assistant Solicitor General at the New York State Attorney General’s Office, where he briefed and argued appeals on behalf of the state in the Second Circuit and New York state appellate courts. Before entering public service, he was a litigation associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz in New York and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld in Washington, DC. He began his legal career as a law clerk to the Honorable Karen Nelson Moore of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Mr. Shin received his A.B., magna cum laude, in biochemical sciences from Harvard College, and his J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School.
Mr Shin’s dedication to public service and his record of leadership is well-known and appreciated by all of us at AABANY. Please join us in congratulating Mr. Shin on this well deserved promotion.
WASHINGTON — Yesterday, the U.S. Senate confirmed Byung J. “BJay” Pak to be the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. Pak is the first Asian Pacific American to hold this position.
“We congratulate BJay Pak on his confirmation to serve as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia,” said Cyndie M. Chang, president of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA). “A respected community leader and attorney, Mr. Pak’s confirmation is an inspiration for young Asian Pacific American attorneys across the country.”
A longtime member of the Asian Pacific American legal community, Pak has served on the board of the Georgia Asian Pacific American Bar Association, a NAPABA affiliate, and was a former chair of the NAPABA Government Enforcement and Compliance Committee. He has also spoken on legal education courses sponsored by NAPABA and is a recipient of the NAPABA Best Under 40 Award.
An experienced litigator and former prosecutor, Pak is currently a partner at Chambers Pak Burch & Adams LLC, where he focuses on complex litigation. Previously, he was an assistant U.S. attorney in the Northern District of Georgia for six years, a partner at Ballard Spahr LLP and Schiff Harding LLP, and an associate at Alston & Bird LLP. Mr. Pak also served in the Georgia House or Representatives.
Pak clerked for Judge Richard Mills of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois. He received his B.B.A. from Stetson University in 1995 and his J.D., summa cum laude, from University of Illinois College of Law in 1998.
NAPABA is proud to have supported Pak during his nomination and thanks President Trump for nominating him to the position.
For more information, the media may contact Brett Schuster, NAPABA communications manager, at202-775-9555 or [email protected].
The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) is the national association of Asian Pacific American attorneys, judges, law professors, and law students. NAPABA represents the interests of over 50,000 attorneys and over 80 national, state, and local bar associations. Its members include solo practitioners, large firm lawyers, corporate counsel, legal services and non-profit attorneys, and lawyers serving at all levels of government.
NAPABA continues to be a leader in addressing civil rights issues confronting Asian Pacific American communities. Through its national network of committees and affiliates, NAPABA provides a strong voice for increased diversity of the federal and state judiciaries, advocates for equal opportunity in the workplace, works to eliminate hate crimes and anti-immigrant sentiment, and promotes the professional development of people of color in the legal profession.
