Tag: volunteer

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Thank You for Your Help at the Manhattan Pro Bono Clinic on February 21!

The AABANY Pro Bono & Community Service Committee thanks all the volunteers who helped out at the Manhattan pro bono clinic on February 21, 2024! We thank AABANY, PBCS volunteers, and AAFE staff (Elton Ye, Jiwon Youn, and Joy Ng) for this collaboration. We met with 9 clients and discussed housing, real estate, and civil procedure.

One client shared that she had been afraid to speak with her own attorney. In her comments, she wrote, “The lawyers [at the clinic] were very knowledgeable and clear in communicating the steps to be taken and what I could expect about the case updates. They were also professional and trustworthy.”

Another client wrote, “I had many questions and the attorney(s) were very nice and explained well. As a senior, I hope to live at home and maintain peace every day. Thank you for your explanation.”

Great work, everyone!

Volunteer AttorneysInterpreters & Shadowers
Beatrice LeongAngela Zhao
Eve Hongye MaoChristine Seid
Francis ChinDaniel Kang
Judy LuEric Duan
Justin LeeJialin Zhu
Kevin HsiNandar Win Kerr
Kwok NgRuo Yang
May WongTiancheng “Tim” Lyu
Tiange (Tim) ChenXue Zhang
Yan SinYiming (Roselyn) Chen
Jiwon Youn (AAFE)
Elton Ye (AAFE)
Joy Ng (AAFE)

Please join our upcoming legal clinics:

Brooklyn Pro Bono Clinic – March 9th, 2024, 12:30pm – 3:30pm

Location – CPC Brooklyn Community Services, 4101 8th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11232.

Sign up here: https://forms.gle/H3Lyia9zRiV8tPL69

Manhattan – March 20, 2024, 6:30 – 8:30pm

Location – AAFE Community Center, 111 Norfolk St, New York, NY 10002, USA

Sign up here: https://forms.gle/SD2VMY8X6yE4vsxW9

Save the date for 3/21 for our Volunteer Appreciation Party!

Have a great week!

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AABANY Members: Pro Bono Opportunity – Help Close Civil Justice Gap through New York State Attorney Emeritus Program (AEP)

AABANY encourages its members to become involved in the New York State Attorney Emeritus Program (AEP) this year. The AEP is an initiative of the New York State Unified Court System to promote pro bono civil legal service by senior attorneys. AEP, endorsed by Chief Judge Rowan D. Wilson, presents a substantive opportunity for AABANY members to give back and look out for its New York community.

AABANY recognizes the importance of pro bono legal services to ensure fairness in our courts and assist individuals who cannot afford lawyers. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, New York’s civil justice gap has grown significantly, leading to increased demand for civil legal services in areas such as housing, consumer debt, unemployment benefits, and family law. Through the AEP, senior attorneys who volunteer will provide vital access to justice for New Yorkers facing essential life challenges. 

To volunteer, AEP seeks lawyers aged fifty-five or older, retired or still in practice, in good standing, and with ten years experience. Attorney Emeritus volunteers commit to performing 60 hours of pro bono work with an approved legal services organization or court program over the two-year attorney registration period. 

Attorney Emeritus volunteers also receive benefits including up to 15 CLE credits and special recognition from Chief Judge Rowan D. Wilson and Deputy Chief Administrative Judge Edwina G. Richardson-Mendelson.

More information on the AEP or to volunteer, it can be found at https://feerickcenterfordham.galaxydigital.com/

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NAPABA Announces that the 2022 Thomas Tang Moot Court Competition is Seeking Judges and Bailiffs

It is time for the 2022 Tang Moot Court Competition! Organizers are seeking judges for the upcoming moot court regional competition rounds.  Moot court judges must be law school graduates and not affiliated with any student teams competing this year.  

Thank you in advance for supporting the law students and providing them with valuable oral argument training. Please see judging opportunities below and sign up at the link provided.     

For questions, please email [email protected].

Regional Competitions via Zoom

The regional competitions will be held online via Zoom on Friday September 30th, Friday October 7th, and Saturday October 8th.  Sign-ups for the Zoom oral arguments are below (please note the applicable time zones for each round):

Friday October 7th and Saturday October 8th, Regionals 2-3 | SIGN UP

We are also seeking bailiffs (law students may volunteer as bailiffs) — please contact [email protected] if you are interested in serving as a bailiff.

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Thank You to Our 7/23 Queens and 7/30 Manhattan Pro Bono Clinic Volunteers!

Just in the month of July, we met with 50 clients!!! There were so many positive and a few negative feedbacks from the clients.

Based on the feedback, many clients were grateful for our services and noted that “this is a much needed service in the Asian community.” Many clients cannot afford to speak with an attorney, do not understand the legal system, and are limited English proficient. A few clients complained that the time was too short or that the attorney couldn’t answer their questions.

Many clients asked questions about immigration, housing, contracts and fraud, wills, trusts, and estates. We also met with pro se litigants who have questions about liens, wage garnishment, judgment proof, and the New York State Exempt Income Protection Act.

Thank you AABANY, our volunteers, the Asian Americans for Equality (AAFE), and the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of New York (CCCNY). In fact, we were amazed to have dedicated law students joining us on July 30 even though they just finished their NYS Bar exam that week. 

So…if anyone’s interested in the next round of mini-bar exams, please come join us at our next Pro Bono Clinics! To volunteer or to learn more about the Pro Bono & Community Services Committee, please visit probono.aabany.org.

From Flushing, Queens (7/23): Thank you, volunteers, for helping us meet with 19 clients. These cases covered various areas including immigration, housing, contract, and fraud. Of the 19 clients, 5 spoke Spanish, 11 spoke mandarin, 2 spoke Cantonese, and 1 spoke English.

Volunteer AttorneysInterpreters & Observers
Beatrice LeongAlexandra Lao^
Eugene KimJoy Fan^
Evelyn Gong*Nicole Morikawa^
Hooney HeohReni Axelrod^
Jackson Chin*Sharmie Azurel^
Johnny ThachYvette Adiguzel^ (licensed out-of-state)
Kyoung JungWeiqiao Lin^
Shirley Luong 
Duane Morikawa 
Yaoyu Liu 
Yvette Wang 
Zhaohua (Josh) Huang 
John Hwang (licensed out-of-state) 
May Wong 
Theresa Yuan 
^ = non-attorney volunteers
* = remote

From Chinatown, Manhattan (7/30): Thank you, volunteers, for helping us meet with 31 clients. Majority of these cases were related to housing, contracts and fraud, and wills, trusts, and estates. Of the 31 clients, 16 spoke mandarin, 7 spoke Cantonese, 7 spoke English, and 1 n/a.

Volunteer AttorneysInterpreters & Observers
Ailsa ChauAlex Hwang^
Beatrice LeongAlexandra Lao^
Chao-Yung (Kloe) ChiuJoy Fan^
Eugene KimKirin Moy^
Eun Hye (Grace) LeeMeng Zhang^
Francis ChinNandar Win Kerr^
Jackson ChinReni Axelrod^
Kwok Kei NgTeresa Wai Yee Yeung^
Lindsay HaoYvette Adiguzel^ (licensed out-of-state)
Lulu Jing 
May Wong 
Meghan Liu 
Min Jung Esther Choi 
Theresa Yuan 

Please feel free to join us at our upcoming Pro Bono Clinics in August –

Manhattan – August 20 – Cutoff time to register by 12pm, 8/17 to recruit volunteers

Location – 33 Bowery, Community Room at Confucius Plaza, New York, NY 10002

Please sign up here – https://airtable.com/shr1fbjStq7JLSaWY

Brooklyn – August 27 – Cutoff time to register by 12pm, 08/24, to recruit volunteers

Location – United Chinese Association of Brooklyn (UCA), 1787 Stillwell Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11223

Please sign up here – https://airtable.com/shreNdk1DNGzCiHp2

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Thank You to Our June Pro Bono Clinic Volunteers!

On Saturday, June 25, 2022, AABANY’s Pro Bono & Community Service (PBCS) Committee in collaboration with Asian Americans for Equality (AAFE) organized a Pro Bono Clinic in Flushing, Queens. Thank you to all our volunteers for participating! 

AABANYAAFE
Beatrice LeongGabriel Hisugan (AAFE)
Bei YangKeshari Tuisyan (AAFE intern)^
Evelyn Gong*Lilian Cheung (AAFE intern)^
Kyoung JungMaria del Carmen Cruz (AAFE)^
May WongYichun Liu (AAFE intern)
Shengyang WuZulma Vazquez (AAFE) (Spanish)^
Xue Huang
Yaoyu Liu
John Hwang
Lyubing Teng^
Meg Annamaneni^
Meng Zhang
Nicole Morikawa^
Sharmie Azurel^
Yvette Adiguzel^
^ = non-attorney volunteer

At the clinic, we met a total of 13 clients: 8 Spanish-speaking, 2 Mandarin-speaking, and 3 English speaking folks who had questions related to immigration (6 cases); housing (4 cases – 1 case with criminal context involved); unemployment insurance benefits (1 case); matrimonial (1 case); and wills/trusts/estates (1 case). 

Our volunteers were able to learn from each other and employ useful resources online to help clients look for information. This includes researching how to apply for IDNYC, a municipal identification card for all New Yorkers regardless of their immigration status, compiling information tool kits for a client’s ongoing immigration case, or referring them to other legal service providers. Volunteering attorneys and law students worked closely with AAFE’s interpreters to assist our Spanish-speaking clients. 

Volunteer Yvette Adiguzel stated, “Some clients had issues relating to a case that had already been initiated in court. When advising a client involved with a case, a useful resource to obtain New York case-related information online is eCourts NY. Anyone can use the e-courts information service for free and can search with information such as the party name, case number, type of court. eCourts NY can also be used to look up future date appearances regarding criminal and family cases, and can provide information relating to the active and disposed cases in civil courts and the Supreme Court. A tracking service called eTrack is an option available free of charge on the eCourts NY website so that you can monitor and set reminders relating to cases in civil local, supreme and family courts as well as criminal cases.” Many of the clients were grateful to the attorneys and volunteers, like Yvette, who were able to provide their expertise and provide informed legal advice. 

Thank you again to all our volunteers! 

If you would like to volunteer, our next clinic dates:

7/23/2022, 12:30pm – 3:30pm. Deadline to register 7/20/2022, 12pm.

We hope to see you at our next clinic on July 23! Please sign up!
To learn more about the Pro Bono Committee and what they do visit probono.aabany.org

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NAPABA Announcement: NAPABA Community Service Corps Makes History at Unity March

NAPABA is proud to have been an organizational partner for the Unity March this past Saturday [June 25], the first large mobilization of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) on the National Mall that brought people of all backgrounds together who care about advancing socioeconomic and cultural equity, racial justice, and solidarity. Executive Director Priya Purandare was quoted in the Washingtonian for this historic event. We thank our members who attended and volunteered in the summer heat. Your presence contributed to a larger movement, and we are grateful for all you do! If you missed the event or any remarks, a full livestream of the Unity March is available for viewing here.

Community Service Corps | #NAPABAinAction

The mobilization came at the 40th anniversary of Vincent Chin’s murder, a critical turning point for the AAPI community. Chin’s murder, and the fact that his killers faced no jail time, highlighted the lack of a strong national voice for AAPIs within this country’s legal system. The case galvanized the community to action and this led to NAPABA’S founding in 1988 to give voice to values of justice, equity, and opportunity for AAPIs. Since that time, NAPABA has been strongly committed to civil rights advocacy.

We now stand at another turning point in history with the current rise in hate crimes targeting diverse communities. To take action and harness the power of our membership, we launched the NAPABA Community Service Corps to provide opportunities for NAPABA members to act for impact at the local and national levels. NAPABA Community Service Corps opportunities include hate crimes assistance and election protection efforts to fill the needs of the community.

NAPABA needs your help to form a national infrastructure of members committed to strengthening our communities. Will you join #NAPABAinAction? Learn more here and sign up on the Volunteer Now tab!

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Join NAPABA at the Unity March in Washington, D.C.

Saturday, June 25, 2022 | 12:00 – 3:00 pm ET

NAPABA is a proud co-sponsor of the first-ever Unity March, an Asian American multicultural event to advance socioeconomic and cultural equity, racial justice, and solidarity. The Washington, D.C., mobilization aims to bring together the diverse Asian American and Pacific Islander diaspora with multicultural partners across the LGBTQ+, Muslim, disability communities, Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and Arab American communities. The goal is to gather more than 25,000 advocates and allies to the National Mall and we need your help to form a robust NAPABA contingent!

Volunteers and Attendees Needed for March

The Unity March is seeking volunteers to serve as rally marshals for the event to ensure everyone’s rights are respected. Rally marshals are responsible for monitoring crowds, reporting any disturbances, directing attendees, and helping ensure the health and safety for all. By signing up for the NAPABA Community Service Corps, a new platform for NAPABA members to take action for impact locally and nationally, you can register for the march as an attendee or a volunteer, and view our other opportunities to be part of a national infrastructure of trained members committed to being AANHPI lawyers in action. Click the Volunteer Now button below and navigate to the “Volunteer Now” tab to sign up.

Events and Travel Details

Reception | Friday, June 24 | 7:00 -9:00 pm

Kick off the Unity March with APIAVote, the host committee organizers, partners, and other special guests at a reception in the Microsoft Innovation and Policy Center. RSVP here.

Poster-Making | Saturday, June 25 | 9:00 – 11:00 am

Join APIAVote for a poster-making session before the Unity March! Stop by the Capital Hilton hotel to make a poster and then head to the Unity March with a large group.

NAPABA Networking Reception | Saturday, June 25 | 4:00 – 6:00 pm

Following the Unity March, there will be a NAPABA networking reception and karaoke in D.C.’s Chinatown at Wok and Roll.

Travel and Stipend

Buses will be made available from New York City, New Jersey (city TBD), Philadelphia and Raleigh/Durham, NC. Buses will leave early morning and arrive in D.C. by 11:30 am. The buses will leave D.C. late afternoon so you can arrive back home that same evening. Complete this form and they will reach out to you for instructions on next steps. To help make our group as large as possible, NAPABA is offering a $250 travel stipend to those who sign up to volunteer. The purpose of the stipend is to assist with travel and/or stay in D.C. for volunteers traveling from out of state.  **You must sign up to volunteer for the march through the NAPABA form to be eligible for reimbursement.**

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Thank You to Our April Pro Bono Clinic Volunteers!

PBCS was extremely active in April! We ran the pro bono clinic in Manhattan for the first time this year on April 9, 2022. We couldn’t have run our clinics without the dedicated help from AABANY, the Pro Bono & Community Service (PBCS) Committee, Chinese Chamber of Commerce of New York (CCCNY), and volunteers. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you to all volunteers for participating!

Thank you to all the following volunteers:

Francis ChinAaron Fong^
Jackson ChinTeresa Wai Yee Yeung^
Karen Kithan YauYvette Adiguzel^
Kelly Tang (CCCNY)^Kwok Kei Ng
Min Jung Esther ChoiMay Wong
^ = non-attorney volunteer

On April 9, we met with 17 clients – 3 spoke English and 14 spoke a second language (i.e., Mandarin or Cantonese). Many clients had mostly housing-related questions, as housing has always been a popular issue given the lack of resources and information available. 

In fact, many legal services have stopped taking cases due to the shortage of staffing and heavy workloads. Unfortunately, due to space issues, we too will be suspending our Manhattan clinics until further notice. 

However, we are continuing the Queens Pro Bono Clinics. In fact, on April 23, we had 14 AABANY volunteers present at our pro bono clinic! These volunteers assisted 13 clients who had questions related to immigration, torts, wills, trusts and estates, and referrals. 

Thank you to all the following volunteers:

Beatrice LeongJackson Chin*
Eugene KimAmanda Yang^*
Haoxu LiKwok Ng
Jennifer ParkJohnny Thach
May WongRuihan (Yvette) Wang
Justina Chen^Meng Zhang
Yewei “Alex” Feng^*Kevin Hsi
^=non-attorney volunteers
*=attended remotely

Please feel free to volunteer with us at Flushing, Queens by signing up at this link [https://airtable.com/shrsLuv7MQN8Gtc0B]. We hope to see you there!

Our next clinic dates are –  

6/25/2022, 12:30pm – 3:30pm [deadline to register 6/22/2022, 12pm]

7/23/2022, 12:30pm – 3:30pm [deadline to register 7/20/2022, 12pm]

To learn more about the Pro Bono Committee and what they do visit probono.aabany.org.

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Thank you to our Columbia Law School’s Spring Break Caravan!

AABANY hosted for the second time the Columbia Law School’s Spring Break Caravan. This year, Caravan representative Angel Li (CLS ’23) reached out to the Pro Bono & Community Service Committee (PBCS) and Student Outreach Committee (SOC) to supervise six students during the week of March 14, 2022. During this program, students shadowed volunteer attorneys at the Queens pro bono clinics held on Saturdays, researched and drafted legal training materials for the pro bono clinics, attended a legal community presentation about bankruptcy, and met with various mentors from law firms and SOC graduates.    

On behalf of PBCS, we want to thank these law students for creating much-needed training materials to help volunteer attorneys in recognizing common issues in housing, family, wills and estates, and immigration law with flowcharts and outlines. These pro bono clinics act like triages in which attorneys spot issues for the individuals and provide legal information and referrals within a 30-minute session. We’ve been quite fortunate to have the support of our volunteer attorneys who are willing to teach each other and to open the eyes of these young law students about the problems many indigent and limited English proficient clients face daily.

On behalf of SOC, we are grateful for the not-for profit and biglaw corporate attorneys coming together to mentor these law students. Despite their different backgrounds and areas of practice, members of AABANY are always generously contributing their time, resources, and efforts to aid the AAPI community and leading these law students to a career of their own choosing.

Rather than picking just one essay from the Caravan, we believe it’s best to share with you all a snippet of these law students’ thoughts about the Caravan. We wish them the best in completing their studies and continue the AABANY’s spirit of giving back to the community.  

Regards,

Eugene Kim, PBCS

William Lee, SOC

May Wong, PBCS

Supervisors of the Caravan

“In the first instance, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the texts that were assigned preparatory to the start of the Caravan. The excerpt from How Do You Live? was especially memorable as a means of getting me into the right mindset before the program even formally began. It goes without saying that behind every law student and lawyer lies a sizable aggregation of resources: years of schooling, various internship opportunities, and votes of confidence from a network of supportive people. Law students and lawyers are the products of considerable societal investment; as such, it is incumbent upon them to give back and to give generously.”

-Andrew Chang –

“While I knew that our society had those problems, I realized that knowing problems is different from helping people facing the problems. I also understood that volunteer attorneys need to deal with various issues in different legal areas in a limited time in the clinic. Therefore, clients’ problems are not entirely solved there, but clients are given helpful advice on the following steps to solve the problems.”

– Nobuko Ikeda –

“Overall, I really valued not only peeking into the issues faced by the community, but also into how Asian American attorneys are helping combat those issues through the clinic. This caravan has inspired me to participate in the pro bono clinic as a future attorney, and I look forward to exploring even more ways to make the sessions efficient and to help the clients legally and emotionally.”

-Angel Li –

“What I found during the research was that massive amounts of materials and resources are already provided by municipal bodies, government officials, and private law firms on the internet. However, people who are not legal professionals would have difficulty utilizing these public resources. The difficulty arises from a language barrier and complexity in understanding and applying legal standards to one’s own situation.”

– Shota Sugiura-

“I appreciated all the genuine and candid advice I received from our Caravan supervisors, and am especially grateful for the wisdom from my AABANY mentor. It was an amazing opportunity to hear from lawyers from a range of backgrounds: those working in public service, those at firms, those who have transitioned to in-house. It was an equally exciting chance to build bonds with other Columbia APALSA members who felt passionate about giving back to our community.”

-Amanda Yang –

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Thank You to Our March Queens Pro Bono Clinic Volunteers!

On March 26, 2022, the Pro Bono and Community Service (PBCS) Committee held its Pro Bono Clinic in Flushing, Queens at the offices of the Asian Americans for Equality (AAFE). We couldn’t have run our clinics without the dedicated help from AABANY, the PBCS Committee, AAFE, and volunteers. We are extremely grateful for our volunteers who traveled all the way from Manhattan and Brooklyn during the torrential rain and MTA’s weekend schedule to meet with clients who needed legal assistance.

Thank you to all the following volunteers:

Ashley ShanAshley Han^
Beatrice LeongMeng Zhang
*Karen Lin (on-call)*Phillip Pang*^
Eugene KimXinyi Shen*^
Johnny ThachAndrew Chang*^
May WongVivian Lee*^
Ruihan (Yvette) WangJennifer Park (not admitted)
Shengyang WuZulma Vazquez (AAFE)^
Evelyn Gong*Chen Yo (AAFE)^
Judy (Ming Chu) Lee*Yini Fang (AAFE)^
Thomas RileyMaria del Carmen Cruz (AAFE)^
Tong WuGabriel Hisugan (AAFE)^
Wen-Hsien (Wendy) Cheng 
  
^ = non-attorney volunteers 
* = remote 

On March 26, we met with 14 clients – 3 spoke English and 11 spoke a second language (ie: Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish, or Korean). While a majority of the cases related to housing, we had a few cases involving torts, trusts and estates, family law, and immigration law. 

One noteworthy case highlighted the point that not all matters need to be resolved through the courts. One of our volunteers was able to direct an individual who had a problem with a store purchase to seek recourse through filing complaints with NYC Department of Consumer Affairs, Better Business Bureau, or maybe even the media: 

This was a great “think-out-of-the-box” approach and allowed the individual to consider other cost-effective options. Great job to everyone!

We hope to see more volunteers at our next clinic on May 14, 2022.  Please sign up by May 11 at: https://airtable.com/shrsLuv7MQN8Gtc0B

Thank you, 

PBCS Team

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