On Ending My Term as AABA President
AABA 2025-26 Board Members at our annual gala in May 2026
(originally posted on LinkedIn on July 30, 2026)
Today is the last day of my term as president of the Asian American Bar Association of Greater Chicago (AABA Chicago), and it happens to be a pretty great day to end a pretty great year.
I began my term wanting to focus on three issues, and I think I did okay:
- Greater representation of Asian American lawyers, especially at the highest levels. We organized the first mass gathering of Chicago's Asian American law-firm partners, we helped recognize the first Asian American justice on Illinois's Supreme Court, we promoted the great work of the Portrait Project (https://lnkd.in/gBJz4w96), and we helped new and mid-level attorneys through mentoring programs, a monthly Zoom hosted by the Honorable Young B. Kim, and a podcast that I hope to continue.
- Greater understanding of Asian American legal history, as so much of Asian American history is legal history. We did three trial re-enactments this past year (two in Chicago and one at the NAPABA convention) and we hosted an author event, and I already have an idea for next year's re-enactment.
- And support for the rule of law, particularly regarding birthright citizenship, a key issue for Asian Americans both historically and right now. Birthright citizenship is what made it possible for people to even exist as Asian Americans in the early and mid 20th century, and I'm very happy to see the Supreme Court re-affirm this core American principle today.
Thanks to my fellow officers, board members, honorary board members, members, and volunteers - I loved working with you and am so grateful for all your support and all that you did!
Finally, if you're a lawyer and you're not already involved in some kind of a bar association, I encourage you to do so. Being president of AABA was a lot of work, but I'm so glad that I did this, and I had a lot of fun along the way. So much so that I'm going to stick around as long as Tae Kim and the new board let me!
