BAAPALSA 2010 @ Santa Clara University

BAAPALSA 2010: Rising in Unity

2009-11-12T16:40:00.000-08:00

Click here for Information for the 2010 BAAPALSA Conference: Rising in Unity!

"Aspire: A New Direction"

2009-02-22T21:18:00.000-08:00

Information for the 2010 BAAPALSA Conference: Rising in Unity is up!

Celebrate our 10th Annual Conference with us!

What: 10th Anniversary - Bay Area Asian Pacific American Law Students Association (BAAPALSA) Conference

When: Sunday, January 31, 2010, 9:00 am to 4:30 p.m.

Where: Santa Clara University, School of Law, 500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara CA 95053

Registration Deadline: January 21, 2010

Dress Code: Business Casual

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What: 9th Annual Bay Area Asian Pacific American Law Students Association (BAAPALSA) Conference

When: Sunday, February 22, 2009, 9:00am - 6:00pm

Where: University of CA, Hastings, College of the Law

How: Print and follow the instructions on the registration* form here.

*Pre-conference registration is extended until Friday, February 2oth. Walk in registration will still be accepted on the day of the conference for an extra $5.

Dress Code: Business Casual

Click on links to the right for more information on conference events.

Find our event on Facebook!

Brought to you by the Asian Pacific American Law Students Associations of:

Golden Gate University School of Law

Santa Clara University School of Law

Stanford University School of Law

UC Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall)

UC Davis School of Law (King Hall)

UC Hastings College of the Law

University of the Pacific - McGeorge School of Law

University of San Francisco School of Law

Serving Minorities

2009-02-09T22:28:00.000-08:00

Victor Hwang

Victor Hwang is currently an Assistant District Attorney for the City and County and San Francisco. Prior to joining the DA’s office, Mr. Hwang served for six years as the managing attorney of Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach, a legal nonprofit serving victims of domestic violence, human trafficking, and elder abuse. Mr. Hwang has also worked as a staff attorney for the Asian Law Caucus and at the Los Angeles Public Defender’s Office.

In the course of his sixteen years of practice, Mr. Hwang has litigated a number of high profile civil rights cases. His work includes authoring and coordinating the filing of an amicus brief on behalf of the Asian American community in support of marriage equality (Woo v. Lockyer), co-counseling litigation on behalf of a prisoner denied parole for engaging in nonviolent first amendment advocacy (Zheng v, Woodford), a class action against the San Francisco Housing Authority for its failure to protect Southeast Asians from racial violence (Truong v. SFHA), lawsuit for police killing based upon racial stereotypes (Kao v. Rohnert Park), class action on behalf of Hmong veterans denied food stamps (Yang v. Glickman), and the national class action challenge to implementation of the 1996 welfare reform law (Sutich v. Callahan). Mr. Hwang was also a national coordinator of advocacy and amici counsel to family in the case of U.S. v. Dr. Wen Ho Lee.

In addition to his legal work, Mr. Hwang has been an active in a number of community and bar associations. He was appointed to the San Francisco Elections Commission in 2006, served as a past co-chair of the Minority Bar Coalition, and past president of the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area. Mr. Hwang also served on the State Bar Ethnic Minority Relations Commission from 2003 through 2006 and currently sits on the board of the Bar Association of San Francisco.

For his work, Mr. Hwang has been honored as a “Trailblazer” by the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association in 2007,recognized for services “Above and Beyond” by the San Francisco Adult Protective Services Department in 2005, named a “Local Hero” by the Chinese World Journal newspaper in 2005 and by the San Francisco Bay Guardian in 2004, He has also received recognition from the Minority Bar Coalition, the Asian American Bar Association, and the Republic of China.

Mr. Hwang has taught as an adjunct professor at Golden Gate University and Berkeley schools of law. He is also the co-author of a book entitled “Anti-Asian Violence: Reflections by Asian Americans on Hate, Healing and Resistance,” and has authored a number of law review articles related to his work in civil rights.

Steven C. Owyang

Steven C. Owyang has served as an Administrative Law Judge with the California Office of Administrative Hearings since 2005. OAH hears a wide range of cases involving state, county, and municipal governments. From 1979 to 2005, Owyang worked for the Fair Employment and Housing Commission, first as Commission Counsel then as Executive and Legal Affairs Secretary. As ELAS, Owyang was the executive officer, chief judge, and principal legal advisor to the state civil rights commission. From 1976 to 1979, Owyang worked at Chinese for Affirmative Action, a San Francisco-based civil rights advocacy organization. Owyang is a 1976 graduate of Berkeley Law (Boalt Hall) and a 1973 honors graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, where he majored in History and East Asian studies. He has served on the Executive Committee, Labor and Employment Law Section, State Bar of California. Owyang has often been a host and panelist for visiting judges, lawyers, and legal academics from China, Vietnam and other countries. He has been a member of the boards of the ACLU of Northern California, Asian Law Caucus, Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach (formerly Nihonmachi Legal Outreach), Chinatown YMCA, Chinese for Affirmative Action, Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans, Northeast Community Federal Credit Union, Vanguard Public Foundation, and Wah Mei School. Currently, his primary volunteer activity is as a leader of the In Search of Roots Program at the Chinese Culture Center, San Franciso. Roots is a year-long program in which college age Chinese Americans learn about family genealogy and Chinese history and visit their ancestral villages in Guangdong province, China. Owyang’s interests include piano, guitar, cooking, travel, China, Cuba, Latin and Hawaiian music, and vegetable gardening. He speaks Mandarin and Cantonese.

Judge Carrie A. Zepeda

Judge Carrie A. Zepeda was appointed to the Superior Court Bench of Santa Clara County in September 2003. Currently she is assigned to the Civil Trial Department. She has previously handled general criminal misdemeanor, criminal domestic violence and family law matters.

Prior to her appointment, Judge Zepeda was a deputy county counsel for the Santa Clara County Counsel’s Office where she handled civil litigation matters, dependency cases and the Educational Rights Project.

Judge Zepeda is a native of San Jose where she graduated from Yerba Buena High School before attending Stanford University and Hastings College of the Law.

Opportunities in Public Interest and Pro Bono Work

2009-02-03T21:46:00.000-08:00

Eumi Lee

Eumi K. Lee is a native of Oak Ridge, Tennessee. She received her B.A. from Pomona College and her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, where she graduated with honors. served as a law clerk for the Office of Independent Counsel Carol Elder Bruce. During law school, she was a founding member of the Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law, participated in the Criminal Justice Clinic, and

After graduating from Georgetown, Professor Lee served as a law clerk for both the Honorable Jerome Turner of the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, and the Honorable Warren J. Ferguson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Before arriving at Hastings, Professor Lee practiced at Keker & Van Nest and Thelen, Reid & Priest, specializing in criminal defense and commercial litigation. She has represented a broad spectrum of clients in both federal and state court, administrative proceedings, and on the appellate level. Throughout her career, she has engaged in extensive amounts of pro bono litigation involving immigration and civil rights issues, including an amicus brief on behalf of Fred Korematsu, the Bar Association of San Francisco, and various civil rights organizations, in the Rumsfeld v. Padilla, 542 U.S. 426 (2004).

Christopher Punongbayan

Christopher Punongbayan is Deputy Director at the Asian Law Caucus. He has over a decade of involvement with immigrant communities in New York City, Los Angeles, Oakland, and San Francisco. In that time he has been active on a number of diverse issues including low-wage workers, housing, civil rights, and HIV/AIDS.

Housed at Filipinos for Affirmative Action in Oakland, Chris received the Ford Foundation's New Voices Fellowship in 2004 to increase civic engagement in the Bay Area Filipino American community. He was formerly a staff attorney at Positive Resource Center where he represented San Francisco residents in claims for public disability benefits and health insurance.

Chris has a strong background in organizational management having served on the boards of directors of the Audre Lorde Project, Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center, and South of Market Community Action Network. He is also a member of the San Francisco Immigrant Rights Commission. Chris graduated from Brown University with a degree in Asian American Studies and from UCLA School of Law's Program in Public Interest Law & Policy and with a concentration in Critical Race Studies.

Practicing Law in an International Context

2009-02-03T21:19:00.000-08:00

Matthew Ahn

Matthew Ahn has represented corporations and non-governmental organizations in a variety of litigation matters ranging from intellectual property disputes to antitrust investigations. He has also represented clients in international arbitration proceedings around the globe, and has experience with disputes involving large-scale infrastructure projects.

Mr. Ahn received his B.A. from Columbia University in 1998 and his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 2002. In 2004, Mr. Ahn received an LL.M. from Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan. Prior to joining Morrison & Foerster, Mr. Ahn served as a law clerk to the Honorable James A. Parker in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico.

Eddy Chan

After beginning his legal career in the Palo Alto office of Morrison & Foerster, Eddy Yisyin Chan is currently based in the Hong Kong office of Morrison & Foerster, where he works closely with the firm's Beijing, Shanghai, and Palo Alto offices to represent information technology and life science businesses, venture capital and private equity investors, and underwriters in connection with cross-border financings, joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, and public offerings.

Prior to joining the firm, Eddy worked at TSC Capital Group, a venture capital management firm based out of Asia, where he was involved in making investments in private information technology and life science businesses and working with these businesses on their marketing and manufacturing strategy in the Greater China Region.

Before that, he was an investment banker at Banc of America Securities, Montgomery Securities, Merrill Lynch, and Silicon Valley Bank.

He is fluent in Mandarin Chinese, Hakka (Chinese Dialect), English, and has an elementary knowledge of Spanish.

Eddy received his B.S. degree in Business Administration from the Walter A. Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley and his J.D. degree from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was selected as a Global Law Scholar.

Eddy is admitted as an attorney in California.

Asian Americans and the Democratic Process

2009-02-03T21:10:00.000-08:00

Mable F. Yee

Mable F. Yee is an entrepreneur, filmmaker, activist and organizer. Her documentary "Engage Her: Getting Minority Women to Lead and Vote" highlights why a large percentage of multicultural women failed to vote in the 2004 election. Mable is the founder and CEO of EngageHer.org, an organization that educates and empowers multicultural women on how to mobilize politically, which will have its first Multicultural Women's Leadership Conference in April. Mable is also a cofounder of the Asian Business League in San Francisco, a member of Progressive Women's Voices at the Women's Media Center, and a member of the Shesource.org media expert community.

Brian Wang

Brian began his legal career as a plaintiff side civil rights attorney at Minami Tamaki LLP, where he worked as a summer associate in 2005. He is currently employed as corporate counsel for Next Internet, an internet incubator in San Francisco.

Brian currently serves on the Hastings Alumni Board of Governors and as a Co-Chair of the Community Services Committee for the Asian American Bar Association. In 2008, Brian was also honored to serve as an elected Delegate for Barack Obama, representing San Francisco at the Democratic National Convention.

Brian's leadership experience began at UC Irvine, as a resident advisor, summer orientation counselor, and founder of the school's first multicultural performance troupe. He was also a columnist and photographer for the school newspaper. During college, Brian worked part-time as a tutor for children with autism, as a counselor for formerly incarcerated people afflicted with HIV, and as a life skills coach for adults with mental and developmental disabilities.

Upon graduation, Brian served as Head Counselor for the Chinese Youth Leadership Camp in Dallas. He also worked for a year as Program Coordinator for an English-Language boarding school in Shanghai, where he recruited and trained instructors and counselors. Brian also developed the ESL curriculum for an after-school program in Los Angeles and has taught several classes in China and the U.S. ranging in size from 15 to 100 students.

At UC Hastings, Brian resumed his extracurricular activities as President of the APA Law Students Association (APALSA) and the Associated Student Body (ASUCH). He was also editor of the Hastings Independent newsmagazine, and a volunteer for the Asian Law Caucus and Hastings Tenderloin Tutoring Program.

An avid actor, Brian has performed onstage with artists from Asian American Theater Company (AATC), Bindlestiff, and Lodestone.

Rob Bonta

Rob Bonta is a Deputy City Attorney in the San Francisco City Attorney's Office and serves in elected office as a member of the City of Alameda Health Care District Board. He is the Board President of the Asian Pacific American Democratic Caucus of Alameda County where he has actively worked to (1) increase civic engagement within the API community, (2) influence Democratic policy on issues of importance to Asian communities, and (3) promote Asian Americans for electoral office and leadership positions within the Democratic Party. He also serves as the Co-President of the City of Alameda Democratic Club and is on the board of directors of Filipinos for Affirmative Action.

2009-02-01T12:45:00.000-08:00

UC Hastings College of the Law is located in the heart of San Francisco's Civic Center.

Strategically situated amid a complex of government activities and cultural attractions, Hastings stands astride two blocks of McAllister Street in three buildings:

"The Tower" (100 McAllister St.)
Snodgrass Hall (198 McAllister St.)
Mary Kay Kane Hall (200 McAllister St.)

Google Area Map

From the East Bay
By car: from the Bay Bridge, exit right at Civic Center (after you pass the 5th Street exit). Stay in one of the two right lanes. Merge onto Harrison and make a right turn onto 9th Street. Cross Market on 9th Street in one of the right hand lanes, marked "Larkin Street," which will intersect both McAllister Street and Golden Gate Avenue. Turn left on McAllister and go one and one-half blocks to make a left turn into the underground Civic Center garage. Metered street parking is also available.

AC Transit: take the appropriate bus to the Transbay Terminal, then walk one block north to Market Street to take local transit ("MUNI"). The F line (historic street cars) stops at Civic Center; McAllister Street is 1 block north, on your right. The #5 Muni bus will stop in front of 200 McAllister Street.

BART: all Bay Area Rapid Transit trains going to Daly City/Colma or SFO/Millbrae have a Civic Center stop. McAllister Street is one block north of the Civic Center Station.

From the North Bay
By car: from the Golden Gate Bridge take Lombard Street to Van Ness Avenue. Turn right onto Van Ness and continue to McAllister Street. Turn left onto McAllister and within one and one-half blocks the underground parking garage will be on your right. Metered street parking is also available.

Public Transportation: Golden Gate Transit buses provide service between several destinations in the North Bay and the Civic Center area. Take a Golden Gate Transit to Golden Gate Bridge Southern Approach; transfer to any Civic Center Bus. Get off at Hyde and McAllister Street.
For complete information and current fares, contact Golden Gate Transit online or call 415.923.2000.

MUNI:
The F, J, K, L, M, N, S and T lines stop at Civic Center. McAllister Street is 1 block north, on your right. The #5 Muni bus stops in front of 200 McAllister Street. The current muni fare is $1.50 in exact change, including a 90-minute transfer.

From the South Bay
By car: Take 101 North, stay in second lane from your left, and follow signs to Bay Bridge. Exit 9th Street/Civic Center. Cross Market on 9th Street in one of the righthand lanes marked "Larkin Street" which will intersect both McAllister Street and Golden Gate Avenue. Turn left on McAllister and go one and one-half blocks to make a left turn into the underground Civic Center garage. Metered street parking is also available.

Using CalTrain to the Cal Train Station in China Basin/Mission Bay:
Upon getting off the train, take the N-Judah to the Civic Center stop and walk north to McAllister Street. The current fare for the N-Judah is $1.50 in exact change, including a 90-minute transfer.

Parking in the Civic Center Area
There are several garages in the area near Hastings. The following is a list of parking lots within convenient walking distance of Hastings.

Name of Lot	Location/Address
AAMPCO System Parking	Opera Plaza (Located on Van Ness and Golden Gate Ave.; entrance on Golden Gate Ave. and also on Turk St.)
Civic Center Parking	(Underground Parking) Entrance on McAllister between Larkin and Polk Streets. HOURS: Monday-Thursday - 6:00 a.m.-Midnight Friday - 6:00 a.m.-1:00 a.m. Saturday - 8:00 a.m.-1:00 a.m. Sunday - 8:00 a.m.-Midnight
Federal Auto Parks	659 Franklin Street (cross street is Golden Gate Ave.)
Fox Plaza Garage	3090 Market St. (entrance on Hayes St.)
Holiday Inn	8th Street (between Market & Mission)
Trinity Plaza	8th and Market
Yerba Buena Garage/Fifth & Mission	Fifth and Mission Website: www.fifthandmission.com

Diversity in Private Firms

2009-01-30T00:19:00.000-08:00

Cary Chen

Cary Chen is a corporate associate in the San Francisco office of Morrison & Foerster. He represents public and private companies in various corporate and securities matters, including mergers and acquisitions, private financings, and SEC reporting.

Mr. Chen received his bachelor's degree in economics from Stanford University in 2000 and his law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 2004. In law school, he was an active moot court competitor and also coached the 2003 Saul Lefkowitz Moot Court Competition championship team. He continues to coach Hastings moot court teams today.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Chen was Associate Corporate Counsel at United Commercial Bank, where he handled a wide range of corporate, operational, and commercial leasing matters. Mr. Chen serves on the boards of directors of several local non-profit organizations. He is a member of the California bar and speaks Cantonese and Mandarin.

Representative Matters
- Represented a publicly traded company in a proposed $70 million strategic acquisitions
- Represented Penthouse Media Group Inc. in its $500 million acquisition of Internet social networking leader Various, Inc. and its subsidiaries.
- Represented Restoration Hardware, Inc. in its proposed $177 million acquisition by private equity firm Catterton Partners.
- Represented ADESA, Inc., a leading provider of wholesale vehicle auctions, in its $3.7 billion acquisition by a consortium of private equity funds including Kelso & Co. and GS Capital Partners.
- Represented Mercury Interactive Corporation in its $4.5 billion acquisition by Hewlett-Packard Company.
- Represented The Legacy Estate Group LLC in its $97 million sale to Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates, Ltd. through a bankruptcy auction.
- Represented a specialty foods company in its $23 million acquisition by a strategic buyer.

Private Financing Transactions
- Represented Accede Capital and Starship Ventures in a proposed convertible note financing of a portfolio company.
- Represented Airship Ventures, Inc. in its Series A Preferred Stock financing.
- Represented Cleantech America, Inc. in its conversion from a California LLC to a Delaware corporation and its equity and note financings.
- Represented Epicure Capital and Steelwater Global Strategies in their bridge financing of Emotiv Systems, Inc.
- Represented TCHO Ventures, Inc. in its conversion from a California and Nevada corporate structure to a Delaware corporation and its subsequent Series B Preferred Stock financing.

Public Company Representation
- CEVA, Inc., a leading licensor of digital signal processor cores, multimedia, and storage platforms to the semiconductor industry.
- DSP Group, Inc., a fabless semiconductor company that provides integrated circuits for telecommunication products.
- JMP Group Inc., a full-service investment banking and asset management firm.
- McGrath RentCorp, a leading provider of modular buildings and electronic test equipment.
- Restoration Hardware, Inc., a specialty retailer of high quality home furnishings, bath fixtures and bathware, functional and decorative hardware, gifts and related merchandise.

Susan E. Lee

Susan Lee is an associate at Winston Strawn who concentrates her practice in complex commercial litigation and intellectual property matters. She also provides counseling in connection with trademark and licensing matters. Ms. Lee's recent commercial litigation experience includes disputes regarding constitutional attacks on regulatory fees, cybersquatting, business license tax, and successor liability claims.

Activities
Ms. Lee's pro bono experience includes representing children in guardianship, school expulsion, and immigration matters. She serves as a member of the firm's Summer Committee and represents the San Francisco office on the firm's Associates Committee.

Ms. Lee also served as an intern for the Hon. Michael Mukasey, former U.S. District Court Judge, Southern District of New York.

Education
Ms. Lee received a B.A. in Socio-Cultural Anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley in 1996. She received a J.D. from Columbia University School of Law in 2001, where she was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and a member of the Journal of Gender and Law.

Tuan Pham

Areas of Practice
Tuan "Tune" Pham, a partner in Goodwin Procter's Business Law Department, is an industry-recognized specialist in the overlap between real estate and public finance. He has particular expertise in the area of tax-exempt multifamily housing, and real estate acquisitions and sales subject to bond financing. Mr. Pham currently serves as the hiring partner for the San Francisco office.

Work for Clients
Mr. Pham has played an integral part in the acquisition, development and sale of numerous multifamily housing developments throughout the country. He advises developers on the multitude of issues that arise during the course of multifamily transactions, such as issues relating to real estate law and finance, entity structuring, tax-exempt bond law, low income housing tax credit law, and state-specific concerns such as California's community redevelopment laws and affordable housing preservation laws.

Professional Activities
Mr. Pham is a member of the American Bar Association and the National Association of Bond Lawyers.

Professional Experience
Prior to joining Goodwin Procter, Mr. Pham was a partner in the Century City office of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman.

Bar and Court Admissions
Mr. Pham is admitted to practice in California.

Honors and Awards
Mr. Pham has been recognized by Real Estate Forum magazine as a "Rising Star" and was featured in the special edition of "Tomorrow's Newsmakers." He has further been honored as a Southern California Super Lawyer "Rising Star" by Law & Politics and Los Angeles magazine. Real Estate Southern California magazine selected Mr. Pham as one of the top "40 Under 40" most successful and youngest stars of the Southern California real estate industry.

Education
J.D., University of California at Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law, 1997
B.A., University of California at Los Angeles, 1994 (magna cum laude)

Asian Americans and the Judiciary

2009-01-27T19:25:00.000-08:00

Judge Stuart Hing

Judge Stuart Hing was appointed to the Superior Court of California, County of Alameda, in July 2008 by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Prior to that, he was a deputy district attorney in the Alameda County District Attorney's Office for twenty-three years, conducting forty-nine jury trials, from misdemeanor to death-penalty cases, and thirty-seven non-jury trials. He also trained and supervised colleagues in over 102 jury trials. He received his juris doctorate degree from University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law.

Judge Hing and his wife, Rhoda, are active in the Community and Education Foundation of the Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs Association, Asian American Bar Association, Women Lawyers of Alameda County (in which he served as the only male board member), Charles Houston Car Association, Alameda County Bar Association, and also his own outreach and mentoring program. He also had an early career as a musician, and played lead guitar in a band that opened for Earth, Wind & Fire.

Judge Lucy Koh

Judge Lucy Koh was appointed to the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara, in January 2008 by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. She is the first Korean American woman to be appointed to the bench in the Bay Area. Prior to her appointment, Judge Koh was a partner at McDermott, Will and Emery since 2002, working as a litigator in the intellectual property department with a focus on patent and trade secrets cases. Prior to that, she was a senior associate at Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati from 2000 to 2002, and an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Major Frauds Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California from 1997 to 2000. A jury instruction from one of her trials is a Ninth Circuit Model Criminal Jury Instruction. From 1994 to 1997, she worked at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. as a Special Assistant to the U.S. Deputy Attorney General and as a Legislative Affairs Special Counsel. She was a Women's Law and Public Policy Fellow on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee staff from 1993-1994. Judge Koh received her undergraduate and juris doctorate degrees from Harvard.

Justice Mihara

Associate Justice Mihara was appointed to the California State Court of Appeal, Sixth Appellate District in 1993 by Governor Wilson, after serving as a judge for the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara from October 1988 and also a judge for the Municipal Court of California, Santa Clara County from June 1985 to October 1988. Prior to that, he had a private law practice in Menlo Park until he joined the California State Attorney General's office as a Deputy Attorney General in San Francisco until 1985. He received his juris doctorate degree from UC Hastings College of Law.

Justice Mihara is an active member of the California Judges Association, the California Asian American Judges Association, and the Asian Pacific Bar Association of Silicon Valley. He has co-chaired the Santa Clara County Bar Association's Appellate Section and has served on its Law Related Education Committee and Minority Access Committee. He has also served on the Board of Directors of the Sentencing Alternatives Program in San Jose since 1985. Justice Mihara is also active in his community with Little League Baseball, the American Youth Soccer Association and his church. He is married and has one son

Different Paths in the Public Sector

2009-01-25T23:50:00.001-08:00

David Lim

Deputy District Attorney for Alameda County District Attorney's Office since 1999. Tried over 40 cases to verdict including murder, child sexual assault, robbery, domestic violence, and elder financial abuse. Past three years assigned to real estate fraud unit. J.D. from Hastings College of the Law in 1999. M.Ed. from UCLA in 1993, BA from UCLA in 1992. Former public school teacher.

Carin Fujisaki

Carin Fujisaki graduated with a BA degree from UCLA in 1981 and a law degree from UC Hastings College of the Law in 1985. After law school, she clerked for a year at the civil law and motion department of the San Francisco Superior Court. Ms. Fujisaki next worked for several years as an associate attorney at the San Francisco law firm of Howard, Rice, Nemerovski, Canady, Robertson & Falk, where her practice focused on municipal and business litigation. Since 1991, Ms. Fujisaki has served as a judicial staff attorney for the Honorable Marvin R. Baxter of the California Supreme Court, and her work spans the entire range of civil, criminal, family law, administrative, and death penalty appeals. Ms. Fujisaki has been active with the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area and other local bar associations, most recently in mentoring law students and new attorneys. She also served on the Commission for Judicial Nominees Evaluation, the
State Bar body that evaluates all candidates seeking judicial appointments. In 2003, Governor Gray Davis appointed Ms. Fujisaki to the Board of Directors of UC Hastings, where she currently chairs the Educational Policy Committee and is a member of both the Finance Committee and the Advancement and Communications Committee.

Asian Americans in Leadership

2009-01-25T23:45:00.000-08:00

Carmen Chu

Supervisor Carmen Chu currently serves as the city’s representative to the Sunset/Parkside District. She was appointed as the District 4 Supervisor in September 2007 and then elected to the Board in November 2008.

Prior to joining the Board of Supervisors, Supervisor Chu worked to improve the lives of San Francisco residents through her three-year tenure at the Mayor’s Office of Public Policy and Finance.

Some projects that Supervisor Chu worked on through the Mayor’s Office included: Healthy San Francisco – the first-of-its-kind universal health care program for all residents; the 311 Customer Service Center – a centralized point of access where anyone can access services or information 24/7; and the development of long-term fiscal projections for the City & County of San Francisco.

Under Supervisor Chu’s direction, San Francisco was awarded the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award in 2006-2007 from the Government Finance Officers Association for the annual proposed budget document.

In addition to her extensive involvement in developing the city’s annual budget, Supervisor Chu brings with her significant policy and finance experience through her work at the San Francisco Board of Supervisor’s Office of the Legislative Analyst and as a consultant with Public Financial Management, Inc., a private consulting firm that specialized in helping municipalities manage their debt and finance large public works projects.

Supervisor Chu received two degrees in public policy: a B.A. from Occidental College, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa (2000). Supervisor Chu also earned a Master’s degree from U.C. Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy, where she was the distinguished recipient of a PPIA fellowship (2003).

Currently, Supervisor Chu serves on the Board of Supervisors’ Budget & Finance Committee, which reviews and holds public hearings on the Mayor’s annual proposed budget. Supervisor Chu was also appointed as Chair of the City Operations and Neighborhood Services Committee, which reviews legislation related to public works, infrastructure, parks and recreation, utilities, public protection, delinquency prevention, public health, emergency services, seniors, the disabled, children and their families. Supervisor Chu is also a member of the California State Association of Counties and the Urban Counties Caucus, serving as a voice for San Francisco on state issues.

Eric Mar

Supervisor Eric Mar was elected in November 2008 to represent District 1, the Richmond District. For over two decades, Eric has been a dedicated and responsive advocate for working families, youth and seniors, small businesses and all the diverse residents of the Richmond District and San Francisco.

From 2000 to 2008, Eric served as a Commissioner and past President of the San Francisco Board of Education. He led efforts to clean up corruption and financial mismanagement, close the achievement gap, strengthen parental involvement in educational policy-making and increase resources for public education.

From 1992 to 2008, Eric taught Asian American and Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University where he mentored and supported hundreds of young people to become active in their communities and the political process.

He is also an elected member and past Vice Chair of the San Francisco Democratic Party’s Central Committee. Eric has worked to strengthen the local Democratic Party and build bridges with grassroots communities.

Eric is the past director of the Northern California Coalition for Immigrant Rights and a longtime social justice activist with the Chinese Progressive Association and other grassroots organizations. As a public interest attorney, he served on the Human Rights Committee of the State Bar of California and the Civil Rights Committee of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. He is an ally of the labor movement and a past shop steward with SEIU Local 790.

Since 1986, Eric has lived in the Richmond District with his wife Sandra Chin-Mar, a public school teacher. Their daughter Jade Mar is a 3rd grader at McCoppin Elementary School in the Inner Richmond.

Steve Ngo

Steve Ngo was elected to the San Francisco Community College Board in 2008. Steve was born in Lexington, Kentucky. He received his B.A. from University of California, Los Angeles. He later received his Master of Public Policy from Georgetown University and a law degree from University of California, Hastings College of the Law.

He currently serves as Chair of the Civil Rights Committee of the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area and as pro bono general counsel for APIA Vote, a national voting rights organization. He is also an active volunteer with API Equality, an organization working for equal marriage rights and fair treatment of the lesbian and gay community.

He has successfully represented individuals in negligence and employment discrimination cases as an attorney. Before becoming an attorney, Steve was a budget consultant for the California State Assembly Budget Committee, where he advised legislators on $3.1 billion worth of spending proposals. He served in state government as a recipient of the Jesse M. Unruh Assembly Fellowship. He continued his public service as a law clerk for the California Attorney General’s Energy Task Force, a specially formed group that pursued price gouging and other unfair business practices claims against energy companies.

Steve’s commitment to civil rights and education is rooted in his family’s refugee experience. After fleeing Vietnam for the United States, Steve’s mother worked in the service industry as a waitress and nail salon technician in New Orleans, Louisiana. After 20 years, she eventually opened her own nail salon business. His father took jobs as a busboy, roofer, and chef, and later attended community college to become an auto body repair technician. Steve’s mother only had a third grade education and his father only completed the eighth grade, but in America they were able to build a better life through hard work and vocational education.

Current Issues in Immigration

2009-01-25T23:26:00.000-08:00

Bill Ong Hing

Bill Ong Hing is a Professor of Law at the University of California, Davis. He teaches Immigration Policy, Judicial Process, Negotiations, Public Service Strategies, Asian American History, and directs the law school clinical program. Throughout his career, he has pursued social justice by combining community work, litigation, and scholarship. He is the author of numerous academic and practice-oriented books and articles on immigration policy and race relations. His books include Deporting Our Souls – Morality, Values, and Immigration Policy (Cambridge Univ. Press 2006), Defining America Through Immigration Policy (Temple Univ. Press 2004), Making and Remaking Asian America Through Immigration Policy (Stanford Univ. Press 1993), Handling Immigration Cases (Aspen Publishers 1995), andImmigration and the Law – A Dictionary (ABC-CLIO 1999). His book To Be An American, Cultural Pluralism and the Rhetoric of Assimilation (NYU Press 1997) received the award for Outstanding Academic Book in 1997 by the librarians' journal Choice. He was also co-counsel in the precedent-setting Supreme Court asylum case, INS v. Cardoza-Fonseca (1987). Professor Hing is the founder of, and continues to volunteer as General Counsel for, the Immigrant Legal Resource Center in San Francisco. He is on the board of directors of the Asian Law Caucus and the Migration Policy Institute. He also serves on the National Advisory Council of the Asian American Justice Center in Washington, D.C.

Sin Yen Ling

Sin Yen Ling is a staff attorney at the Asian Law Caucus focusing on immigrants rights. Her most current litigation includes Ahmadi v. Chertoff, a class action lawsuit addressing naturalization delays caused by the FBI name check process. It also includes complex litigation involving illegal detention of U.S. citizens; suppression cases in deportation involving constitutional violations; challenging material support to terrorism and general detention/deportation issues in Federal Court. She is a former staff attorney at the New York-based Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) where she has spent 6 years conducting litigation and advocacy in the areas of anti-Asian violence, racial profiling and immigrant detention/deportation. A native New Yorker, Ms. Ling was born in Manhattan's Chinatown to immigrant parents who worked in garment factories and restaurants. She is a graduate of New York University and City University of New York School of Law. Ms. Ling managed AALDEF's Immigrant Access to Justice Project which has been at the forefront of providing direct representation to South Asian, Arab, Filipino and Muslim immigrant detainees facing indefinite detention after September 11 and has been a leading advocate for the defense of civil liberties and civil rights of immigrants and their families.

Ms. Ling has been quoted in the New York Times, Newsweek, New Jersey Law Journal, Crain's New York Business and the Financial Times and has been profiled in the Village Voice. In 2002, she was selected as one of the Top 25 Lawyers Under 40 by the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. In 2003, she was awarded the New York County Lawyer's Association's Public Service Award and the Joseph Minsky Young Lawyers Award by the American Immigration Lawyers Association. In 2005, she received the Alumni award from CUNY Law School's Public Interest Law Association, Proclamation of Service from New York City's City Council, and the Community Service Award from the Islamic Circle of North America.

Ms. Ling is fluent in Cantonese and conversational in Mandarin. She is a member of the New York State Bar, National Immigration Project, and the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

William Tamayo

WILLIAM R. TAMAYO (Bill Tamayo) was appointed in 1995 as the Regional Attorney for the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, San Francisco District. He currently directs the Commission's litigation and legal program in Northern California, Northern Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Idaho and Montana.

From 1979 – 1995 he was a staff attorney and the Managing Attorney for the Asian Law Caucus. Inc. where he emphasized the practice of immigration and nationality law and civil rights litigation and advocacy involving employment discrimination, affirmative action, immigrant rights, voting rights, and the Census.

Mr. Tamayo has served as a speaker and trainer for the American Bar Association, National Employment Lawyers Association, Society of Human Resource Management (various chapters), American Immigration Lawyers Association, Kaiser Foundation, the State Bar of California, Latino/a Critical Legal Studies, U.S. Department of Justice, unions, law enforcement agencies, risk management companies in the construction industry, Silicon Valley employment attorneys and in-house counsel, employment practices liability insurance conferences, various industry trade associations, and many others. His publications include, inter alia, "The Role of the EEOC in Protecting the Civil Rights of Farm Workers", 33 UC Davis L.R. 1075 (2000), and "The Effects of Immigration Status on Employment Litigation After Hoffman Plastics Compound" (National Employment Lawyers Association, 2004 and 2008).

Mr. Tamayo has received several awards including the 1990 Award for Lawyering from the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, the 1993 Judge John Minor Wisdom Award from the American Bar Association (Section on Litigation), a 1993 Charles Bannerman Memorial Fellowship, the 1995 Carol King Award from the National Lawyers Guild National Immigration Project, the 1999 Jesse De La Cruz Community Service Award from California Rural Legal Assistance, the 2004 Joe Morozumi Award for Exceptional Legal Advocacy from the Asian American Bar Association, the 2004 Achievement Award from Filipinas magazine, the 2004 Accomplishment Award from the Asian Pacific Fund, a 2005 Trailblazer Award from the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, and the 2008 Government Employee Leadership Award from the Midwest Association of Farmworker Organizations (MAFO). He received his B.A. from San Francisco State University magna cum laude and his law degree (J.D.) from the University of California at Davis, King Hall.

Amagda Pérez

As executive director of the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, Amagda Pérez has extensive experience working with immigrants of varied nationalities and other disenfranchised communities. She brings a wealth of experience and expertise in immigration and poverty law to the Immigration Law Clinic at the University of California, Davis School of Law, where she supervises second-and third-year law students in the preparation of deportation defense cases. "The work that the Immigration Law Clinic does in training law students to provide competent representation for indigent immigrant clients and providing students the opportunity to develop essential lawyering skills such as client interviewing, advocacy, and legal writing are an extremely valuable part of a student's legal education," Amagda Pérez says. The practical legal skills and training that the students receive in the Clinic also help them become more marketable. "We are constantly receiving calls from the various legal services organizations asking us to recommend our graduates for their programs." Employers are very interested in hiring law graduates with experience in client interviewing, legal research, advocacy and case management.

Current Issues in Immigration

2009-01-25T21:12:00.000-08:00

Bill Ong Hing

Bill Ong Hing is a Professor of Law at the University of California, Davis. He teaches Immigration Policy, Judicial Process, Negotiations, Public Service Strategies, Asian American History, and directs the law school clinical program. Throughout his career, he has pursued social justice by combining community work, litigation, and scholarship. He is the author of numerous academic and practice-oriented books and articles on immigration policy and race relations. His books include Deporting Our Souls – Morality, Values, and Immigration Policy (Cambridge Univ. Press 2006), Defining America Through Immigration Policy (Temple Univ. Press 2004), Making and Remaking Asian America Through Immigration Policy (Stanford Univ. Press 1993), Handling Immigration Cases (Aspen Publishers 1995), and Immigration and the Law – A Dictionary (ABC-CLIO 1999). His book To Be An American, Cultural Pluralism and the Rhetoric of Assimilation (NYU Press 1997) received the award for Outstanding Academic Book in 1997 by the librarians' journal Choice. He was also co-counsel in the precedent-setting Supreme Court asylum case, INS v. Cardoza-Fonseca (1987). Professor Hing is the founder of, and continues to volunteer as General Counsel for, the Immigrant Legal Resource Center in San Francisco. He is on the board of directors of the Asian Law Caucus and the Migration Policy Institute. He also serves on the National Advisory Council of the Asian American Justice Center in Washington, D.C.

Sin Yen Long

Ms. Ling is fluent in Cantonese and conversational in Mandarin. She is a member of the New York State Bar, National Immigration Project, and the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

William Tamayo

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2009-01-21T22:44:00.000-08:00

test

2009-01-20T01:36:00.001-08:00

Download registration here.

About

2009-01-16T12:49:00.000-08:00

Vision Statement

We, the Asian Pacific American Law Students Associations (APALSAs) of the eight leading Bay Area law schools, proudly sponsor Aspire: A New Direction – the Ninth Annual Bay Area Asian Pacific Americans Law Students Association (BAAPALSA) Conference.

Our inaugural conference, Building Bridges, established the foundation for future BAAPALSA conferences. The conference was created in 2001 to promote education, leadership, social awareness and community service, as well as to foster communication and interaction among Asian Pacific American law students, attorneys, and community leaders. In the wake of the September 11, 2001 tragedy, we ventured further into the issues faced by Asian Pacific American communities in the 2002 conference, Crossing Boundaries. In 2003, we began to understand the power of cooperation, concerted effort, and networks in Connecting our Communities. Then in 2004, we examined our potential to translate our awareness into leadership in the community with Reflection to Action. In 2005, with .community, we explored the link between the Bay Area’s IP landscape and the Asian American legal community. With Gateway to Unity in 2006, we emphasized the promotion of cultural understanding and unity among the various APA ethnic subgroups, as well as the ways in which established attorneys can help act as “gateways” for those just entering the profession. In 2007, we recognized the long tradition of community involvement among Asian Pacific American legal professionals in Community. Justice. Last year, under the theme of The New Faces of Justice, we recognized the value of individuals and communities in the pursuit of justice.

This year, 2009, we have chosen Aspire: A New Direction, to address adapting to the changing legal profession in light of the unprecented events that have defined this year's economic and political landscapes. The conference seeks to highlight various career options for budding attorneys and promote discussion on pressing issues relevant to the legal community (eg. immigration, voting, pro bono work). It is a forum for students to connect with their peers and role models about their immediate career decisions as well as the potential avenues of exploration in the future. Aspire: A New Direction is designed to bring together individuals who wish to use their legal skills to not just benefit their careers but also give back to our community, especially in the face of evolving political and economic times.

Bay Area APALSA members recognize our responsibility as Asian Pacific Americans in the legal profession to act as leaders and advocates for our communities. Today, we gather with the hope that the panels we attend, the conversations we join, and the people we meet and hear will instill in each of us a stronger sense of community and the inspiration to do great things and lead by example. We hope that BAAPALSA 2009 will energize us all to recognize the unique ways that lawyers can contribute to society.

Registration

2009-01-15T23:47:00.000-08:00

Click here to print the Registration Form.

Schedule

2009-01-14T21:44:00.000-08:00

9:00a - 10:00a Registration/Breakfast
10:00a - 10:15a Opening Remarks with Dean Newton
10:15a - 11:00a Keynote: Professor Bill O. Hing

11:10a - 12:10p Session I
1) Current Issues in Immigration

2) Serving Minorities
3) Practicing Law in an International Context

12:20p - 1:30p Lunch

1:40p - 2:40p Session II
1) Asian Americans and the Democratic Process
2) Different Paths in the Public Sector

3) Opportunities in Public Interest and Pro Bono Work

2:50p - 3:50p Session III
1) Asian Americans and the Judiciary
2) Asian Americans in Leadership
3) Diversity in Private Firms

4:00p - 4:30 Entertainment - Hastings' Legal Notes
4:45p - 6:00p Wine and Cheese Reception

Panels

2009-01-14T21:23:00.000-08:00

TOPICS

Please click a topic for the panelist bios

Session I: (11:10a - 12:10p)

Session II: (1:40p - 2:40p)

Session III: (2:50p-3:50p)

Keynote Speaker/Outstanding Leadership Award

2008-02-11T12:52:00.000-08:00

Professor Bill O. Hing

Professor Hing teaches Judicial Process, Negotiations, Public Service Strategies, Asian American Legal History, and directs the law school clinical program. Throughout his career, he has pursued social justice by combining community work, litigation, and scholarship. He is on the board of directors of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center and the Asian Law Caucus. He also serves on the National Advisory Council of the Asian American Justice Center. He is the author of numerous academic and practice-oriented books and articles on immigration policy and race relations. His books include Deporting Our Souls - Values, Morality and Immigration Policy (Cambridge University Press 2006), Defining America Through Immigration Policy (Temple Univ. Press 2004), Making and Remaking Asian America Through Immigration Policy (Stanford Press 1993), Handling Immigration Cases (Aspen Publishers 1995), and Immigration and the Law - a Dictionary (ABC-CLIO 1999). His book To Be An American, Cultural Pluralism and the Rhetoric of Assimilation (NYU Press 1997) received the award for Outstanding Academic Book in 1997 by the librarians' journal Choice. He is on the board of directors of the Asian Law Caucus and the Migration Policy Institute. He also serves on the National Advisory Council of the Asian American Justice Center.

For more information on Professor Hing, click here.

Past Recipients

Eddy Zhang, 2008

Bill Lann Lee, 2007

Dale Minami, 2006

Judge Edward M. Chen, 2005

Asian Law Caucus, 2004

Chancellor Chang-Lin Tien, 2003

Yuri Kochiyama, 2002

Judge Robert Takasugi, 2001

BAAPALSA 2010 @ Santa Clara University

BAAPALSA 2010: Rising in Unity

"Aspire: A New Direction"

Serving Minorities

Opportunities in Public Interest and Pro Bono Work

Practicing Law in an International Context

Asian Americans and the Democratic Process

Diversity in Private Firms

Asian Americans and the Judiciary

Sponsors

Different Paths in the Public Sector

Asian Americans in Leadership

Current Issues in Immigration

Current Issues in Immigration

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About

Registration

Schedule

Panels

Keynote Speaker/Outstanding Leadership Award