P1 CROSSING A CULTURAL GULF CROSSING A CULTURAL GULF Helping Vietnamese American Helping Vietnamese American Fishermen Navigate Legal Waters by Erik Cummins and Heidi Machen Fishermen Navigate Legal Waters by Erik Cummins and Heidi Machen P2 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE P4 LEADERSHIP CORNER KAREN K. NARASAKI: A GIANT WHO VABANC Volunteers were presented with special commendations from Louisiana Congressman Anh Cao on Day 2 at the WILL LEAVE BIG SHOES TO FILL Clinic site, New Orleans, Louisiana. Pictured from left to right:Peter Ton, Nhung Le, Mai Phan, Congressman Cao, Thuy by John C. Yang, Nancy P. Lee, and Paul Nguyen, Ann Nguyen, Cat Le, Sang Nguyen, An Nguyen, and May Nguyen. W. Lee Mai Phan’s call to fellow lawyer Ann N. Nguyen, Louisiana Legal Services. Five years later and after P6 urging her to enlist in yet another volunteer project, another devastating disaster, Phan realized the was nothing new. Over the years, the two had lessons she had learned from Katrina were directly OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE volunteered in various capacities with The Bar transferable to the problems stemming from the Making the Case for Language Access Association of San Francisco’s diversity programs Deepwater Horizon oil spill. For one, it affected and Volunteer Legal Services Program and with the many of the same Vietnamese fi shermen—this in the Courts Vietnamese American Bar Association of Northern time by making huge swaths of the Gulf off limits to by Azizah Ahmad California (VABANC). This time, however, their fi shing and potentially destroying their livelihoods. efforts would extend beyond the Bay Area. Their Once again, she and her fellow volunteers needed P7 shared mission: to help Vietnamese fi shermen to remove barriers to legal resources and provide access legal resources in the aftermath of BP’s information in the disaster victims’ own language. VETERANS DAY MESSAGE devastating oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Although she readily admits she gets sick on That uniquely personal mission sent them to boats and is allergic to seafood, Nguyen’s family P8 the bayou country of Louisiana, Alabama, and ties to the people whom she helped in the Gulf Mississippi in June [2010], where they staffed in June 2010 stretch back to a long heritage A PRIMER ON FEDERAL three free legal education clinics for Vietnamese of “peasant stock.” Her father, a Vietnamese MAGISTRATE JUDGES fi shermen and took to the airwaves to spread the fi sherman hailing from generations of fi shermen, by Vincent T. Chang, Theodore K. Cheng, word that help could be found. The region has a had been born on a boat. Like many Vietnamese and James P. Chou large population of Vietnamese Americans, as Americans, her family fl ed their native country after many immigrants who came to the United States the fall of Saigon at the bitter end of the Vietnam following the Vietnam War settled along the Gulf War. In the early 1980s, they furtively departed P12 Coast to ply their trades. Vietnam bound for a Hong Kong refugee camp. Family lore provides a bleak picture of that oceanic 2011-2012 Phan’s trip to the Gulf Coast this year was a voyage for twenty, all of whom had little to eat and homecoming of sorts. Although she has spent the were forced to drink urine to survive. NAPABA BOARD OF GOVERNORS past six years in the Bay Area, her roots are in New Orleans, where she attended Tulane University and In a last-minute decision by a relative that pained Loyola University New Orleans College of Law. the family, Nguyen’s six-month-old sister was left When Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, it affected her on the dock in Vietnam for fear she would cry and entire family—many of whom still live along the alert authorities. Gulf Coast. Her parents and brother were forced to evacuate, and they, like many other residents, After months living in a crowded shack in Hong lost everything. Phan went back to the Gulf during Kong, Nguyen’s family was fortunate enough to Katrina’s aftermath, tapping her lawyerly skills to be sponsored by a church in bucolic Hillsdale, set up a pro bono legal clinic and working closely Michigan, where they began their American with Mississippi Center for Justice and Southeast adventure and where Nguyen was born. Continued on page 10 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE history as Asian Pacifi c Americans lawyers and to have a slightly different perspective, there is our hopes and dreams for the future. The new a constant theme: NAPABA means different NAPABA logo and design is embodied in this things to different people, but it offers a special newsletter and I hope you visit our website and nurturing place for all of us. to look at some of the other new branding elements. When you visit www.napaba.org, you Thanks to all of you for creating this unique will notice that we have completely overhauled and supportive environment. I have heard many the website so that it is more user-friendly and times that a self-interested NAPABA member inviting to our members. If you attend the would really stick out because NAPABA is Sustainability Convention in Atlanta, you’ll be where people selfl essly give and where people able to experience other branding components genuinely want to help each other. Numerous and see the new logo in action. times, I have seen our members go out of their way to fi nd jobs for others, refer clients, promote This year I also established NAPABA’s appointments, mentor each other, and strike up fi rst membership-wide Annual Lobby Day in friendships. Our members spend countless Washington, D.C. where we had the privilege hours volunteering their time to further our to meet with many elected leaders, including mission and grow NAPABA. Sponsors often Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid. One of the say the benefi ts they receive far outweigh their key talking points for all of our meetings was sponsorship dollars—this is due to all of your the nomination and confi rmation of APA federal dedication and commitment. judges and I was delighted to hear that a few days after our meeting with Senator Reid, the In closing, I want to express my gratitude nomination of Judge Ed Chen was presented to our Board members, committee chairs, to the Senate and shortly afterwards, he was NAPABA staff, and membership for all we are confi rmed to be judge on the U.S. District achieving. The NAPABA family remains a place Court of the Nothern District of California. Two for all—regardless of practice area, employer, Thank you NAPABA members for all of months later and after months of planning and experience, or any other identifi er. I look forward organizing, we were back in D.C. to host the to continuing to work with all of you. your support, encouragement, and hard Coalition of Bar Associations of Color (CBAC) Annual Meeting. There, at NAPABA’s urging, work this past year. CBAC restructured our annual event to ensure Thank you NAPABA! more frequent and offi cial communications and This has been an awesome year for NAPABA to enhance our relationships with our sister bar and I am grateful to have been able to serve associations. as your President during a time of tremendous organizational growth. We started out of I am happy to report that CBAC members are Paul O. Hirose the blocks with the Inspire Convention and fulfi lling our commitment and bar leaders have established a NAPABA Branding Committee to begun our formal, scheduled communications. work on revitalizing our logo and “messaging.” I wanted people to see the energy and With all of our accomplishments and new excitement that is NAPABA and I realized programs, I am glad that we are maintaining that the new NAPABA logo and “look” had NAPABA’s greatest assets—our members and to be more than just an image—it had to pay the NAPABA culture. homage to our original logo and also embody the growth of NAPABA and the experiences of While I’ve been serving as President, people NAPABA members. After countless hours of often approach me to share their thoughts about brainstorming and design work, we selected NAPABA. Many members tell me about their a new logo and built a branding campaign love for the organization and what they believe around it that is intended to bring together our NAPABA represents. Although everyone seems NAPABA LAWYER - Vol. 21 No. 4 Fall 2011 © National Asian Pacifi c American Bar Association CO-EDITORS: Azizah Ahmad, Bryce Kunimoto, and Tina Matsuoka Newsletter submission general guidelines: Letters to the Editor (250 words or less), newsletter articles (500 words or less) and announcements (100 words or less) may be sent to [email protected]. The opinions expressed in the NAPABA LAWYER are those of the authors and do not necessarily refl ect NAPABA policy or editorial concurrence. Publication of any written or graphical material or advertisement does not constitute an endorsement. The editors reserve the right to edit, accept or reject prospective materials or advertisement in accordance with their editorial judgment. NAPABA retains the copyright to this publication and its contents, unless otherwise indicated. Please contact NAPABA for permission to reproduce any of its contents. PAGE 2 FALL 2011 NAPABA LAWYER Working together to make a difference. We are proud to partner with the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association to promote excellence in the legal profession. The “Spark” Design ( ), Walmart and Save Money. Live Better. are marks and/or registered marks of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.