APABA-DC December Happy Hour at Lucky Strike

Please join your fellow APABA-DC bowlers at Lucky Strike as we celebrate the holiday season by knocking down a few pins and throwing back a few drinks!



WHEN:

• Thursday, December 22, 2005


• 7:00 - 9:00 PM

WHERE:

• Lucky Strike DC


• Gallery Place
  701 7th St. NW
  (202) 347-1021

The Reservation is under Asian Pacific American Bar Association

COST:

• $15.00 members


• $20.00 non-members

Please RSVP, by December 21, to Sanya Sukduang.

APABA endorses Catherine Chen Hester for judicial vacancy in MD

The APABA Judicial Nominations Committee interviewed Catherine Chen Hester of Howard County, Maryland in connection with her request for a formal endorsement of her candidacy for a judge position in the District Court of Maryland.

Upon the Committee's recommendation, the full APABA Board voted to endorse Ms. Hester's candidacy and the following letter was sent to the state Judicial Nominations Commission and to Governor Ehrlich:

December 12, 2005

VIA FACSIMILE (410) 974-3275

The Honorable Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr.
Office of the Governor
State House
Annapolis, MD 21401

Re: Application of Catherine Chen Hester for District Court Judge

Dear Governor Ehrlich:

On behalf of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of the Greater Washington, D.C. Area, Inc. (“APABA-DC”), I am writing to endorse Catherine Chen Hester for the position of judge on the District Court of Maryland for Howard County. Ms. Hester’s experience and dedication to public service make her an excellent choice for service on that court. We have already forwarded an endorsement letter on behalf of Ms. Hester to the Chair of the Maryland Judicial Nominations Commission for District 9.

APABA-DC is the oldest and largest association of Asian Pacific American attorneys in the mid-Atlantic area. APABA-DC is a dynamic organization that actively serves the needs of Asian Pacific Americans in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia. Since its inception in 1981, APABA-DC has grown into a diverse group of approximately 300 attorneys, law students and other interested individuals. A significant number of our members live and/or practice law in Maryland.

Ms. Hester’s appointment to the bench in Maryland is of particular interest to APABA-DC because of the significance such an appointment would be to the Asian Pacific American community. Although there is a large population of Asian Pacific Americans in Maryland, D.C., and Virginia, there are currently only two Asian Pacific American judges – at both the state and federal level – in those three jurisdictions.

Ms. Hester has the qualifications and experience to serve on the District Court of Maryland for Howard County. Ms. Hester has been serving the citizens of Maryland for the past five years as an Assistant State’s Attorney and Assistant People’s Counsel. She began her public service as an Assistant State’s Attorney for Baltimore City in the Juvenile/Felony Narcotics Division, in 2000. Ms. Hester then moved to the Office of the State’s Attorney for Howard County. In that position, she served as a Senior Assistant State’s Attorney and also acted as Chief of the Juvenile Trial Court Division, from 2001 to 2003. Ms. Hester then returned to Baltimore City and continued to serve as an Assistant State’s Attorney in the Juvenile Trial Courts Division. In 2004, She was appointed to her current position as Assistant People’s Counsel at the Maryland Office of the People’s Counsel. Prior to her public service career, Ms. Hester worked as a civil litigation associate at the law offices of Bouland & Brush, LLC, in Baltimore, Maryland.

In addition to her public service in Maryland, Ms. Hester is also active and committed to community issues. She serves on the board of several organizations that provide a wide range of educational and cultural services. These organizations include the Women’s Bar Association, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Maryland (“APABA-MD”), just to name a few. Ms. Hester is not merely a member of these organizations, but is an active participant in their activities. For example, Ms. Hester served as Chair of the Judicial Selection Committee for the Women’s Bar Association. She was a Charter member of APABA-MD and was instrumental in founding that organization. Ms. Hester then served as its President from 2004-2005. She is currently a member of the Diversity Task Force, a committee within the National Conference of Bar Presidents. Ms. Hester also teaches a course on Professionalism for the Maryland State Bar Association. In short, Ms. Hester would represent both Howard County and the State of Maryland in a manner befitting a judge who is aware of and sensitive to the community’s issues. She brings varied experiences that are reflective of the broad matters that appear before the District Court.

Based on her qualifications, professional achievements, and community involvement, there is no doubt that Ms. Hester would make a valuable addition to the Maryland judiciary. APABA-DC endorses the nomination of Catherine Chen Hester to serve as a District Court Judge for Howard County in Maryland.

Sincerely,
Janet Shih Hajek
President
2005 – 2006 Board of Directors

cc: Michael W. Davis, Esq. - Chair of the Maryland Judicial Nominations Commission, District 9
(c/o) Ms. Linda Etzold (via facsimile and mail) - Administrative Office of the Courts, Maryland Judicial Center

Thurs., Dec. 22: Bowling!

The APABA Board will be hosting a night of bowling for APABA-DC members and friends at the Lucky Strike bowling alley in Gallery Place on THURSDAY, DECEMBER 22!

Stay tuned for more details.

Welcome!

Welcome to the new APABA-DC blog!

This is a new venture being undertaken by the APABA-DC Board in order to cultivate a new method of communication with our general membership.

Here, you will find announcements of upcoming events, recaps of past events, and commentary from APABA-DC Board members on issues of significance to the organization. It is through these means that we hope to open up more channels of communication with our members and better enable us to serve you.

Please take a moment to occasionally review what goes up on the blog. We'll try to update it as frequently as possible. Any and all comments are welcome. You don't need to create a Blogger account to post a comment. Please tell us what you think about what we're doing, what you think we should be doing that we're not, and how we can better serve your needs.

Also, please note that in the right menu bar, we've included some dynamic links that will point you to news items which may interest you. These links will automatically update periodically and will link you to news items of concern to Asian Pacific America. Consider this just one more reason to visit the APABA Blog on occasion.

Thanks for taking a look here, and we hope to make this a vital and essential part of your membership experience with APABA in the future.

Eugene F. Chay
Immediate Past-President

Bruce Yamashita speaks at PAR Event

APABA's Practicing Attorney Resource, together with several other voluntary bar associations, sponsored a screening of A Most Unlikely Hero, the story of Bruce Yamashita's fight for justice. Hosted by the law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman with light refreshments from Cafe Asia, the screening was followed by a question and answer session with Mr. Yamashita and a signing of his memoir, Fighting Tradition: A Marine's Journey to Justice.

A Most Unlikely Hero tells Mr. Yamashita's story of discrimination and his long struggle for redress. Joining the Marines after finishing law school at Georgetown University, Mr. Yamashita reported to the Corps' Office Candidate School where, for a period of nine weeks, he was belittled, ridiculed and subjected to racial slurs by the officers who trained and evaluated him. Eventually, Mr. Yamashita was disenrolled from the OCS for failing to demonstrate leadership qualities, a common criticism levied against Asian Pacific Americans.

Returning to his home state of Hawaii, where his grandparents emigrated in the 19th Century, Mr. Yamashita soon began to seek redress. Receiving encouragement from many, including the surviving veterans of World War II's highly-decorated, Japanese-American 442nd Airborne, Mr. Yamashita began his long fight for justice.

He spoke candidly of the difficulties he encountered in his personal life for the five-year period he spent fighting the Marine Corps, which contended that when his OCS instructor spoke to him in mock broken Japanese, he was doing so only to "make [Yamashita] feel more at home."

Mr. Yamashita received encouragement from strangers in the street after his story made national news in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Good Morning America, and 60 Minutes.

Most of these events took place in the late-80s / early-90s. With the election of Bill Clinton in 1992 and the change in leadership at the Department of Defense in 1993, Mr. Yamashita's case finally began to see progress. Frederick Pang, an Asian American and the new Assistant Secretary of the Navy, was instrumental in settling the case by offering Mr. Yamashita a commission in the Marines and the rank of captain.

Mr. Yamashita's inspiring story visibly moved those in attendance at the event, and many took advantage of the opportunity presented by the book signing to share a few words with the guest of honor, who practices law in the Washington, DC area.

In all, close to 50 people attended the event. Thanks go to May Lee and her PAR Committee for putting the event together, and to Tony Lin for securing facilities at his firm.

Bias in the workplace; APAs report highest rate of discrimination

A story appearing on the front page of the Business section of today's Washington Post noted the results of a poll conducted by the Gallup Organization. The results of the poll showed that 15% of all American workers report having experienced discrimination against them in the workplace.

Of all race and ethnic groups, Asian Pacific Americans reported having experienced discrimination at the highest rate, 31%. In comparison, African-Americans had the second-highest rate of discrimination at 26%.

The full story is at the link.

SABA Holiday Party, Dec. 15

SABA-DC HOLIDAY PARTY

Location: M Lounge, 3241 M St. NW, Washington
When: Thursday, December 15, 8:00pm
Phone: 202-625-6247
RSVP: www.evite.com/sabadc@sabadc.org/holidayparty
Invitation: Invitation is open to friends, so please forward

It's time once again to celebrate the end of one year and the beginning of another. Come join your friends and colleagues at SABA's Annual Holiday Party! We have reserved the second floor of of Cilantro in Georgetown, and will feature:

• Drink specials


• Heavy appetizers


• Cash Bar from 8:00pm to 11:00pm

SABA will also announce the results of the election for the 2006 SABA Board during the evening!

Please mark your calendars now and join us for food, holiday cheer, and most of all, catching up with friends!

Dress: Business or Semi-formal
Charge: $15 Members & Students / $25 Non-members (Sign up for membership at sabadc.org)

Toys for Tots Drive-- DC Mayor's Office of Asian Pacific Islader Affairs (OAPIA)

Hi all,

In conjunction with the DC Mayor's Office Toys for Tots Drive, the Office of Asian Pacific Islader Affairs (OAPIA) invites APABA-DC members to drop off toys at their office. These toys will be earmarked to benefit DC-based nonprofit organizations that serve APA youth. Such nonprofits include AALEAD, Boat People SOS, Chinatown Service Center, and the Vietnamese-American Community Service Center.

You can drop off new, unwrapped toys from now until December 15, 2005. The OAPIA is open Monday through Friday from 8am-5:30pm. Its address is:

441 4th Street NW
Room 805 S.
Washington DC 20001
(METRO: JUDICIARY SQUARE STOP ON THE RED LINE)
If you are unable to drop off your toys, please email me so we can arrange to have them picked up by an APABA member.

Please note that toys suitable for teens are especially needed. Music CDs and new books are also welcome.

To contact OAPIA, please call (202)727-9883.

Happy Holidays,
Ray Rull
APABA-DC VP of Community Affairs

Southeast Regional Conference registration & sponsorship materials

Registration, sponsorship forms, hotel and related information is now available online

Hope to see you there in March!