In this issue:

President's Message
A Letter from Justice Harry Low on the Importance of an Independent Judiciary
The Ninth Annual Pathways to Law Conference Held at UC Hastings College of the Law
What We've Been Up To: Event and Mentorship Family Highlights
Event Photo Galleries
AABA and Community Events Calendar

If you are interested in contributing to a future newsletter, please contact the Newsletter Committee Co-Chairs Kathy Aoki (Kathyaok@aol.com) and Candice Shih (cshih@hansonbridgett.com).

A Letter from Justice Harry Low on the Importance of an Independent Judiciary

To AABA Members:

I write as a concerned AABA member regarding the upcoming judicial elections in San Francisco. As a former Presiding Justice of California Court of Appeal, I understand the importance of having an independent, impartial judiciary that is connected and accountable to the community it serves. In California, judges may face election challenges for a number of legitimate reasons. However, when judges facing election challenges have years of experience handling a wide variety of complex cases, as well as a demonstrated record of fairness and commitment to the community, the independence and impartiality of the judiciary is directly challenged. Judges must not be challenged just because of the party affiliation of the governor who appointed those judges. Challenging judges based on who appointed those judges represents precisely the type of generalized stereotyping that every fair and impartial judge must seek to avoid.

I ask all AABA members to join me in supporting Judges Cynthia Ming-Mei Lee, Andrew Y.S. Cheng, Jeffrey S. Ross, and Curtis E.A. Karnow in the June 5 election.

Justice Harry Low (Presiding Justice, California Court of Appeal, 1983-1992)

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The Ninth Annual Pathways to Law Conference Held at UC Hastings College of the Law
By Rebecca Tseng
AABA Community Services Committee Co-Chair 

On March 3, 2018, over 80 high school and college students and their parents gathered at the Louis B. Mayer Lounge at University of California, Hastings College of the Law to hear distinguished and diverse lawyers and local law students share their experiences about becoming part of the legal profession at the Ninth Annual Pathways to Law conference, formerly known as Legally Asian. In the current political climate, the students were keen to learn how a legal education could be leveraged to bring about positive social change and to meet lawyers and law students if they do not currently have those connections in the legal community.

As in past years, Pathways was structured so that high school and college students heard from lawyers who work in different areas of law and who use their law degrees in various ways. The students were also “treated” to a mock class taught by AABA Board Member John B. Lough, Jr. There was even a special appearance from NAPABA President Pankit Doshi, who encouraged the students in his opening remarks to pursue a career in the legal profession, and shared with the audience the fulfillment he has received from being a lawyer.

The first panel of the day was the Private Practice Panel moderated by former AAVA Community Service Co-Chair Claire Choo (Associate, Danko Meredith and former CSC Co-Chair). This panel featured Lin Chan (Partner, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein and AABA Board Member), David Tsai (Partner, Vinson & Elkins LLP and AABA President), and Shantel Williams (IP counsel at Facebook).  During this panel, students learned about working at firms of different sizes and companies, including big law, smaller firms, and in-house positions.

Following the Private Practice Panel was an insightful discussion with Bay Area law students. Wendell Lin (UC Hastings) led the discussion among his peers: Jeremy Chan (UC Hastings), Kiet Lam (UC Berkeley), Adrian Van (USF). The students gave their perspectives on how they decided to attend law school, what to do in college to prepare, the value of work experience, and tips on the law school admissions process.

“Professor Lough” then led the mock class component of the program. Students first watched a fictional depiction of the first day of law school classes in the film, Legally Blonde (in years past, students were also shown scenes from The Paper Chase, but the planners this year decided that it might be too old for the students now!)  The students then broke up into small groups, and with the help of attorney and law student volunteers, they read and discussed Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc., 523 U.S. 75 (1998), a U.S. Supreme Court decision involving sexual harassment in the workplace. “Professor Lough” led a class discussion of the case using a soft version of the Socratic method where attendees volunteered (and were not cold-called!) to answer questions about the case, respond to hypos, and think about the issues involved.  Essentially, the students got a taste of what it meant to “think like a lawyer.” 

The attendees next heard from practitioners in the Public Interest/Public Service world. Katherine Chu (Staff Attorney, Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus and AABA Civil Rights Committee Co-Chair) was both a moderator and panelist, and she engaged the Honorable Judge Benjamin T. Reyes II (Contra Costa Superior Court) and Minming Wu (Assistant Regional Counsel at the Federal Transit Authority’s Region IX Office) in a thoughtful discussion.  The panelists conveyed a real sense of how their work impacted their clients and society, and discussed the importance of mentorship and remembering your roots and community.

The final attorney panel of the day was the Alternative Careers Panel, where the panelists showed that lawyers can have successful, unique careers outside the traditional practice of law. Darryl Woo (Partner at Vinson & Elkins LLP, CSC Co-Chair) moderated this diverse panel that featured David King (Director of Diversity and Belonging at Airbnb), Linda Lee (Manager of Associate Career Development at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati), and Anthony Wan (Managing Member and Founder of WealthBoost Advisors, LLC). The panelists shared with the students their journeys to the law and how the skills they gained from law school are useful in non-traditional legal roles.

Besides the panels and mock class, the day included a networking lunch for the attendees, where a number of Asian-American guest attorneys and law students came to speak with the students and share their experiences. Students also learned about California Law, Inc.’s 2+2+3 program, in which students could enroll in a participating California community college for two years, transfer to a partner four-year university for two years, and gain automatic acceptance into one of the participating law schools in California.

The Pathways to Law 2018 planning committee included Community Services Committee Co-Chairs Stephen Chong, Claire Choo (as our recently former CSC Co-Chair), Pamela Chung, Rebecca Tseng, and Darryl Woo, as well as an army of attorney and law student volunteers: Alston Lew, Danielle K. Lewis, John B. Lough, Jr., Jane Ma, Lisa Mak, Derrek Tomine, Elisha Yang, Jason Yee, Stephanie Yee, and Angelica Zabanal. A big thank you to our sponsors this year – NAPABA for providing a grant for this year’s programming, AABA, and the Princeton Review. 

Photos by John B. Lough, Jr.

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