On the evening of February 21, the AABANY Women’s Committee hosted an art night in downtown Manhattan called “Nourish Your Creativity.” This gathering aimed to inspire creativity and bring participants together for a fun-filled evening.
Eight enthusiastic participants arrived, excited to explore their artistic sides. They had the freedom to choose their desired art activities, allowing each person to have a personalized experience.
Five participants chose to paint pots, transforming them into beautiful vases and cups. As they worked, laughter and friendly chatter filled the air. They shared techniques and encouragement, making the experience even more enjoyable.
Meanwhile, three participants opted for oil pastels, creating vibrant drawings that showcased their unique styles. The atmosphere buzzed with creativity as they immersed themselves in their artwork, allowing their imaginations to flourish.
Beyond the art, the event fostered connection. Participants spent quality time together, sharing stories and inspiration throughout the evening.
After the art session, the group headed to Chinatown for a delightful dinner. Surrounded by the vibrant atmosphere, participants engaged in lively discussions about food, art, and life.
As the night came to an end, participants eagerly looked forward to the next gathering, excited to continue exploring their creativity together. Until then, the joy of this event will linger, reminding us all of the magic found in art and companionship.
Thank you to everyone who attended the event, and thank you so much to the Women’s Committee for organizing. To learn more about the Women’s Committee and how you can get more involved, please click here.
Getting ahead of Women’s History Month in March, AABANY’s Labor & Employment (“L&E”) Law Committee and Women’s Committee co-hosted a CLE event on Thursday, February 20, 2025, on the recent federal and New York state laws related to pregnant workers and new mothers at the workplace. The CLE panel consisted of Samantha Hunt, Equal Justice Works Fellow from A Better Balance; Rachel Lee, Associate from A&O Shearman; and Vilda Vera Mayuga, Commissioner of the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. Jennifer Kim from Littler & Mendelson, P.C. moderated the event, which was held at the beautiful office of Robins Kaplan LLP in midtown.
The panelists provided an overview of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (“PWFA”), the Providing Urgent Maternal Protection for Nursing Mothers (“PUMP”) Act, New York’s lactation break law, and New York’s prenatal leave law. Samantha Hunt started the discussion with a summary of PWFA and the types of claims she has handled related to these laws. Rachel Lee provided best practices for employers when complying with the PWFA and the lactation break law. Commissioner Vilda Vera Mayuga discussed the New York sick leave and the prenatal leave requirements along with an explanation of the type of enforcement her department handles. The attendees walked away with a strong understanding of the rights afforded under these new laws and tips for employers on how to best comply with these changing laws.
Thank you to the panelists for sharing their expertise. Thank you to the Professional Development Committee for assisting with the accreditation of the CLE as well as the L&E Law and Women’s Committees for co-hosting this insightful event.
On Thursday, July 20th, 2023, the AABANY Membership Committee held the first event of the Meet the Board Series this year, at which attendees heard from AABANY President Karen Kim and AABANY Board Director Won Shin about their respective careers. The event was hosted by FTI Consulting in Midtown Manhattan, and co-sponsored by AABANY’s Women’s, Government Service & Public Interest, and Prosecutors’ Committees.
At the beginning of the night, attendees chatted and mingled over dinner before sitting down to participate in a Q&A session with Karen Kim and Won Shin moderated by Membership Director Christopher Bae. Christopher started by asking how the two became involved with AABANY, their most memorable cases, and how working with AABANY has changed their careers.
Won talked about his early career, starting with his work as a litigation associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz for six years, his position as Assistant Solicitor General at the New York State Attorney General’s office and his stint in complex frauds and cybercrime in the United States Attorney’s Office. Finally, Won described his entrance into his office’s appeals unit, where he now serves as Chief of Appeals of the Criminal Division.
Karen spoke about her work at a small firm doing mainly litigation, residential real estate, and construction law, before serving as Vice President of Operations and Strategic Development at Minority Corporate Counsel Association in D.C. and finally landing a position at QBE Insurance through former AABANY president Linda Lin. Karen believes her experience at the small firm she first worked at prepared her for her presidency at AABANY, because she worked on “a hodgepodge of everything” in both positions.
Christopher turned to the guests for one last question before taking inquiries from the audience. “So how do mentees make themselves stand out so that you would want to mentor them? What can younger attorneys be doing to find more than a mentorship in name and instead build an actual relationship with you?”
Karen paused to think of an answer. “Well, I like chocolate.”
After around half an hour of audience questions, Christopher concluded with a round of rapid fire questions for Karen and Won. We learned that Won’s favorite legal show is “Jury Duty,” and Karen’s favorite judge, past or present, is Judge Judy (the TV judge, not Hon. Judy Kim). The evening wrapped up with more mingling and enjoying food and drinks in FTI’s stylish and modern space.
Thank you to Karen Kim and Won Shin for sharing your experience and wisdom with us, and Christopher Bae for moderating an insightful conversation. We look forward to hosting more Board Members in the Meet the Board Series. To learn more about the Membership Committee, go here.
On March 23rd, 2023, AABANY held its first Indoor Golf Simulation event at Five Iron Golf- Flatiron to provide members an opportunity to learn how to golf. After a successful golf outing in the fall of 2022, the Corporate Law, Membership, and Women’s Committees decided to organize a more casual experience for its members. A golf pro was on-site to teach first time golfers. The evening was filled with lots of laughter, great food, a range of avid golfers to the less experienced, and career advice for its law student members.
AABANY’s 2023 ski trip, co-sponsored with the Korean American Lawyers Association of Greater New York (KALAGNY), took place on Saturday, February 11 at Shawnee Mountain. The event was co-sponsored by the Corporate Law, Women’s, Young Lawyers, and Membership Committees.
A private charter bus left New York City Saturday morning for the hour-and-a-half drive to the Pocono Mountains. Over 30 AABANY and KALAGNY members, friends, family and children enjoyed favorable ski conditions at Shawnee on a sunny winter day under bright blue skies.
First timers and beginners participated in group and private ski and snowboard lessons. Skiers and snowboarders met for lunch by the hearth in the Hope Lodge at the base of the mountain. The ski day concluded with an après-ski dinner in the Kirkwood Room of the historic Shawnee Inn accompanied by candlelight and live piano music.
Thanks to all the co-sponsoring Committees and KALAGNY for organizing the event, and thanks to everyone who attended.
On Tuesday, January 24, forty AABANY members, family and friends celebrated Lunar New Year at Madison Square Garden as the Knicks took on the Cleveland Cavaliers. The night was filled with memorable moments: The New Asia Chamber Music Society performed the national anthem and there was a special lion dance performance during halftime. Two of our members caught t-shirts that were fired into the crowd by cannons and during the third quarter AABANY even got a shoutout on the Garden Vision big screen. And to cap it all off, the Knicks won a nail biter by a score of 105-103.
On Tuesday, October 25, Paul, Weiss and AABANY’s Women’s Committee invited alumna Helen Wan to host a lunch and discussion on the 2022 Netflix series, Partner Track, based off of her 2013 book, The Partner Track. The event drew about 50 attendees in person at the New York office of Paul, Weiss and about 30 more who joined online via Zoom. The book follows Ingrid Yung, a first-generation Chinese-American and the first lawyer in her family as she attempts to navigate the old-boy corporate culture of her law firm. As she is about to become the first minority woman to make partner at the firm, an offensive incident at a summer outing highlights her outsider status.
Helen heavily based the book off of her own experiences with corporate culture and the legal profession. As the daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, she went to law school and entered the legal profession as an aspirational goal and for the experience, seeing this as the American Dream. It was only when she came to Paul, Weiss that she experienced the social dynamic of the corporate environment – who was sinking or swimming or being called on for more involvement with clients and committees. As a young woman of color, she noticed the subtle differences and it played a role in her decision to seek other opportunities: “I think if there had been more representation and more people who looked like me in the senior ranks, I would have considered staying longer.”
It was after transitioning from a law firm to in-house counsel that she found the opportunity to dedicate more time to her passion of writing. She began writing The Partner Track 20 years earlier on the subway to work. It consisted of journal scribblings of observations about corporate life in the city, about people, group dynamics, work dynamics, and not just the legal field but even anecdotes from friends in different industries. In order to further perfect her story, Helen took writing classes at NYU night school and forced herself to attend after spending grueling hours at the law firm. It took several years of securing the right literary agent, publishing house, marketing approach, compatible creative visions, and 3 different endings before releasing the final version of The Partner Track.
While the book and series are decidedly fiction, it was very important to Helen to write as realistic, authentic, and unvarnished a portrayal of corporate life as possible. She saw a big overlap in workplace experience and culture across fields and the experiences of her friends and peers. Consequently, most of the characters were amalgams of people she knew or heard about from friends. The conversations and topics the book tackled became more real and concrete. It is this tangibility and intersectionality that makes The Partner Track special. It may speak a lot on Asian American lived experience but also on dating, corporate culture, materialism, personal values, etc.
The Netflix adaptation, altered from the novel, tried to do “so many things at once, be so many different things to different audiences.” For instance, human resources colleagues at law firms Helen worked at also felt heard when the show discussed how prevalent racist undertones and commentary is present in corporate settings and the struggle HR representatives go through when ensuring that these moments are resolved properly and effectively. Other audiences expressed that they were unable to finish the show because it reminded them of the struggles associated with navigating American corporate life as a Asian-American.
Helen repeatedly stated that she believes the conversations surrounding both the book and the show are optimistic rather than pessimistic. The story not only reveals a side of American corporate culture that often gets hidden behind fancy suits and tall buildings but also shows how valuable it is when audiences are represented rather than merely mentioned. The Partner Track shows that real life stories are relatable to everyone.
We thank Helen Wan for taking the time to discuss her book and its new Netflix series. For more information about her work and life, visit her website here. Helen, joined by actress Arden Cho and show runner Georgia Lee, presented the keynote remarks at the Saturday night Gala during at the 2022 Annual NAPABA Convention in Las Vegas on Nov. 5. Congratulations to Helen on the success of the book and series!
On October 22, 2022, AABANY held its 2022 Golf Outing at the historic Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort on a sunny autumn afternoon. The event was presented by the Women’s Committee, Corporate Law Committee, and Membership Committee.
The 27-hole world class golf course, which has hosted the PGA Championship, was designed by renowned architect A.W. Tillinghast. Carpools left New York City Saturday morning for the hour and a half drive to the Pocono Mountains. AABANY members, friends, family and children enjoyed the magnificent colors of the fall foliage on a picturesque day for golf. Golfers met at the Shawnee General Store for lunch and then hit the driving range for some practice swings. Five AABANY foursomes, including several beginners and first time golfers, teed off in the early afternoon and played several holes across water on an island in the middle of the Delaware River. Following the round, AABANY golfers dined together in the Shawnee Inn’s River Room at a table set for 20.
On Friday, April 22, 2022, the AABANY Membership Committee partnered with the Women’s Committee to host a #RestaurantSeries dinner at Basta Pasta. Originally founded in Tokyo, Japan, in 1985, Chef Takada’s establishment has been a staple in the New York City pasta scene for many years. Click here to learn more about Basta Pasta.
Twelve AABANY members attended the intimate the dinner and enjoyed an incredible eight course meal. And despite the good food and even better conversations, the highlight of the night may have been when the server served their “Fusilli con Prosciuttto e Parmigiano” dish straight from a parmesan cheese wheel! Shout-out to everyone who attended the dinner, including the Women’s Committee Co-Chairs Jennifer Wu, Wen Zhang and Renee Yao, and Co-Vice Chair, Cheryl Chan.
Have any suggestions for a future #RestaurantSeries dinner? Email your recommendations to [email protected]
On February 24, AABANY co-sponsored a hybrid Women’s Leadership panel, together with the Asian Financial Society, the Chinese Finance Association, East West Bank, and MSCI which hosted the event and the reception afterwards. Around 30 attendees joined in-person, with the rest participating by Zoom.
The panel of industry leaders were:
Jennifer Wu Partner, Paul, Weiss and AABANY Women’s Committee Co-Chair;
Janny Cheung, FVP-CRE Manager, Eastern Region CRE, East West Bank;
Chengying Xiu, Shareholder of Becker & Poliakoff, Chairwoman of AFS;
Angelene Huang, Executive Director, VisWise Global and board member of TCFA; and
Jigar Thakkar, Chief Technology Officer and Head of Engineering, MSCI.
The panel was moderated by Cara Chen (Executive Director, Client Coverage (Hedge Funds), MSCI).
The discussion focused on allyship and how women of color can meaningfully advance in their careers including through the support of bar associations like AABANY. Jigar talked about his practice of communicating with diverse people not just about what they have done right but the challenges of running a company; Janny Cheung talked about the diverse and supportive environment at East West Bank that treats everyone like individuals and that has allowed women like her to succeed; Chengying Xiu talked about the importance of speaking from the heart and being true to yourself; Angelene Huang talked about starting an organization that brings together Asian American professionals and how much she values toughness; and Jennifer talked about her journey from a premed student to a litigation partner and how as a first generation lawyer, other people had dreams for her that she did not have for herself.
Thank you to Asian Financial Society for inviting AABANY to co-sponsor and to Jennifer Wu for representing the Women’s Committee as a panelist. To learn more about the Women’s Committee, please visit https://www.aabany.org/page/122.
