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News: AALAM Announcements / Community Announcements / Newsletters / Legal Line TV Show AALAM Announcements AALAM Supports MBA and BBA Court Funding Efforts AALAM commends and supports the efforts of the Massachusetts Bar Association and the Boston Bar Association to raise awareness of the underfunding of the state courts, its consequences on the ability of the courts to serve the public, and the need to reach out to legislators to reiterate the importance of an adequately-funded court system. Visit the MBA website to learn more about its initiatives, including a series of videos now posted on YouTube. Likewise, visit the BBA website for recent press releases urging sufficient funding for the courts:
 Sarah Kim Named Among 2011 Lawyers of the Year Congratulations to AALAM President Sarah Kim, who was recently named by the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly as one of its 2011 Lawyers of the Year! In this January 3, 2012 article (subscription required), the MLW featured Sarah's work on behalf of the Woodward School for Girls to expose mismanagement of the trust created to support the school. After a 13-day trial, the court ruled in favor of the school, removed the trustee, and ordered it to pay about $3 million back to the trust. By the way, we also learned from the article that Sarah's car is "a 1994 Toyota Corolla with over 200,000 miles on it" and that she likes "[a]ny movie by the Coen brothers." The Dude abides. AALAM Honors the Memory of Gordon Hirabayashi AALAM joins the civil rights and legal community in honoring the memory of Gordon Hirabayashi, who died on Monday, January 2, 2012, at the age of 93. During World War II, Gordon Hirabayashi, an American citizen of Japanese descent, defied a federal curfew directed at persons of Japanese ancestry and refused to register to be sent to an internment camp, resulting in his arrest and imprisonment. Hirabayashi challenged the constitutionality of the curfew and internment orders in a case that eventually came before the United States Supreme Court. Thus, as noted in this New York Times article, Hirabayashi and his fellow Japanese-Americans Fred Korematsu and Minoru Yasui, who brought similar lawsuits before the Supreme Court, "emerged as symbols of protest against unchecked governmental powers in a time of war." The Supreme Court upheld the curfew and internment orders, but approximately four decades later, the federal courts revisited and ultimately vacated Hirabayashi's conviction, as well as those of Korematsu and Yasui. AALAM Membership Drive The AALAM Membership Drive for the 2011-12 membership year is under way! Join us or renew your membership now to enjoy the benefits of membership. Membership is free for law students. For more details, visit our Benefits & Dues page. William F. Lee Named to Boston Business Journal's Power 50 Please join us in congratulating William F. Lee, who was named by the Boston Business Journal (BBJ) to its first Power 50, a list of the region's most influential business people in 2011. Bill Lee, a longtime supporter and member of AALAM, is a co-managing partner of WilmerHale and a member of the firm's management committee. The members of the 2011 Power 50 will be recognized in a special supplement in the BBJ on October 28, 2011. Sarah Kim Named Among MLW 2011 Top Women of Law Congratulations to our own Sarah Kim, who has been named by the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly as one of its 2011 Top Women of Law! The award recognizes legal educators, trailblazers and role models who have demonstrated outstanding accomplishments in social justice, advocacy and business. In addition to serving as AALAM President, Sarah is an attorney at Bingham McCutchen, where she focuses on securities enforcement, securities litigation and broker-dealer defense, and serves as a Director of the Massachusetts Asian AIDS Prevention Project Inc. Sarah will be honored at the MLW Top Women of Law Event on September 23, 2011. Colin Owyang Elected to BBA Council Congratulations to AALAM member Colin Owyang on his election to a three-year term as a member of the Council of the Boston Bar Association. Colin is a Senior Vice President and US General Counsel at National Grid. Colin joins Renee Inomata and Ingrid Chiemi Schroffner as AALAM members on the BBA Council. For more information, see the BBA Election Results. Follow up to the AALAM Summer Luncheon Thank you to everyone who attended the AALAM Summer Luncheon on July 12, 2011! Thank you as well to our hosts, Paul Lee, Marian Tse and Jennifer Fang at Goodwin Procter. Below is a list of each organization highlighted at the Summer Luncheon, together with website/contact information for anyone who would like more information:
AALAM Elections Thanks to everyone who voted at this year's AALAM Elections and congratulations to the returning and incoming Executive Officers and Members of the Board of Directors for the 2011-12 term. For biographies of the officers and members of the Board, click here. 2011 AALAM Annual Banquet AALAM celebrated its 27th Anniversary with its Annual Banquet on April 19, 2011, at China Pearl Restaurant in Boston. The evening's keynote speaker was Lisa A. Wong, the first minority mayor of Fitchburg and the first Asian-American woman to be elected mayor in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. AALAM also presented its Founders Award to William F. Lee, Co-Managing Partner of WilmerHale LLP, in recognition of his outstanding achievements in his legal practice. Among them, Attorney Lee is internationally recognized as a leader in intellectual property, is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and is the first Asian-American managing partner of an AmLaw 100 law firm. Finally, AALAM announced the winner of its $2,500 Scholarship Award, H. Will Mak, a second-year student at Boston College Law School (see below). This year's scholarship award was generously sponsored by Mercedes-Benz USA. Thanks to everyone who attended and for your continuing support of AALAM! For more details, see the Banquet Program. And check out the event photos in the AALAM Photo Gallery. BC Law Student Wins AALAM Scholarship At the AALAM Annual Banquet on April 19, 2011, AALAM announced H. Will Mak as the winner of its $2,500 2011 Scholarship. Will is a second-year law student at Boston College Law School and holds a B.A. from Harvard. While at Harvard, Will served as Executive Director of the Harvard Small Claims Advisory Service (SCAS), which provides legal assistance to over 1,200 Massachusetts citizens every year in small claims law and procedure. Seeing a need among non-English speaking clients, Will founded a satellite office in Boston Chinatown at the Chinese Progressive Association to help Chinese immigrants represent themselves in court. After college, Will served as a Fulbright Scholar to China. In that capacity, he conducted a research project on Chinese mediation as an alternative to U.S. litigation. After working at a real estate investment firm for two years, Will went to Boston College Law School, where he served as a 1L representative for the BC Asian Pacific American Law Students Association. He serves on the board of directors for the Harvard Asian-American Alumni Alliance, and helped organize a four-day inaugural Summit for Asian-American leaders in Cambridge in October 2010. He will be a summer associate at McLane, Graf, Raulerson & Middleton, a regional New England law firm with offices in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. In his spare time, Will enjoys playing tennis. Special thanks to Mercedes-Benz USA for sponsoring this year's scholarship. Thanks to the Scholarship Selection Committee, comprised of Joel Buenaventura, Stephen Chow, Sarah Kim, Vincent Lau, Michelle Rhee and Austin Wang. AALAM Congratulates Justice Fernande R.V. Duffly AALAM is pleased to announce that Justice Fernande R.V. Duffly was confirmed to the Supreme Judicial Court by the Massachusetts Governor's Council on January 26, 2011. Justice Duffly is the first Asian American appointed to the SJC. Please join AALAM in congratulating Justice Duffly on this historic appointment. Friends of The Asian Outreach Unit Campaign For nearly 40 years, the Asian Outreach Unit (AOU) at Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS) has provided bilingual, culturally sensitive legal representation to assist low-income Asian immigrants secure the basic necessities of life - food, shelter, employment and safety. Last year, AOU advocates assisted over 900 low-income Asian clients. AOU advocates also work with the Asian immigrant community to empower and develop the community's ability to successfully address issues that affect their neighborhoods. The most recent example of this is the passage of a bilingual ballots bill requiring Chinese/English or Vietnamese/English ballots for those that need them. AOU attorneys also mentor APA undergraduate and law students interested in public interest law, who will become the next generation of legal advocates to serve this community. Sadly, most of AOU's work is now threatened due to an unanticipated loss of $3.7 million in GBLS's public funding. This has forced GBLS to cut its staff by 20 advocate positions and it will need to make additional cuts if more money is not raised. AOU has already lost one attorney, and is at risk of losing two other advocates. You can help stop this from happening. In response, an ad hoc group of Asian Americans recently formed the Friends of AOU to raise $100,000 in each of the next two years to preserve the AOU advocate positions. On Saturday, December 11, 2010, AALAM hosted a Holiday Open House to benefit the AOU. Cyndi Mark, Managing Attorney of the AOU, and her team presented some truly inspiring stories of their work. About 50 friends and members of AALAM enjoyed the evening of delicious Asian food and lively company. Thank you to our gracious hostess Marian Tse for opening her home to the AALAM community! Although we made a good start, AOU still needs your help. Every two dollars you contribute will leverage an additional dollar from a challenge grant from the Harry Dow Memorial Legal Assistance Fund. The Dow Fund has already contributed $25,000 towards the $100,000 first year goal and will provide an additional $25,000 if the Friend of the AOU raise $50,000. Click here if you would like to contribute or for additional information, please contact Cyndi Mark, Managing Attorney of AOU, at cmark@gbls.org. Monthly Happy Hour AALAM has started holding monthly happy hour events. Come meet your fellow members in a casual and fun atmosphere. Past Monthly Happy Hours have been held on Thursday nights, 6-8 pm, at Stoddard's Fine Food and Wine in Boston. Watch our Calendar of Events page for details on future Monthly Happy Hours. |
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