2020 Pathways to Law PANELIST BIOGRAPHIES

SESSION #1: Private Law panel

Saturday, May 16, 2020 @ 10 am - 11 am

Moderator - Charles Jung, Principal at Nassiri & Jung LLP

Panelist - Angel Garrett, Director at Trucker Huss, APC

Panelist - Elizabeth T. Castillo, Partner at Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy LLP

Panelist - Laurie Lubiano, IP & Product Counsel at The Climate Corporation

Charles Jung, Principal at Nassiri & Jung LLP

Charles Jung is a trial lawyer at Nassiri & Jung LLP, where he defends wage and hour/employment cases and also represents executives and founders in their workplace disputes. Charles is a frequent commentator in the legal press on the topics of class actions, arbitration, and employment law. He graduated with Distinction from Stanford Law School, where he was an Articles Editor for the Stanford Law Review. He earned his B.A. from Duke University, graduating Magna Cum Laude. He earned his Master’s from the Harvard Kennedy School, where he was a Kennedy Fellow. His honors and awards include: being named a Top 100 Attorney in every year since 2013, and inclusion in the list of Super Lawyers® or Rising Stars by Super Lawyers Magazine in every year since 2009. Charles is Peer Review Rated AV Preeminent® (5.0 out of 5.0) by Martindale-Hubbell® in Litigation, Labor and Employment, and Class Actions. Charles serves as the Executive Director for the California Asian Pacific American Bar Association, as an officer for the International Association of Korean Lawyers, and as an Elections Commissioner for the City and County of San Francisco.  He proudly served as AABA’s 2019 president.  

Angel Garrett, Director at Trucker Huss, APC

Angel is an attorney specializing in employee benefits and ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act).  She counsels and defends clients in matters involving employee benefit plans (e.g. 401(k) plans and employer stock option plans), executive compensation, and health and welfare plans.  

Elizabeth T. Castillo

Elizabeth Tran Castillo is a partner at Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP and received her J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, in 2011. Her practice focuses on complex litigation; specifically, antitrust class actions against international cartels. Ms. Castillo’s successes include representing plaintiffs in the following antitrust class actions in which she serves as lead or co-lead counsel and has secured outstanding results:

  • In re Automotive Parts Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 2311, Master File No. 2:12-md-02311-MOB (E.D. Mich.) ($1.2 billion+ in settlements to date)
  • In re Capacitors Antitrust Litigation, No. 3:14-cv-03264-JD (N.D. Cal.) ($80.85 million in settlements to date)
  • In re Domestic Airline Travel Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 2656, No. 1:15-mc-01404-CKK (D.D.C.) ($60 million in settlements to date)
  • In re Resistors Antitrust Litigation, No. 5:15-cv-03820-JD (N.D. Cal.) ($33.4 million in settlements)
  • In re Transpacific Passenger Air Transportation Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 1913, Case No. 3:07-cv-05634-CRB (N.D. Cal.) ($148.152 million in settlements).

Ms. Castillo received the American Antitrust Institute’s Outstanding Antitrust Litigation Achievement in Private Law Practice Award in 2019 and Outstanding Antitrust Litigation Achievement by a Young Lawyer Award in 2016 and has appeared on the 2015-2019 Super Lawyers Northern California Rising Stars List.

Laurie Lubiano

With a focus in intellectual property (IP) and as a registered patent attorney, Laurie has counseled high-tech clients including independent inventors, start-ups and public companies, and has supported all levels of management.  As IP & Product Counsel, Laurie develops and manages The Climate Corporation’s worldwide patent portfolio and serves as lead counsel to Climate’s product and engineering teams.  In addition to IP, her work covers licensing, contract negotiation, privacy, employment law, and international expansion.  Laurie was recently recognized with a “Best Under 40” award and “In-House Counsel Diversity Leadership Award” from the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, and the “Unity Award” from the Minority Bar Coalition.


Outside of work, Laurie is committed to serving the community.  Governor Jerry Brown appointed Laurie to serve on the Medical Board of California, which protects consumers through the licensing and regulation of physicians and other health professionals.  Laurie also holds various leadership roles with the San Francisco La Raza Lawyers Association, Filipino Bar Association of Northern California, Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area, Hispanic National Bar Association, and the National Filipino American Lawyers Association.


SESSION #2: Public Law/Public interest panel

Saturday, May 23, 2020 @ 10 am - 11 am

Moderator - Amit Kurlekar, Deputy Attorney General at California Attorney General’s Office, Appeals, Writs & Trials

Panelist - Magistrate Judge Alex G. Tse at U.S. District Court, Northern District of California

Panelist - Genevieve Galman Alivia, Deputy District Attorney of Contra Costa County 

Panelist - Jonathan Mehta Stein, Executive Director at California Common Cause


SESSION #3: ALTERNATIVE CAREERS PANEL

Saturday, May 30, 2020 @ 10 am - 11 am

Moderator - Sean Tamura-Sato, Partner at Minami Tamaki, LLP

Panelist - Kyong Kim, Co-Founder at Seasalt Kids 

Panelist - Elica Vafaie, Director of Pro Bono and Strategic Partnerships at The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area  

Panelist - Allison Wang - Visiting Professor of Law and Director of Externship Program at Golden Gate University School of Law


SESSION #4: LAW STUDENT PANEL

Saturday, June 6, 2020 @ 10 am - 11 am

Register for Session #4 - Law Students Panel

Moderator - Stephen Chong, Principal Attorney at Law Office of Stephen T. Chong 

Panelist - Bonifacio C. Sison, Student at University of California, Berkeley School of Law  

Panelist -  Evelynn Bui, Student at University of California Hastings School of Law

Panelist - Kristy Uyen Le, Student at Texas A&M University School of Law 

Bonifacio Sison, Student at University of California, Berkeley School of Law  


Bonifacio was born in the Philippines. At the age of five, he immigrated to the U.S. and grew up in Daly City, CA. After graduating from Westmoor High School, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps, where he served in Camp Pendleton, CA and Okinawa, Japan. Following military service, Bonifacio began higher education at the College of San Mateo. He transferred to UC Berkeley, majoring in Political Science. While in law school, he served as co-chair with the Pilipino American Law Society and the Military and Veterans at Berkeley Law. During his second year of law school, Bonifacio competed on the Moot Court Team in the Vis International Arbitration Competition in Vienna, Austria. As a second-year, he was a judicial extern with Judge Charles R. Breyer in the Northern District of California. This past summer Bonifacio was a Summer Associate at Skadden in Palo Alto, CA. For fun, he likes to try new restaurants and travel.

Evelynn Bui, Student at University of California Hastings School of Law


Evelynn Bui is in her second year at UC Hastings, College of the Law. She serves as the President of the Vietnamese American Law Society and was recently selected to join the 2020 Executive Board of the Hastings Law Journal as next year’s Executive Symposium Editor. Prior to law school Evelynn lived in Washington DC for six years, working first as a federal contractor before transitioning to the nonprofit advocacy space. As the previous Program Director for the International Leadership Foundation, Evelynn developed and implemented a 10-week fellowship program aimed to build the pipeline of Asian American leaders in public service. As a first generation Vietnamese immigrant, Evelynn grew up in Texas, where she obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in Medical Humanities and Biology at Baylor University. She later earned her Master of Public Health degree in Community Health Promotion from Baylor as well. Evelynn is passionate about promoting mental health, empowering communities of color, and pursuing her J.D. as the next step in becoming an effective and dedicated advocate.

Kristy Uyen Le, Student at Texas A&M University School of Law 


Kristy Uyen Le is a 2L at Texas A&M University School of Law in Fort Worth, TX, concentrating in Intellectual Property. Kristy currently serves as the President of the Asian & Pacific Islander Law Student Association and Social Chair of the Student Bar Association, and is a member of the Texas A&M Law Review.

Kristy is a San Francisco Bay Area native and attended UC Berkeley, graduating with honors in Legal Studies in 2015. Following UC Berkeley, Kristy worked in corporate immigration as a Paralegal and a Human Resource Immigration Coordinator at Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP. Kristy will be the first in her family to become a lawyer.



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