National Asian Pacific American Bar Association

The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) is a nonprofit organization representing Asian Pacific American lawyers in the United States.[1]

Activities

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The group has advocated for the nomination and confirmation of more Asian American judges to the federal courts.[2][3]

In 2000, the group led a consortium of Asian American organizations that called for a bipartisan independent inquiry in the Wen Ho Lee case, including whether the investigation of Lee, a former scientist of Los Alamos National Laboratory, was tainted by anti-Asian bias.[4][5]

Along with other civil rights groups (including other Asian American advocacy organizations), NAPABA has joined amicus briefs defending affirmative action. It did so in the Grutter,[6] Fisher I,[7][8] Fisher II,[8][9] and Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and UNC cases.[8][10] In 2018, NAPABA, along with other civil rights groups, also submitted an amicus brief in support of Hawaii in the Trump v. Hawaii challenge to Trump's "Muslim ban" executive order.[11]

In 2017, NAPABA and a group of Yale Law School students co-published a study critiquing the lack of Asian American representation in major legal positions. The study found that although Asian Americans made up 10% of graduates at elite law schools (more than Asian American's overall share of the U.S. population, 6%), few Asian Americans were underrepresented among U.S. Attorneys (at the time, only 3 of the 94 U.S. Attorneys were Asian American), state elected prosecutors (4 of the 2,437 were Asian Americans), federal judges, state judges, and law school deans.[12] Justice Goodwin Liu of the California Supreme Court was one of the authors of the report.[12]

A follow-up study in 2022 (entitled A Portrait of Asian Americans in the Law 2.0) was a collaboration between the NAPABA, the American Bar Foundation, and several law schools; it found that Asian Americans had progress in increasing representation in many areas within the legal profession (including the proportion of Asian Americans among active federal judges and Fortune 1000 corporate general counsels), but remained stagnant in other areas (including the proportion of Asian Americans among U.S. Attorneys and equity partners at major law firms).[13] Liu also co-authored the 2022 report.[13]

References

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  1. ^ [National Asian Pacific American Bar Association], Employer Identification Number (EIN): 77-0233358, IRS lookup.
  2. ^ Alexander Burns, From a Placid Judge, a Cutting Rejection of Trump's Travel Ban, New York Times (March 16, 2017).
  3. ^ Venkatraman, Sakshi (February 2, 2022). "Senate Republicans press Japanese American judge over law school article". NBC News.
  4. ^ James Sterngold, Reno Says She'll Seek Release of U.S. Study on Los Alamos, New York Times (October 6, 2000).
  5. ^ James Sterngold, Asian-Americans Demanding Bias Inquiry in Scientist's Case, New York Times (September 18, 2000).
  6. ^ Grutter v. Bollinger, et al.: Brief of Amici Curiae National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium, Asian Law Caucus, Asian Pacific American Legal Center, et al., in Support of Respondents,
  7. ^ Terry Baynes, Asian-American rift over Supreme Court affirmative action case, Reuters (August 14, 2012).
  8. ^ a b c APABA Files Amicus Brief in Supreme Court Affirmative Action Case, (August 3, 2022).
  9. ^ Press Release: Over 160 Asian American and Pacific Islander groups file amicus briefs in U.S. Supreme Court in support of affirmative action, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (November 3, 2015).
  10. ^ NAPABA Statement on the U.S. Supreme Court's Affirmative Action Decision (June 29, 2023).
  11. ^ Alison Frankel, Snubbing Trump DOJ, Big Law firms back Hawaii amici in SCOTUS travel ban case, Reuters (April 3, 2018).
  12. ^ a b Tracy Jan, Law schools are filled with Asian Americans. So why aren't there more Asian judges?, Washington Post (July 18, 2017).
  13. ^ a b Karen Sloan, More Asian Americans on the federal bench; progress lacking at Big Law, Reuters (December 5, 2022).
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