Past APABA Public Interest Fellowship Recipients

Kim Lynn Hoang (2004 Fellow)
Kim spent the summer of her fellowship working as a law clerk in the Asian and Pacific Islander Community Outreach Unit at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles. Kim worked with domestic violence victims, including helping them seek shelter, obtain restraining orders against their abusers, and obtain divorces or immigration status. She also provided assistance to victims of human trafficking, specifically for victims of the American Samoa human trafficking incident. Kim graduated from Loyola Law School in 2005. She currently practices family law.

Linda Van (2005 Fellow)
Linda is the 2005 recipient of APABA's Law Student Summer Fellowship. Linda spent the summer of her fellowship working as the Vietnamese law clerk in the Asian and Pacific Islander Community Outreach Unit at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles. She assisted in a variety of cases including, bankruptcy, immigration, domestic violence, and human trafficking. Linda graduated from Western State University College of Law in 2007. She is currently a licensed California real estate broker. Her current projects include a housing charity that provides cost-free transitional housing for homeless families with children and displaced veterans.

Danny Yoo (2006 Fellow)
During the summer of his fellowship, Danny worked as a law clerk in the Impact Litigation Unit at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center. He graduated from Loyola Law School in 2007. Danny currently works at Leibert Cassidy Whitmore on labor and employment issues.

Eugene Ngai (2007 Fellow)
Eugene is the 2007 recipient of APABA's Law Student Summer Fellowship. He worked as a law clerk in Neighborhood Legal Services' Workers' Rights Unit. Eugene provided legal assistance to indigent workers in the San Gabriel Valley who were seeking to recover regular and overtime wages. Eugene graduated from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law in 2009.  He currently splits his time between New Zealand and Big Bear, California, where is a ski instructor.

Jacqueline Dan (2008 Fellow)
Jacqueline spent the summer of her fellowship as a law clerk in the Impact Litigation Unit at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center. Jacqueline also provided deportation defense at the Esperanza Immigrant Rights Project of Catholic Charities. Jacqueline graduated from UCLA School of Law in 2010. She currently works at the University of California Immigrant Legal Services Center.

Julie Nguyen (2009 Fellow)
During the summer of her fellowship, Julie worked as a law clerk in the Torture Survivors Project at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles. She provided legal assistance to Vietnamese refugees seeking political asylum. Julie graduated from the University of Pacific McGeorge School of Law in 2010. She currently works at the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority.

Kathy Khommarath (2010 Fellow)
Kathy is the 2010 recipient of APABA's Law Student Summer Fellowship. She worked as a law clerk in the Impact Litigation Unit at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center. Kathy conducted legal research on H-1B visa employee discrimination, racial discrimination against retail customers, laws governing workplace English-only policies, and facially unconstitutional statutes. She also assisted in advocating against Arizona's SB1070. She graduated from Southwestern Law School in 2013. Kathy currently works at the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles.

Hyun-Young Na (2011 Fellow)
During the summer of her fellowship, Hyun-Young worked as a Korean law clerk in the Asian and Pacific Islander Community Outreach Unit at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles. In addition to providing interpretation services to monolingual Korean clients on various legal issues, Hyun-Young assisted domestic violence victims and Korean human trafficking victims. Hyun-Young graduated from Southwestern Law School in 2011. She currently works as an outside contractor for Hire Counsel and volunteers for the Korean Resource Center.

James Yoon (2012 Fellow)
James is the 2012 recipient of APABA's Summer Fellowship. He worked as a law clerk in the Impact Litigation Unit at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center. James assisted on policy initiatives related to Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin. He graduated from the University of California, Irvine School of Law in May 2013. Lt. James Yoon is currently a Judge Advocate in the Navy JAG Corps.

Hyun Mike Lee (2013 Fellow)
Mike is the 2013 recipient of APABA's Summer Fellowship. He graduated from the University of California, Irvine School of Law. During his 1L summer, Mike interned full-time at the UCLA Labor Center of Research and Education in Los Angeles. In addition, he assisted Professor Stephen Lee at UCI law in his scholarship in immigration and labor law and also worked pro bono as a legal intern for Akin Gump & Feld LLP in the Koreatown redistricting case.  Mike is currently an associate in the Los Angeles office of Lewis Brisbois practicing labor and employment law.

Peggy Hsieh (2014 Fellow)
Peggy is the 2014 recipient of APABA's Summer Fellowship.  Peggy spent her summer as a APABA Fellowship working as a Conflict Resolution Specialist summer intern at the Asian Pacific American Dispute Resolution Center.  Peggy graduated from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law in 2016. 

Andrés Dae Keun Kwon (2015 Fellow)
Andrés is the 2015 recipient of APABA's Summer Fellowship. As one of four Immigrants' Rights and National Security Legal Interns at the ACLU of Southern California, he worked primarily on continuing to coordinate a local effort to catalyze the implementation of Padilla v. Kentucky (2010), strengthening immigration representation within public defender offices in Los Angeles County, and on issues related to local law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. He graduated from the UCLA School of Law in 2016.  Andrés is currently the Equal Justice Works Emerson fellow at the ACLU of Southern California.

Jonathan Kom (2016 Fellow)
Jonathan is the 2016 recipient of APABA's Summer Fellowship.  He spent his summer working at Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles in their Asian Pacific Islander Unit, providing legal aid to low income and low English language proficient communities.  He graduated from Southwestern Law School in 2017.

Katie Lee (2017 Fellow)

Katie is the 2017 recipient of APABA's Summer Fellowship.  She spent her summer working at Neighborhood Legal Services Los Angeles, in the Health Consumer Center serving low-income communities in the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys.  She is currently a 2L at UC Berkeley School of Law.

Cristina Tolentino (2019 Fellow)

Cristina spent her summer at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA) as a law clerk with the Eviction Defense Center, providing legal assistance to low income individuals and families facing evictions. As a law clerk she assisted the attorneys in all aspects of litigation from drafting pleadings and motions, legal research, and providing counsel and advice. She graduated from McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific in 2020. Currently, she is a staff attorney with Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles (NLSLA) with the Shriver Housing Project.

2020 Bar Study Support Scholarships

In 2020, APABA awarded 12 scholarships to law school graduates meeting certain criteria (particularly those intending to work at a nonprofit, government, or serving the APA community in Los Angeles County) who were impacted by the rescheduling of the California Bar Exam due to the COVID-19 pandemic: Yuri Han, Christopher Im, Michelle Le, Stacy Lee, Victor Lopez, Elyse Okada, Morgan Sasaki, Kanwalroop Singh, Elaine Sun, Cristina Tolentino, Josh Tran, and Jennifer Yi. 

Ivy Le (2021 Fellow)

Ivy is the 2021 recipient of APABA's Summer Fellowship. She spent her summer working at Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Los Angeles in the SAFE Unit, providing legal assistance to individuals facing domestic violence and other family law issues. She also aided the immigration unit in translating citizenship applications for non-English speaking residents. She is currently a 3L at Southwestern Law School.

Updated April 5, 2022.
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