APALSA Conference Program 3.20.2021.Pdf
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WELCOME Dear Conference Participants, Welcome to Columbia APALSA’s 10th Annual Conference, Writing Your Own Script! Each year we hold this event so law students and young attorneys can hear from experienced Asian lawyers and learn about the Asian perspective in the legal profession. This year we hope to engage in a discussion about the Asian experience post-law school and the ways members of our community have found success while maintaining a sense of their cultural identity, both inside and outside the legal profession. We hope that you will engage in the discussions that we have today, and that you will take these conversations back with you into your homes and workplaces. Often, our success owes much to the trailblazing efforts of our community leaders. To celebrate them, Columbia APALSA began awarding the Hong Yen Chang award to graduates of Columbia Law School in recognition of their significant contributions to the APA legal community and beyond. Columbia APALSA is pleased to award the fourth annual Hong Yen Chang award to Charles Yu ’01. The award is named after Hong Yen Chang, who is reported to be the first Asian to legally acquire license to practice law in the United States. An immigrant from China, Chang was exempted from the Chinese Exclusion Act because he was a student and not a laborer. Chang began his legal studies at Columbia Law School and graduated in 1886. In 1887, Chang applied for admission to the New York State Bar, but was denied because he lacked citizenship status under the Chinese Exclusion Act. In response, the New York State Legislature passed an act that directly named Chang, waived for him the citizenship requirement, and granted him license to practice law provided that he passed the proper examinations. Chang was admitted to the New York State Bar in May 1888. Many of us today who are now practicing law in the United States, or who soon will be, are a part of Hong Yen Chang’s legacy. This conference and gala is a way for us to celebrate our heritage, to recognize our community, and to reflect both on the path in front of us, and on the trail that we too have paved. SCHEDULE 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM EST Panel 1 Asian American Experience in the U.S. 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EST Panel 2 Asian Practitioners in Different Jurisdictions/Industries 12:30 PM – 1:00 PM EST Panel 3 Keynote Panel with Charles Yu 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM EST Panel 4 Cross-Generational Fireside Chat 2:15 PM - 3:30 PM EST Networking Session with Kirkland and Skadden attorneys CONFERENCE COMMITTEE VP of Special Events Long Dang Special Events Chair Yae Rin Kim President Calvin Lee VP of Internal Affairs Elaine Huang VP of External Affairs Suzy Park VP of Communications Jenna Shin VP of Finance Daniel Yeo Professional Development Chairs Jiyoon Kim Kil Hyun Kim Public Interest Chairs Alison Hung Vivien Lee Caravan Chair In Young Kim Social Chair Hongxi Wang Membership Chair George Hsu 1L Representatives Jamie Lee Yi Bao Satyen Gupta Steven Hao Julia Zhu Sophia Han Allison Jeanne Spindler Amanda Yang LLM Representative Ryan Chua Transfer Rep Howard Kim 3L Reps Jeeyoon Chung Lawrence Ho HONG YEN CHANG AWARD RECIPIENT CHARLES YU Charles Yu ’01 is the author of four books, including his latest, Interior Chinatown, which received the National Book Award for Fiction and was longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. He has received the National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35 Award, been nominated for two Writers Guild of America awards for his work on the HBO series Westworld, and has also written for shows on FX, AMC, Facebook Watch, and Adult Swim. His fiction and non-fiction have appeared in numerous publications including The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, Wired, Time and Ploughshares. ASIAN AMERICAN PANEL ONE EXPERIENCE IN THE U.S. 10:00 am - 11:00 am Nobuhisa Ishizuka is the Executive Director of the Center for Japanese Legal Studies at Columbia Law School, which has been an intellectual hub between the U.S. and Japan for over 30 years. He oversees the Center's programming and strategy and promotes scholarly exchanges between faculty and practitioners in the field. Prior to joining the Center he was a Partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, where he advised on corporate and financial matters, with NOBUHISA a focus on mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance. Several of his transactions have been cited ISHIZUKA by leading financial and business law publications Executive Director of the Center for their innovation or as “Deals of the Year”. for Japanese Legal Studies at Columbia Law School Mr. Ishizuka has been recognized as a leading individual in Chambers Asia-Pacific and Chambers Global, and as a leading lawyer in IFLR1000: The Guide to the World’s Leading Financial Law Firms, Asia Pacific Legal 500 and Best Lawyers in Japan. He has published in Columbia Law Review, Commercial Law Review, and other legal publications. Mr. Ishizuka has a B.A. from Columbia College and a J.D. from the Columbia University School of Law, where he was a Senior Editor of the Columbia Law Review. He was a graduate research student at the University of Tokyo, where he currently teaches mergers and acquisitions. He is a member of the Board of Visitors at Columbia Law School, the Board of Visitors of Columbia College, a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Japanese American Association of New York. ASIAN AMERICAN PANEL ONE EXPERIENCE IN THE U.S. 10:00 am - 11:00 am Yang Chen is the Executive Director of the Asian American Bar Association of New York (AABANY), a position he has held since August 2009. Mr. Chen is AABANY's first Executive Director. He has been active in AABANY for many years, having served on the Board and numerous committees, including the Judicial Affairs (now Judiciary) Committee, of which he was a chair. Mr. Chen served as AABANY's President in 2008. Before becoming AABANY's Executive Director, Mr. Chen was a partner at YANG CHEN Constantine Cannon, a law firm specializing in Executive Director of antitrust and complex commercial litigation. He was the Asian American among the group that founded the firm in 1994, Bar Association of which started as Constantine & Associates. New York Before joining Constantine Cannon, Mr. Chen was an associate in the New York office of McDermott, Will & Emery, and before that he was associated with Breed, Abbott & Morgan (now Winston & Strawn). Mr. Chen is admitted to practice in the State of New York, the United States District Court, Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of the United States. He is a graduate of the New York University School of Law and Binghamton University. ASIAN AMERICAN PANEL ONE EXPERIENCE IN THE U.S. 10:00 am - 11:00 am Karen specializes in vindicating the rights of employees and workers and advising employers in promoting fairer and more productive workplaces. She has over two decades of legal experience working with employees, workers, and immigrants, including over nine years as an Assistant Attorney General in the Labor Bureau at the New York State Attorney General, where she led investigations into labor violations in numerous industries, including the agricultural, greengrocer, moving, restaurant, and taxi industries. KAREN KITHAN In addition, Karen has had varied law teaching and YAU policy-related experiences. She was a recipient of a Skadden Of-Counsel, Kakalec Law; Fellowship at the National Employment Law Project and a Co-Chair of AABANY Pro Robert M. Cover Teaching Fellowship at Yale Law School and Bono and Community held an assistant professorship at Syracuse University Service Committee College of Law. Karen also worked in management and leadership positions in not-for-profit policy and advocacy organizations. Karen is active in bar associations and community organizations and sits on several boards of not-for-profit organizations. As a co-chair of the Pro Bono and Community Service Committee of the Asian American Bar Association of New York (AABANY), she spearheads its Pro Bono Advice and Referral Clinic, a recipient of the New York State Bar Association’s 2019 Bar Leaders Innovation Award that has served thousands of clients since its founding in December 2015, and she oversees AABANY’s ever-expanding pro bono activities. In addition to AABANY, Karen is also a member of National Employment Law Association – National and New York Chapter, the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the Federal Bar Association, and the New York City Bar Association. ASIAN AMERICAN PANEL ONE EXPERIENCE IN THE U.S. 10:00 am - 11:00 am Karen R. King is a partner at Morvillo Abramowitz Grand Iason & Anello LLP. She has more than 20 years of experience in complex commercial litigation, BSA/AML and OFAC compliance and enforcement matters, securities litigation and regulation, internal investigations, and strategic advice. She is a skilled trial attorney and advocate, representing clients in numerous federal and state courts, and before U.S. regulators. Karen has also been recognized for her KAREN KING commitment to pro bono work. She was the Partner, Morvillo recipient of the Federal Bar Council’s Thurgood Abramowitz Grand Iason & Marshall Award for Exceptional Pro Bono Service in Anello PC; Vice Chair of 2019, as well as the Pro Bono award from the AABANY Pro Bono and National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. Community Service She serves as the Vice Chair of the Pro Bono and Committee Community Service Committee of the Asian American Bar Association of New York and is a member of the second Circuit Pro-Bono panel.