News

APABA-DC joins other AANHPI organizations in endorsing the Preemption of Real Property Discrimination Act and signing on to a Letter to Congress raising concerns over increasing anti-Chinese rhetoric that has been reflected in other proposed legislation.

Introduced in the United States House of Representatives by Rep. Judy Chu of California, who chairs the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, and Rep. Al Green of Texas, the Preemption of Real Property Discrimination Act would nullify any state law that prohibits or otherwise restricts an individual’s right to purchase real property based merely on that individual’s citizenship.

The full letter is attached.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
news@apaba-dc.org

APABA-DC Announces the 2023-2024 Board's Elected Officers

Angeline Chen wins as APABA-DC's President-Elect
The new board to be installed at 2023 APABA-DC Gala on October 5

Washington, D.C. – The Asian Pacific American Bar Association of the Greater Washington, D.C. Area (APABA-DC) today announced the election of eight officers of its 2023-2024 Board of Directors.

Angeline Chen, general counsel and chief administrative officer for MarkLogic Corporation, has been elected president-elect of APABA-DC for the 2023-2024 term. She will serve in that position for one year starting August 1 before becoming president in 2024. With Chen's election, incumbent President-Elect Minsuk Han, partner at Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick, P.L.L.C., will become APABA-DC's president.

"I am thrilled and grateful to the members for electing me. I look forward to fully supporting the board in building and executing on a long-term strategy for the elevation and growth of our organization," said Chen. She has over thirty years of legal and business experience, including over two decades in senior leadership positions and as general counsel and chief compliance officer for multiple companies. Chen has served APABA-DC in many roles, currently as co-chair of the women's forum. She earned her B.A. and law degrees from Villanova University, an LL.M from Georgetown University Law Center, and an MBA from the University of Maryland.

Also elected to one-year terms were, as vice president for communications, Alicia Loh of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission; as vice president for program, Yifan Wang of the U.S. Department of Justice; as vice president for community affairs, William Xu of the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps; as vice president for education, David Yin of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr LLP; as vice president for membership, Evelyn Riley of Cozen O’Connor; as secretary, Charles Kuo of McGuireWoods; and as treasurer, Wenxi Li of DLA Piper.

All newly elected officers, together with all appointed members of the 2023-2024 board of directors, will be installed at 2023 APABA-DC Gala on October 5, 2023 at Conrad Washington DC.

Elected Officer Bios

APABA-DC is a voluntary bar association of Asian Pacific American (APA) attorneys, judges, law professors, and other members of the legal profession in the nation's capital region. Founded in 1981, APABA-DC has served our community by promoting the professional growth and advancement of our members, cultivating an understanding of the issues facing the APA community, and enabling our members to collaborate with other leaders in the Washington, D.C. community at large.

APABA-DC mourns the lives lost and the communities reeling from the recent mass shootings in California.  On January 21, 2023, the eve of Lunar New Year, a horrifying act of violence in Monterey Park killed eleven people and injured many more.  On January 23, 2023, two shootings in Half Moon Bay killed seven more people.  We grieve alongside the families of the victims and stand united with the communities impacted by the tragedy in condemning violence.  You can support the victims of the Monterey Park mass shooting by making a donation to a fundraiser organized by Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California.  Please also check out NAPABA’s listing of mental health and other helpful resources.

APABA-DC warmly congratulates Judge Errol R. Arthur on his confirmation to serve as Associate Judge on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia! APABA-DC endorsed him for this judgeship. He has been a Magistrate Judge on the D.C. Superior Court since 2010. Prior to his appointment to the Court, Judge Arthur joined the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia (PDS) as a staff attorney in 1999 and opened his own law practice in 2002.

APABA-DC warmly congratulates Vijay Shanker on his confirmation to serve as Associate Judge on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals! APABA-DC endorsed him for this judgeship. He is Deputy Chief of the Appellate Section of the Criminal Division at the United States Department of Justice and is currently serving on detail as Senior Litigation Counsel in the Criminal Division's Fraud Section.

Congratulations to Vijay Shanker on being nominated by President Biden for a judicial vacancy on the D.C. Court of Appeals. Vijay is currently Deputy Chief of the Appellate Section of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. APABA-DC endorsed Vijay for his candidacy in 2020. Please join us in congratulating Vijay!

APABA-DC Congratulates Judge Florence Y. Pan on her nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. If confirmed, Judge Pan would be the first Chinese American to serve on the DC Circuit.

Judge Pan was appointed to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in September 2021. She is the first Asian Pacific American woman to serve on that court. She previously served as an Associate Judge of the D.C. Superior Court for approximately twelve years, and as an Assistant United States Attorney for approximately ten years. Judge Pan graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania, and with distinction from Stanford Law School.

Judge Pan has demonstrated an impressive longstanding commitment to APABA-DC, the AAPI community, and the larger DC community. The White House announcement can be found here.

APABA-DC offers a hearty congratulations to our Past President, Mark Uyeda, on his nomination for Commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Mark has dedicated almost two decades of his career to public service working in state and federal government. He served as President of APABA-DC from 2018-2019 and as a Board member for many years. Mark is also part of APABA-DC’s inaugural class of Lifetime Members. Please join us in congratulating Mark Uyeda!

APABA-DC strongly condemns the use of the term "Chinaman" by Georgetown Law Professor Franz Werro in referring to a student in his class whose name he could not recall. (See here.)

The use of racial slurs diminishes the collective efforts of our community to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in our profession. APABA-DC remains committed to promoting diversity and inclusion across the legal profession in the DC area, and stands ready to work with law firms, legal departments, and law schools in achieving this vision.

In this critical moment as the U.S. Senate faces the opportunity to pass landmark civil rights legislation, APABA-DC joined AAPI organizations in sending a clear message to the U.S. Senate that voting rights are fundamental to a healthy democracy and must be protected. The full text of the letter is below.

The U.S. Capitol
The United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senator:

We, the undersigned organizations, are calling on you not only to debate but to move to final passage of H.R. 5746, the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act. This bill will ensure that voters can safely and freely cast their ballots, protect against election sabotage, stop partisan gerrymandering, and make Election Day a holiday so that people do not have to miss work to cast their ballots. This legislation is critical to ensure that the voices Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (AANHPIs), are heard at the ballot box. We protect democracy by ensuring that as many citizens as possible participate in elections. Democracy is diminished when such access is limited. 

The attacks on voter access have only increased; nineteen states enacted 34 new laws that restrict access to the ballot box in 2021 alone and more are under consideration today. We saw from the 2020 presidential election and the regional elections in 2021 that AAPIs went to the polls in record numbers. And we saw how an increasing number of us prefer to vote early and vote by mail. The Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act will address our key concerns around voter protection and ensure the ability for every American to participate in safe, accessible, and transparent elections. 

H.R. 5746 combines the provisions from the Freedom to Vote Act with the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and represents the most comprehensive voting reform in decades. This bill represents fundamentals that AAPI communities have been supporting for decades. During those years, voting rights legislation has always been passed with strong bipartisan support and for those who believe in democracy’s bedrock principle of the right to vote, the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act must be passed now.