2004 Archives
NAPABA SELECTS BEST LAWYERS UNDER 40
Click here to download the full awards program with winner biographies.
NAPABA ELECTS NEW LEADERSHIP FOR 2004-2005 BAR YEAR
Click here to view the full text of the press release.
NAPABA CELEBRATES APPOINTMENT OF TANI GORRE CANTIL-SAKAUYE AS JUSTICE OF THE CALIFORNIA COURT OF APPEAL
Click here to view the full text of the press release.
NAPABA Committee Studies University of California Admissions Policies
Click here to view the update.
Frank H. Wu to head Wayne State University Law School
Click here to view the full text of the press release.
Tommy Shi Promoted to Mercedes-Benz Corporate Development and Transformation Officer
Tommy Shi has been appointed to the position of Corporate Development and Transformation Officer at the Mercedes-Benz USA's Montvale headquarters. Shi replaces Joe Johnson, who has been promoted to Maybach Sales Operations Manager for MBUSA.
First APA Judge Appointed in Connecticut
Nina F. Elgo was sworn in as a Superior Court Judge in Connecticut on May 6, 2004.
First APA Judge Appointed in Missouri
Judy P. Draper was appointed as Associate Circuit Judge for the 21st Judicial Circuit by Governor Bob Holden on April 13, 2004.
NAPABA Remembers and Celebrates Brown v. Board of Education
Click here to view the full text of the press release.
NAPABA Establishes Committee To Examine University of California Admissions Process
Click here to view the full text of the press release.
NAPABA Announces Hiring of Policy Director Based In Washington D.C.
Click here to view the full text of the press release.
NAPABA'S BEST UNDER 40 CLASS OF 2003 FEATURED IN MCCA'S DIVERSITY & THE BAR MAGAZINE
To view a copy of the Cover Story article click here.
NATIONAL ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN ATTORNEYS AGAIN DENOUNCE
LAW FIRM’S RACIAL MOCKERY
Click here to view the full text of the press release.
NATIONAL ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN ATTORNEYS URGE PENNSYLVANIA EATERY TO REMOVE ASIAN SLUR FROM ITS NAME
Click here to view the full text of the press release.
2003 Archives
NAPABA
LAW FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES SCHOLARSHIPS AND FELLOWSHIPS
Click here to view the full text of the press release.
NAPABA
DENOUNCES LPGA GOLFER JAN STEPHENSON'S ANTI-ASIAN REMARKS
Click here to view the full text of the press release
NAPABA CELEBRATES CONFIRMATION OF
DANA MAKOTO SABRAW AS A FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT JUDGE IN SAN DIEGO
Click here to view the full text of the press release
NAPABA BEST UNDER 40
Click here to download a copy of the 2003 Nomination Form. All nominees must be NAPABA members.
NAPABA IN-HOUSE COUNSEL COMMITTEE LAUNCHES MENTOR PROGRAM
Click here to learn more about the In-House Mentor Program.
ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN LAWYERS LAUD U.S. SUPREME COURT DECISION IN SUPPORT OF AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
Click here to view the full text of the press release
DAVID KIM APPPOINTED TO SBA NATIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL
NAPABA Leadership Advisory Council member, David L. Kim, Director of Sales Development and Community Relations for Anheuser-Busch has been appointed to the Small Business Administration’s National Advisory Council.
ELWOOD LUI HAS BEEN MADE PARTNER-IN-CHARGE OF JONES DAY'S NEW SAN FRANCISCO OFFICE.
MORGAN CHU RECEIVES LEARNED HAND AWARD
The Learned Hand Award is given to outstanding leaders of the legal profession who have been voices of understanding and goodwill. Click here for more information about this tribute to Morgan Chu.
NAPABA VP OF MEMBERSHIP BRENDA T. RHOADES TO BECOME FIRST APA BANKRUPTCY JUDGE
Click here to view the full text of the press release from the US Court of Appeals Fifth Judicial Circuit.
NAPABA 2003 Northeast Regional Conference WAS A SUCCESS
The NAPABA 2003 Northeast Regional Conference - Strengthening Our Communities: Unity and Diversity was held on May 3, 2003 at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford, Connecticut. Click here to view a copy of the 2003 NE Regional Conference Program.
ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN LAWYERS DENOUNCE
DEWEY BALLANTINE’S RACIAL MOCKERY
Click here to view the full text of the press release.
ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN LAWYERS CONDEMN
MAXIM CARTOON DEPICTING BEATING OF GANDHI
Click here to view the full text of the press release.
ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN LAWYERS JOIN IN FILING AMICUS BRIEF IN U.S. SUPREME COURT IN SUPPORT OF AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), representing over 40,000 Asian Pacific American attorneys, along with twenty-five other organizations, filed an amicus curiae (“friend of the Court”) brief in support of the University of Michigan in the affirmative action cases Grutter v. Bollinger (law school case) and Gratz v. Bollinger (undergraduate case).
Click here to view the full text of the press release.
Click here to view a copy of the amicus brief filed on February 15, 2003.
Click here to view a copy of the NAPALC Talking Points on the University of Michigan's affirmative action cases -- Grutter v. Bollinger (law school case) and Gratz v. Bollinger (undergraduate case)
DALE MINAMI TO RECEIVE THE ABA'S 2003 THURGOOD MARSHALL AWARD
Dale Minami of Minami, Lew & Tamaki LLP in San Francisco, CA has been selected to receive the American Bar Association's 2003 Thurgood Marshall Award in recognition of his substantial and long-term contributions to the furtherance of civil rights in this country. Dale will receive the award at the 2003 Thurgood Marshall Award Dinner sponsored by the ABA Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities on Saturday, Aug. 9, during the ABA's 2003 Annual Meeting in San Francisco.
ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN LAWYERS CONDEMN STATEMENTS SUPPORTING JAPANESE AMERICAN INTERNMENT
Click here and here to read the full text of the press release.
NAPABA Young Lawyers Section
If you are interested in joining and helping to further develop the Young Lawyers Section of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association contact David G. Halm, c/o Fainsbert Mase & Snyder, LLP, 11835 West Olympic Blvd., Suite 1100, Los Angeles, CA 90064 (310) 473-6400 fax (310) 473-8702 e-mail: dhalm@fms-law.com
NAPABA Labor and Employment Law Committee
We are forming a Labor and Employment Law Committee of NAPABA. Our goal is to create a networking resource for Labor and Employment law practitioners within NAPABA and to advocate labor and employment issues for the Asian-American community. If you are interested in being a member of this committee, please provide your name, telephone number, and email address to David Kahng, dkahng@seyfarth.com.
NAPABA Responds to Remarks Made by Shaquille O'Neal regarding Yao Ming
Click here to view a copy of the letter from NAPABA President Ruthe C. Ashley to the NBA.
Click here to view a copy of the letter from NAPABA President Ruthe C. Ashley to Shaquille O'Neal.
2002 Archives
NAPABA Newest Affiliates: Asian Bar Association of Las Vegas and Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Maryland
NAPABA is pleased to announce the formation of the Asian Bar Association of Las Vegas and the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Maryland. Welcome ABALV and APABA-MD!
NAPABA Racial Profiling Position Paper
Regional Governor Paula Daniels authored and presented the NAPABA
POSITION PAPER: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR OVERSIGHT OF THE USA PATRIOT ACT
AND FOR FEDERAL RACIAL PROFILING LEGISLATION at the CBAC Meetings held
on May 16-17, 2002 in Washington, D.C. To read this paper, click here.
Minoru “Min” Yasui receives Service Award
The late Denver civil rights attorney Minoru “Min” Yasui was selected by University of Oregon School of Law faculty for the 2002 Meritorious Service Award, given each year to recipients who have made extraordinary contributions to legal education and the law. Yasui earned his law degree in 1939. He was the first Japanese-American graduate of the UO School of Law and subsequently the only practicing attorney of Japanese ancestry in Oregon. At great personal cost, Yasui challenged the constitutionality of the restrictive laws against Japanese-Americans during the wartime hysteria of 1942. In the 1980s, he was party to a successful set of lawsuits that overturned the WWII convictions and helped lay the groundwork for a federal apology and reparations payments to internment camp survivors. Yasui died in 1986.
Sixth Circuit upholds the University of Michigan Law School’s affirmative-action admissions program
On May 14, 2002, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld the University of Michigan Law School’s affirmative-action admissions program in the Grutter v. Bollinger case, in which the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) had filed an amicus curiae brief in support of the Law School. The National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium, Asian Law Caucus, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund and Asian Pacific American Legal Center had joined NAPABA in the amicus brief.
“The Sixth Circuit correctly followed the precedent laid out by Justice Powell in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke,” said Yong Lee, of Cameron & Hornbostel, NAPABA’s counsel on its amicus brief. “As Justice Powell pointed out in the Bakke case and as this court has confirmed, diversity within the student body at an institution of higher learning is a compelling interest that justifies a program such as the Law School’s.”
NAPABA is ecstatic that the Sixth Circuit has upheld the University of Michigan Law School’s affirmative-action admissions program. The district court decision in the Grutter case simplistically chose to lump Asian Pacific Americans with whites in this debate, following a tactic proposed by the Center for Individual Rights, counsel for the plaintiff, and reflected in Judge Boggs’s dissenting opinion. NAPABA rejects any notion that opponents to affirmative action are speaking on behalf of Asian Pacific Americans. While Asian Pacific Americans are not named beneficiaries under the University of Michigan Law School’s affirmative action admissions program (and in fact are not included this program), NAPABA supports the Law School program because it affords the opportunity to create a rich and diverse educational environment, which ultimately benefits all students. These benefits are especially important in a law school where students from diverse backgrounds can engender worthy debate and where future lawyers can prepare themselves for participation in an increasingly diverse society.
View a summary prepared by the NAACP of the Grutter v. Bollinger.
The full text opinion can be found at:
http://pacer.ca6.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/getopn.pl?OPINION=02a0170p.06
Historic Event - Appointment of the first female Asian Pacific American United States Attorney.
The Honorable Debra W. Yang was unanimously confirmed by the Senate on Monday, April 22, 2002. Headquartered in Los Angeles, Yang’s office serves 15.4 million people, the largest populous of any United States Attorney’s office. Prior to becoming a U.S. Attorney, Yang was a judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court for over five years and a federal prosecutor with more than six years of experience in the Los Angeles U.S. Attorney’s office.
Newly appointed United States Attorney Debra Yang had this to say about her appointment:
I am extremely honored to have gotten this appointment. I am tremendously excited about taking this position and having the opportunity to oversee an office of such magnitude. I am extremely thankful to NAPABA and the other Asian bar associations in this process who were not only instrumental but also gave me an opportunity to connect with old friends.
NAPABA congratulates the Honorable Debra W. Yang on her new position and looks forward to her continued leadership as the first female Asian Pacific American United States Attorney. View a copy of Howard Halm's speech given at Judge Yang's Induction Ceremony.
No Asians, Few Hispanics on Maryland Bench
Lisa E. Chang and John C. Yang were quoted in a March 14, 2002 article in the Washington Post that addresses the lack of Asian Pacific American and
Hispanic judges in the Maryland, D.C., and Virginia area.
