LIEUTENANT COMMANDER BENES Z. ALDANA
LCDR Benes Z. Aldana is a trial attorney in the Environmental Enforcement Section, U.S. Department of Justice. He previously served as trial counsel, appellate counsel, and program manager for the Coast Guard's Legal Assistance Program, and the deputy chief of the Coast Guard's Office of Environmental Law. Aldana was deployed as a legal advisor in support of the Global War on Terrorism. He is active in the American Bar Association, where he is on the President's Council on Diversity in the Profession. A past board member of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Greater Washington, D.C., Aldana is a recipient of the ABA's "Outstanding Young Military Lawyer" Award for 2002 – 2003.
PAUL CHAN
Paul Chan is a partner at Bird, Marella, Boxer and Wolpert, a litigation boutique in Los Angeles that specializes in the complex civil litigation of business, securities, and intellectual property disputes. He has successfully tried numerous civil trials and arbitrations, and has also served as pro bono counsel to the Asian Pacific American Legal Center and the Bet Tzedek House of Justice in several cases involving the rights of garment-industry workers. Chan graduated from Harvard College in 1991 and Harvard Law School in 1995, and clerked for the Honorable Rudi M. Brewster, United States District Court, Southern District of California.
DENLEY CHEW
Denley Y.S. Chew is counsel and assistant vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. He is CISSP-certified and specializes in the new field of information security law, including electronic commerce, critical infrastructures, intrusion and hacking incidents, and governmental security and privacy requirements. Chew has also been active with the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund for more than 18 years. Today, he serves as vice president and treasurer of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) Board of Directors. Chew is a graduate of Harvard University (A.B.), the Wharton School (M.A.), and the University of Pennsylvania Law School (J.D.).
AMRITA MASTER DALAL
Born in Mumbai, India, and raised in New York City, Amrita Master Dalal is the employment and labor counsel for GAF Materials Corporation. A graduate of Boston University School of Law and Barnard College, Dalal was the first South Asian American to be elected president of the Asian Pacific American Lawyers Association of New Jersey. She recently completed a term as NAPABA's Northeast Regional Governor. Her accomplishments include serving on various New Jersey Supreme Court committees and organizing conferences to raise awareness of hate crimes. In October, Dalal received the "Professional Lawyer of the Year Award" from the New Jersey Commission on Professionalism in the Law.
TRACI HONG
J. Traci Hong is an immigrant rights staff attorney with the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium (NAPALC). In this capacity, Hong protects and advocates for the rights of Asian-American immigrants and their families before Congress, federal agencies, and the federal courts. Prior to joining NAPALC in 2003, Hong worked as a staff attorney at the American Immigration Law Foundation, where she engaged in impact litigation on behalf of immigrants. Hong is a graduate of the University of Texas School of Law and the University of Texas at Austin, where she received her B.A. in Philosophy with honors.
MEERIE JOUNG
Meerie Joung is an equity partner at Bingham McCutchen, where her practice concentrates on general corporate and securities matters. In 2001, Joung became the first Asian-American female partner at Bingham Dana. She serves on the firm's hiring committee, is a longtime supporter of Greater Boston Legal Services, and has served for six years on the board of the Asian American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts (AALAM). During her tenure with AALAM, Joung chaired the scholarship committee for three years and helped organize the 2000 NAPABA Northeast Regional Conference. Joung is also a guest lecturer at MIT's Sloan School of Management.
KENZO KAWANABE
Kenzo Kawanabe is a commercial litigator with Davis Graham and Stubbs LLP in Denver, Colorado. He represents clients in a variety of matters relating to contract disputes, business torts, product liability, franchise litigation, condemnations, and intellectual property concerns. Kawanabe graduated from Georgetown School of Law and clerked for the Chief Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court. He is a past president of Colorado APABA, serves on the boards of the Colorado and Denver Bar Associations and the Community Resource Center, and performs pro bono work through El Cientro Bienestar Legal Clinic and the Colorado Lawyers Committee Education Task Force.
ROB KIM
Robert C. Kim is a partner with Kummer Kaempfer Bonner and Renshaw, where his practice includes a broad range of corporate, transactional, securities, and gaming matters. Kim assists in the revision of Nevada's business entity statutes and has given seminars on Nevada's business entities. In 2003, Chambers and Partners – Legal Publishers named Kim one of "America's Leading Business Lawyers" in Chambers USA (2003-2004 edition). Kim received his J.D. and M.B.A. from the University of Southern California, and his B.A. in Government from Cornell University. Admitted to the bar in Nevada and California, Kim is also the co-founder and co-president of the Asian Bar Association of Las Vegas.
DESIRÉE KIM
Desirée Kim was recently appointed by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg as executive director of the Mayor's Advisory Committee on the Judiciary. Kim formerly served as special inspector general for bias matters for the New York State Unified Court System. She also served as deputy inspector general for the New York City Department of Investigation. Kim began her career as a litigator at the New York City Law Department after receiving her B.A. from Barnard College, Columbia University, and her J.D. from Brooklyn Law School.
LEEZIE KIM
Leezie Kim is a corporate finance and securities lawyer who spends her spare time working on policy issues within her firm and for Arizona. Most recently, she served as director of the Governor's Citizens Finance Review Commission, a group of 21 prominent business and community leaders who are recommending changes to Arizona's fiscal and tax systems. As the most senior woman associate in the Phoenix office of Quarles & Brady LLP, she is the official mentor of a few of the junior lawyers and the de facto mentor to many others. Kim graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law.
ZENOBIA LAI
Zenobia T. Lai is a managing attorney at Greater Boston Legal Services. She heads the Asian Outreach Unit, which provides bilingual and bicultural legal services to Asian immigrants, and is a model for other legal services programs. She also represents residents and community groups in challenging inequitable land use and environmental injustice. As a trustee of the Harry H. Dow Memorial Legal Assistance Fund, Lai raises funds and oversees projects that respond to the emerging legal needs of Asian Americans in Massachusetts. Lai's work exemplifies the practice of community lawyering, where lawyers apply their legal skills and training to support a disadvantaged community's struggle for justice, equality, and democracy.
JUDY LAM
Judy Man-Ling Lam is a litigation partner at Alschuler Grossman Stein and Kahan LLP, handling complex litigation in business, banking, and real estate law. Her recent work has involved lease and construction disputes, unfair competition claims, creditor's remedies, lender liability, and bankruptcy. After graduating from Occidental College, Lam studied law at Loyola Law School, where she served on the Moot Court Honors Board and the Entertainment Law Journal. She was a judicial extern to Judge Stephen Reinhardt and Judge Geraldine Mund. Lam currently serves on the boards of the Asian Pacific Women's Center, Southern California Chinese Lawyer's Association, and Pacific Film Currents.
PAULINE LEE
Pauline Ng Lee, shareholder with Hale Lane, practices in the areas of insolvency, reorganizations, and commercial litigation. Lee represents secured and unsecured creditors, and individual and institutional debtors, in Chapter 7, 11, 12, and 13 bankruptcy cases in Nevada, California, and Texas. She is a regular panelist for the ABA Business Bankruptcy Committee. Lee has substantial litigation experience, representing lenders and institutional clients in disputes in sophisticated multi-party, multi-forum, and multi-state cases. A founder of the Asian Bar Association of Las Vegas, Lee represented, pro bono, Asian police officers in their dispute with the City of Houston's merit system.
LUIS LI
Luis Li graduated from Yale University in 1987 with a B.A. in English, and earned his J.D. from U.C. Berkeley, Boalt Hall, in 1991. Li clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Dickran Tevrizian from 1991-92. From 1993-95, he was an associate at Munger, Tolles & Olson. After that, Li was an assistant United States attorney for the Central District of California from 1995-2002. He was promoted to deputy chief of the Major Crimes Section, and won the prestigious "Director's Award" for a RICO prosecution involving the Mexican mafia. Li is currently the chief of the Criminal Division for the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office, and supervises over 280 prosecutors.
ELAINE LU
Elaine Lu is an assistant United States attorney in the Central District of California. Assigned to the Major Frauds Section of the U.S. Attorney's Office, Lu handles white-collar criminal prosecutions, including securities fraud, bank fraud, and investment scheme cases. After receiving her undergraduate degree from Stanford and graduating cum laude from Harvard Law School, Lu clerked for Judge Rudi Brewster of the Southern District of California, and then for Judge A. Wallace Tashima of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Lu currently serves as executive vice president of the Southern California Chinese Lawyers Association and on the board of the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles.
AMY LIN MEYERSON
Amy Lin Meyerson is NAPABA's vice president of membership. She is also the founding president of the Connecticut Asian Pacific American Bar Association, and serves on its board. Prior to moving to Connecticut, Meyerson served on the board of NAPABA's Georgia affiliate. She graduated, with distinction, from Duke University and the University of Connecticut School of Law. While in law school, she founded the Asian American Law Students Association, and was the administrative editor of The Connecticut Journal of International Law. Meyerson practices corporate law with Martin, Lucas & Chioffi, LLP. She received a 2002 "New Leaders in the Law" award from the Connecticut Law Tribune.
AJAY PATEL
Ajay Patel is a university counsel for the University of Southern California, serving as a transactional attorney. Patel also teaches a contract drafting and negotiation class at the law school. Prior to his current position, Patel was a partner at McDermott, Will & Emery. He was a co-founder of the South Asian Bar Association, and served as a board member and president. He is currently a board member for the Southern California Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel. Patel recently published Arranged Love, a novel about relationships and first-generation Indian-Americans.
RACHEL PUNO
Rachel Puno is an attorney at Applied Materials, providing legal support to its Legal Affairs Department as well as the company's subsidiary, AKT America. Puno also worked as an associate at Gordon and Rees and Hanson, Bridgett, et. al. She is currently the president of the Filipino Bar Association of Northern California, where she has served as an officer for the past three years. In addition, Puno is a school board trustee of the Jefferson Union High School District in San Mateo County, and is the youngest Filipina-American elected official in Northern California.
CHIRAG SHAH
Chirag Shah practices ERISA/employee benefits at Schwartz, Steinsapir, Dohrmann and Sommers LLP. He is the co-chair for a diversity subcommittee in the ABA. Shah is also on the boards of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of L.A. County (co-chair, Pro Bono Services/Community Education Committee); representative to the Multi-Cultural Bar Alliance (MCBA) and the South Asian Bar Association of Southern California (co-chair, Public Policy Committee; chair, Membership and Scholarship Committees). In addition, Shah is a member of the board of directors of, and serves as pro bono labor and employment counsel to, the East West Players.
JULIE SU
Julie A. Su, a graduate of Harvard Law School, is the litigation director of the Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California (APALC). APALC protects the civil rights of Asian Americans through litigation, legal services, education, and policy work. Su has represented garment workers who labor in sweatshops as well as Asian Americans, African Americans, and Latinos discriminated against in college admissions and in employment. Su was one of Ms. Magazine's "21 Women to Watch in the 21st Century," and a recipient of the Reebok "International Human Rights" award. President Clinton acknowledged her in his proclamation of Women's History Month (1997). In 2001, Su won the prestigious MacArthur "Genius" Award.
ALBERT TAN
Tan's practice focuses on structured finance at Haynes and Boone, L.L.P. He is a vice-chair of the Minority Participation Committee of the Dallas Bar Association, and the Cross-Border Investment Committee of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association. Tan received his law degrees from Southern Methodist and Georgetown, and his college degree from San Diego State. In 2001 and 2002, he was recognized as one of the "40 under 40 Rising Stars" in the Dallas business community by the Dallas Business Journal, and as one of the "40 under 40" lawyers already making a mark in the Texas legal community by The Texas Lawyer.
LUAN TRAN
A former "boat person," K. Luan Tran is a tireless advocate for the Vietnamese refugees. He recently helped a leading Vietnamese businessman obtain political asylum in the U.S., and lobbied the U.S. government to accept the Vietnamese refugees still stranded in the Philippines. In October 2003, Tran returned to the same refugee camp in the Philippines where he was once detained to provide legal assistance to the detainees. Tran holds three law degrees, including one from Harvard Law School. He has been a business litigator at leading firms in North America and France, and counts several Fortune 500 companies among his clients.
KAM SAU WONG
Kam Sau Wong is a graduate of Harvard University and University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she received one of four scholarships. She created and ran one of the first legal representation projects for detained immigrants in New York. She represented children for five years in efforts such as creating the Parental Rights Project with AABANY, and co-founding the non-profit organization Furthering A Child's Education, Inc. Currently a trial attorney for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Wong has attained the largest sexual harassment settlement in New York for the EEOC. She is currently litigating a post-9/11 backlash discrimination action that has drawn widespread media attention.
Back to NAPABA’s Best Lawyers Under 40 for 2003
From the January/February 2004 issue of Diversity & The Bar®