Saturday, November 24, 2012

The 24th Annual NAPABA Convention Day #3


Saturday, November 17, 2012


Highlights from today’s NAPABA D.C. Convention:

Wendy C. Shiba was the President-Elect and 2012 Convention Chair.  She proved to be both an amazing speaker and a wonderful moderator at this year’s D.C. Convention. 


I attended NAPABA CLE Breakout Session “Attorneys Reaching Equity Ranks:  Past and Future Perspectives.”   This session was moderated by Linda Kordziel, Principal at Fish and Richardson P.C. and consisted of a panel which included Ching-Lee Fukuda, Partner at Ropes & Gray LLP, Jim Goh, Shareholder at Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Steward, P.C., Eric Kuwana, Partner at Katten Muchin Rosenman, LLP, and Cedric Tan, Partner at Crowell & Moring LLP.  This session focuse[d] on “how the APA community has only recently seen an emergence of attorneys attaining equity status as partners or shareholders at their respective law firms and corporate counsel rising to senior levels in significant numbers.  Prior to this occurrence, the APA community reached a significant benchmark by breaking through the glass ceiling of attorneys being elevated to partner or shareholder status at law firms or attorneys going ‘in-house.’  This panel focuse[d] on recent achievements of APA attorneys reaching equity status or senior corporate counsel positions by looking at the past and sharing personal experiences, challenges, and milestones.  The panel also discusse[d] what significant achievement lies ahead for APA attorneys as the APA community continues to grow in the coming years.” 
Here are some of the interesting points of this session:
·         Many firms today are asked to provide a more diverse Pitch Team for their in-house clients.  A general counsel (GC) in the audience commented that her company not only asks outside counsel to provide more diverse pitch teams, but that her company also tracks whether selected team members have been appropriately assigned based on their credentials and skillsets.  Such companies may also evaluate the billing characteristics of a selected team member as well as whether that individual is assigned on future related projects.
·         The Panel recommended that if you are selected for a Pitch Team, it’s important that you make sure to “pitch in.”  Use these types of opportunities to show how valuable you are to the team.  
·         Make sure you clearly understand what an equity partnership means in your law firm.  It is important for associates to understand what type of voting power is given to a capital partner in their firm.  The roles and power given to a partner may be different between law firms.
·         Remember to strive to be indispensable to the attorneys within your organization or law firm. 
·         Don’t count any partner out!  Strive to give your best work to everyone because a discounted partner may end up speaking out loudly against you.    

It was great meeting so many wonderful people at the NAPABA convention!   I got to know a couple of students from Georgetown Law School.  Also, one lucky person at the convention actually won a raffle drawing for the Mercedes SUV shown behind us. 


I attended a one-hour Law Student Eight Minute Mentoring session that paired up a law student with an attorney.  Each attorney-student pair had eight minutes to introduce themselves to each other so that the attorney could provide some helpful tips to the student.  This session was pretty interesting because I got to talk to a variety of different types of attorneys working in the following areas: 
·         JAG
·         US Attorney’s office
·         European Oil company
·         white collar criminal litigation. 
·         General Counsel of Rosetta Stone


This year’s feature event was “A Conversation with Supreme Court Justice Sonia M. Sotomayor.”  Justice Sotomayor is the Court’s 111th justice, its first Hispanic justice, and its third female justice.  Co-moderators were honorable Denny Chin, Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and Wendy Wen Yun Chang, Partner, Hinshaw & Culbertson, LLP.  In this truly inspiring discussion, J. Sotomayor shared with us many things.
·         J. Sotomayor told us about her upbringing of growing up in New York City.  Because her father died when she was nine, J. Sotomayor was raised by only her mother.  J. Sotomayor’s mother, although she had not gone to college herself, nonetheless emphasized the importance of education to young Sonia.  Today, J. Sotomayor, like her mother, advocates the importance and value of education.  She tells us that she believes that with an education, a person is capable of anything.  She also shares with us the joy of having witnessed her mother finally achieve a life-long dream of completing college at the age of 57.
·         J. Sotomayor shares with us that, as a minority, she has learned to live in two worlds. She believes that living in two worlds is possible.  She warns us that it is important not to abandon our past; rather, we should anchor ourselves in the present but never to forget where we come from.  Also, it is important to open the door behind us for others to follow. 
·         When asked what it is like to be at the Supreme Court, she said it feels like a “perpetual en banc.”
·         When asked about the hardest thing about being a Supreme Court Judge, J. Sotomayor said that it is the heavy burden of being part of the final court in the U.S.  This burden is heavy because the Supreme Court provides the final answer; this answer is final regardless of whether the decision is right or wrong.
·         J. Sotomayor asks us all to think about what we each leave behind.  That when you are a person of color, you don’t have a choice and therefore must take the opportunities that are presented to you in order to advance your community.  She tells us that this is why she had accepted the 2nd Cir. Court Judge position, even though she wanted to remain as a District Court Judge.  J. Sotomayor tells us that we should strive for these things for the little boy or girl who will look up to us one day so that we can inspire them to think to themselves “I can do that too.”





Thank you William Mitchell NAPALSA for sponsoring my D.C. NABAPA/NAPALSA Convention experience. I had a truly amazing time networking and learning about the practice of law from a very impressive community of Asian Pacific Attorneys (APA).  I strongly encourage William Mitchell students next year to attend the 2013 Convention, which will be hosted in Kanas. 

Tip:  If you go, make sure you have plenty of business/school cards!   

- Grace J. Kim

Sunday, November 18, 2012

The 24th Annual NAPABA Convention Day #2



Friday, November 16, 2012


Highlights from today’s NAPABA D.C. Convention:

I attended NAPABA CLE Breakout Session “Judge’s Views on Litigating Complex Cases.”  “This interactive panel with a diverse group of judges from across the country addresse[d] what lawyers need and want to know about litigating complex cases.”
This session included:
o    Moderator
John C. Yang
Director, Legal Affairs, ITW (China) Investment Co., Ltd.
o    Panelists
Hon. Susan G. Braden
Judge, U.S. Court of Federal Claims
o    Hon. Theodore R. Essex
Administrative Law Judge, U.S. International Trade Commission
o    Hon. Lucy H. Koh
Judge, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California
o    Hon. Amul R. Thapar
Judge, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Kentucky
Here are some of my notes from this session:
·         In a U.S. International Trade Commission Court, 95% of the cases are patent cases; the rest are trademark and copyright cases.  Winning cases in this court can help with border stops.
·         The U.S. Court of Federal Claims has 16 judges.  This court deals with money claims against the government.  About 20% of the cases are patent cases (involving government patents).
·         In most courts, cases are designated randomly among the different judges so that each can review approximately the same number of certain case types.
·         Regarding complex patent cases, one judge said he used his law clerk (with a technical background) to help learn about the technology of the case prior to the trial.  Some judges ask law schools to provide them with law students having a specific technical expertise for judicial internships/externships.  However, the panel generally recommends that litigators assume that a judge does not know anything about a particular technology prior to trial.  It is safer to assume that you are speaking to a lay person. 

I also attended NAPABA CLE Breakout Session “Climbing the Corporate Ladder:  Girlfriends Unite.”  This session discussed “[h]ow advancing in a small or large company or other institution takes special skills, and the road for women continues to be particularly challenging.”
This session included:
o    Program Chair and Moderator
Weili Cheng
Deputy General Counsel & Corporate Secretary, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C.
o    Panelists
Preeta D. Bansal
Global General Counsel , Litigation & Regulatory Affairs, HSBC Holdings
o    Marie Oh Huber
Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, Agilent Technologies, Inc.
o    Sandra Leung
General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company
o    Wendy Shiba
Ret. Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, KB Home
o    Caroline Tsai
Senior Vice President and Associate General Counsel, Bank of America
Here are some of the interesting points of this session:
·         Self-promotion is incredibly important, however, don’t over do it by promote yourself too much or in the wrong way.  It’s key to know your audience and your firm environment. 
·         Make sure you know each and every person who is on the committee that makes decisions on your future promotion. 
·         The panel discussed how ethnicity and gender play a role in the legal profession.  The article “Visible Invisibility” was recommended.  It may be found on website:  http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/marketing/women/visible_invisibility_fortune500_executive_summary.authcheckdam.pdf
·         Networking is a skill that many people need to work at it.
·         Love what you do.  Wherever you are in your career path, be in the moment.    
·         If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.
·         Most people learn the most when they are outside of their comfort zone.

I also attended NAPABA CLE Breakout Session “Patent Law: Perspectives from the Bench”      
“With Congress having recently passed significant patent law reform in the America Invents Act, and courts at all levels wrestling with increasingly complex patent issues.  This session provide[d] a rare opportunity to gain an insiders’ view on the role of the courts in shaping patent law.
In a panel moderated by an attorney from the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Federal Circuit Judge Alan D. Lourie and Northern District of California District Judge Jeremy Fogel share[d] their perspectives from the bench on the history and development of patent law.” This session included:
o    Program Chair
Jennifer H. Wu
Associate, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP
o    Moderator
Raymond T. Chen
Deputy General Counsel, Intellectual Property Law and Solicitor, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
o    Panelists
Hon. Jeremy Fogel
Judge, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California
o    Hon. Alan D. Lourie
Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
Here are some of the interesting points of this session:
·         District court judges are not required to conduct a Markman Trial.
·         Fogel (D.C. Judge) believes that the standard for reversing a patent case needs to be more transparent. 
·         Lourie (A.C. Judge) says that more informal deference now exists between the CAFC and District Courts. 
·         Everyone should stay tuned for the holding in the Retractable Technologies Inc. v. Becton Dickinson & Co. case, which is currently on the Supreme Court’s docket. 
·         Chen believes that the Supreme Court has becoming more and more interested in patent cases.  He states that 13 out of 32 cases granted certiorari have been patent cases. 
·         Although the CAFC does not have circuit splits, there are intra-circuit splits. 
·         Fogel sees a theme in the recent rulings from the Supreme Court.  He believes that the Supreme Court wants an easier flow of commerce and may perceive the patent system as getting in the way of innovation.  He also believes that Bilski has not been resolved and will be revisited.
·         Lourie advocates the following two changes in patent law:
o    adding an experimental use statutory exception; and
o    adding an incontestability statute for patents after 5 years of use.

I also attended NAPABA CLE Breakout Session “General Counsel Survival Skills.”
“This session discusse[d] how does a General Counsel and his/her colleagues and staff keep their skills sharpened? How are they preparing for the future and plan and mitigate the anticipated and unanticipated events? How do in-house lawyers anticipate and manage for the issues not yet defined? What are the lessons we are learning for the future?”
This session included:
o    Program Chair & Moderator
Don H. Liu
Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, Xerox Corporation
o    Panelists
Tim Cheatham
Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Walmart International
o    A.B. Cruz
Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary, Scripps Network Interactive, Inc.
o    Hyun Park
Senior Vice President and General Counsel, PG&E Corporation
o    Veta T. Richardson
President and CEO, Association of Corporate Counsel
o    Simone Wu
Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary and Chief Compliance Officer, Choice Hotels International
Here are some of the interesting points of this session:
·         Understand the business, but have a staff of lawyers to know what is happening in the legal arena.
·         Don’t just be a roadblock to the business unit(s); instead try to be a team player by helping to come up with possible solutions.
·         Your first priority must always be to provide excellent legal advice.
·         GCs tend to be a “happy” group of attorneys.  Surveys show that approximately 91% of GCs are happy with their careers.
·         Every GC must have the courage to lose their job if placed in a position to blow-the-whistle. 
·         Learn how to say no in a confident way.
·         The panel generally does not recommend that an attorney go in-house right away. 
o    When you move in-house right away, you tend to get viewed as always being a new attorney.  Going in-house right after law school is ok, however, if you plan on staying with one company for the majority of your career. 
o    Most in-house corporations do not have good training programs. 
·         You should know your business well.  Know it better than even your business counterparts.  If you know your client’s business then you can better anticipate things and you’ll add more value.
      
In the evening, I met several law students for dinner.  We decided to go to Ming’s in Chinatown and ordered several dishes to share.  The food was very good!  Afterwards, we all headed to the Newseum for a Late Night NAPABA social hour.


I ended up parting ways with my new friends at the Newseum and headed to Georgetown.  Earlier in the day, I had met a lawyer who subsequently invited me to something called a “3-Square Event.”  The idea behind this social gathering was to invite a party of roughly 50 people: 1/3 law students, 1/3 GCs, 1/3 partners at major law firms.  This networking event was set at a drink lounge in Georgetown that specialized in serving gourmet desserts.  This event turned out to be great!  I mingled and exchanged cards with an invited list of partners, GCs, and law students for about three and a half hours before I got back to my hotel at 2 am, utterly exhausted.  

-Grace J. Kim

Saturday, November 17, 2012

The 24th Annual NAPABA Convention Day #1



Thursday, November 15, 2012


I arrived today in Washington DC for the 24th Annual NAPABA Convention.  The theme of the convention this year is “Reaching Monumental Heights” which is set as a tribute to the great monuments as well as the amazing members within the NAPABA community.  This marks one of the largest Conventions to date with its 1450 registrants.

Once I arrived at Reagan Airport, I headed to the Convention Site by taking the Metro train.  The Metro is pretty nice because it transports me directly from the airport to various stops within the D.C. area. 



At the Convention site (i.e. JW Marriott in D.C.), I picked up my registration materials for tomorrow’s CLE sessions.    

There were several social events today.  The NAPABA Welcome Reception tonight was full of high energy and even at one point included NAPABA members dancing to Psy’s Gangnam Style song. 




I attended an event recognizing the 2012 Best Lawyers Under 40 Awards. These awards recognize talented Asian Pacific American attorneys under the age of 40 who have achieved prominence in their respective areas of law while demonstrating an unwavering dedication to the APA community.


One of the Best Under 40 lawyers is from Minnesota!  The 2012 Best Lawyers Under 40 Awards recipients are:
    Akemi Arakaki, LA County Superior Court, Central Juvenile District
    Steve Choi, MinKwon Center for Community Action
    James Derry, Arbitron, Inc.
    Marita EtcubaƱez, Asian American Justice Center
    Rio M. Guerrero, Guerrero Yee LLP
    Mark Hanasono, LA County Alternate Public Defender
    Melissa S. Ho, Polsinelli Shughart PC
    Peggy L. Ho, LPL Financial
    Laboni Hoq, Asian Pacific American Legal Center
    Blossom Kan, MetLife, Inc.
    Naho Kobayashi, McGuireWoods LLP
    Nicole Kubista, Office of the Public Defender, St. Paul, MN
    Jason Leung, Ridout & Maybee, LLP
    Edward Lew, The Walt Disney Company
    Tirzah Abe Lowe, Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear LLP
    Samuel S. Park, Winston & Strawn LLP
    Teena-Ann Sankoorikal, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP
    Jeannie Suk, Harvard Law School
    Vinoo Varghese, Varghese & Associates P.C.
    Carla Wong McMillian, State Court of Fayette County, GA
    Calvin K. Woo, McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter, LLP

Many of today’s evening events were geared towards encouraging attendees to mingle and meet the other NABAPA members.  Everyone I’ve met so far has been very engaging and nice.  It’s been a great first day and I look forward to tomorrow.

- Grace J. Kim