Did you know that there’s a way that you can attend Mets and Yankees games and support the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund? AALDEF participates in a special program that helps to raise funds for public interest organizations. By purchasing tickets to select baseball games through this program, your cost will include the value of the ticket plus an additional donation to support AALDEF. All donations go directly toward AALDEF’s legal and education programs. Please take advantage of this opportunity to root for your team while making a contribution for a good cause!
METS Mets vs. Atlanta Braves at Citi Field Tuesday, August 26, 7:10 pm Section 512 (above home) $25 per ticket, plus $5 donation or more
YANKEES Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium Thursday, September 4, 7:05 pm Section 426 (above third base) $29 per ticket, plus $11 donation or more
Tickets are limited, so act fast! Please contact Eva Lew at elew@aaldef.org or (212) 966-5932, ext. 208 to reserve your tickets. After your reservation is confirmed, we will accept check and credit card payments. Tickets can either be mailed or held for pick-up at the AALDEF office at 99 Hudson Street in Manhattan. Thank you for supporting AALDEF!
The baseball season is heating up! Did you know that there’s a way that you can attend Mets and Yankees games and support the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund? AALDEF participates in a special program that helps to raise funds for public interest organizations. By purchasing tickets to select baseball games through this program, your cost will include the value of the ticket plus an additional donation to support AALDEF. Most of these tickets (including the donation) are below regular price. All donations go directly toward AALDEF’s legal and education programs. Please take advantage of this opportunity to root for your team while making a contribution for a good cause!
METS
Mets vs. Philadelphia Phillies at Citi Field Friday, April 26, 7:10 pm Promenade Sec. 515 (directly above home plate) $21per ticket, plus $9 donation or more
SUBWAY SERIES: Mets vs. NY Yankees at Citi Field Monday, May 27, 7:10 pm Promenade Sec. 522 (above third base) $50per ticket, plus $40 donation or more
FOURTH OF JULY SPECIAL: Mets vs. Arizona Diamondbacks at Citi Field (with post-game Fireworks Show) Wednesday, July 3, 7:10 pm Promenade Sec. 515 (directly above home plate) $25per ticket, plus $5donation or more
YANKEES
Yankees vs. Oakland A’s at Yankee Stadium Friday, May 3, 7:05 pm Grandstand Sec. 409 (above right field) $11per ticket, plus $9 donation or more
Yankees vs. LA Dodgers at Yankee Stadium Wednesday, June 19, 7:05 pm Grandstand Sec. 409 (above right field) $22per ticket, plus $8 donation or more
Yankees vs. Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium Wednesday, June 19, 7:05 pm Grandstand Sec. 409 (above right field) $22 per ticket, plus $8 donation or more
Yankees vs. Detroit Tigers at Yankee Stadium Friday, August 9, 7:05 pm Grandstand Sec. 409 (above right field) $11per ticket, plus $9 donation or more
LABOR DAY GAME: Yankees vs. Chicago White Sox at Yankee Stadium Monday, September 2, 1:05 pm Grandstand Sec. 409 (above right field) $16.25per ticket, plus $3.75 donation or more
In honor of May as Asian Pacific Heritage Month, the Diversity Committee hosted a dialogue and lunch reception last week with Peggy Kuo, General Counsel for the City’s Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings, and Alan Chang, Deputy General Counsel and Vice President of Legal Affairs for the New York Yankees.
Mr. Chang, who grew up in Queens, began his legal career as a litigator in Los Angeles before joining cable sports giant ESPN. A longtime Yankees fan, he recalled telling his wife that ESPN was his “number two dream job,” with the Yankees occupying the top spot. Two years into his role at ESPN, Mr. Chang learned that the Yankees were seeking an attorney with cable sports news experience. He had just bought a home and was feeling settled, but the job was an opportunity he felt he couldn’t pass up.
“And 13 years later, they can’t trade me,” he joked. “I feel like I found my dream job.” When he joined the team, Mr. Chang was one of just four Asian-American attorneys in Major League Baseball (one of whom worked for the Mets). He has done significant work on a Yankees cable television venture and the team’s new Bronx stadium. “It’s never boring,” he said.
Ms. Kuo cited the importance of her City roots. Her father, an immigrant from Taiwan in the 1960s, worked for the Department of Environmental Protection for 44 years, where he designed sewers for the City, and Ms. Kuo was a product of the City’s public school system. Unlike her father, however, she was eager to explore many different careers.
“I have a curious mind, a restless spirit, and no aversion to risk taking,” she said. “Opportunities come up, and you have to be ready to take them.”
Following law school, she pursued trial work with the U.S. Attorney’s Office. “It’s a job I would have done for free,” she said. Years later, she was getting settled into Washington, D.C. and about to buy a home, when she learned of the chance to prosecute crimes stemming from the war in Yugoslavia. Ms. Kuo journeyed to The Hague, where she prosecuted the only mass-rape case in Bosnia, as well as a torture and murder case against a camp commander.
Her return to New York four years later felt like a homecoming. “I always think of the City like a family,” she said. After work in private practice and with the New York Stock Exchange, she took her present role at OATH (which involved an interview with the Corp. Counsel.)
During the Q&A, Mr. Chang and Ms. Kuo were asked what qualities they feel their cultural and ethnic backgrounds contribute to their respective legal careers.
Mr. Chang said that he felt his background lent him an increased sense of cultural sensitivity and understanding that could be applied to the Yankees’ diverse fanbase.
Ms. Kuo noted, “I can see things from more than one viewpoint. My mom struggles with English, and when I was making arguments to the jury, I’d, in my mind, be making those arguments to my mom. I’d say, ‘Would my mom understand this?’”
Thanks also to Andrea Chan, William Ng, Tanisha Byron, Stuart Smith, Michael Wasser, and Raju Sundaran of the Diversity Committee – and Lisa Forrester-Campos, Stephen Kim, Keith Miloscia, Connie Pankratz, Madhu Parthasarathy, Liza Sohn, Peter Tsai, and Gloria Yi.
