PRESIDENT:
Edmond Sung is a litigation associate at Weston & McElvain LLP, where he practices general business litigation and insurance coverage litigation. Ed has handled matters involving contract disputes, first party insurance claims, third party comprehensive general liability claims, bad faith actions, fraud, and complex insurance disputes. He has litigated matters in state and federal courts and at the appellate level. Ed joined the APABA board as a Law Student Representative while studying at the University of Southern California Law School. During law school, he served as external vice president of the Asian Pacific American Law Student Association (APALSA). He was also a recipient of a legal writing fellowship and taught a section of the first-year legal writing course at USC. In addition to these accomplishments, Ed regularly volunteered at the Neighborhood Legal Services' Workers' Rights Clinic, where he assisted low-income workers in wage and hour and other work-related claims. Ed graduated from UCLA with dual degrees in Economics and Political Science.
PRESIDENT-ELECT:
Michelle K. Sugihara is a senior associate at Luce Forward, where her practice focuses on business and real estate litigation, as well as entertainment and real estate transactional deals. Michelle also has expertise in representing and advising residential developers on Department of Real Estate matters. Additionally, she provides pro bono legal services to Public Counsel's Homelessness Prevention Law Project, providing advice and counsel to homeless clients and representing them at Homeless Court. Michelle also serves on the board of governors of the Japanese American Bar Association, the New Leadership Advisory Council for the Japanese American National Museum, and on the executive committee of the Asian Pacific American Friends of the Theater. Michelle is a 2010 recipient of NAPABA's Best Lawyers Under 40 award and a 2011 recipient of Los Angeles County Bar Association, Real Property Section's Outstanding Young Lawyer award.
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT:
Lorraine Y. Yu is an attorney at the Office of Chief Counsel, Internal Revenue Service, where she practices in the areas of federal civil and criminal tax law. Lorraine received her bachelor's degree from UCLA and her law degree from UCLA School of Law, where she served as community outreach co-chair of the Asian Pacific Islander Law Students Association and volunteered at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center.
TREASURER:
Dennis M. Wu is a transactional associate at Madden, Jones, Cole & Johnson where he practices in the areas of real estate, business and health care law. He received his J.D. from UCLA School of Law where he served as co-chair and 3L representative of the Asian Pacific Islander Law Student Association. Dennis was also a law clerk at the California Attorney General's Office, Bet Tzedek Legal Services, and the Los Angeles County Superior Court's Planning & Research Unit. Prior to law school, Dennis worked at the Asian Youth Center and the Asian Pacific American Legal Center. He completed his undergraduate studies at Pomona College where he received a B.A. in Biology. Dennis currently serves as a co-chair for the APABA Community Service & Outreach Committee.
SECRETARY:
Judy Suwatanapongched is an associate in the business litigation group at the downtown Los Angeles office of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP. She received her J.D. from the University of Southern California Law School in 2009 and her B.A. in Political Science and Sociology from Northwestern University in 2005. As an undergraduate, Judy was actively involved in the Asian Pacific American community and served as president of Northwestern's Thai Club. Before law school, Judy taught Thai Classical Dance at the Thai Cultural and Fine Arts Institute in Chicago and various universities. At USC, she was internal vice-president of the Asian Pacific American Law Student Association. Judy has served two years as a law student representative to the APABA board and two years as a board member.
BOARD OF GOVERNORS:
Halim Dhanidina is a Deputy District Attorney for Los Angeles County, where he has worked for the past 12 years. He is currently assigned to the elite Major Crimes Division, a 12 person unit handling the most complex and high profile cases in Los Angeles County. In law school, Halim helped organize the student campaigns against Propositions 187 and 209 as the first South Asian American co-chair of the Asian Pacific Islander Law Students Association at UCLA. Halim currently uses his training and experience to conduct gang intervention programs and domestic violence law training for the Asian Youth Center and South Asian Network as part of his work on the boards of APABA and the South Asian Bar Association. He is also one of the founding members of the Association of South Asian Prosecutors as well as a member of the faculty of Glendale University Law School, where he teaches criminal law.
MyLoc Dinh is a litigation associate at Tharpe & Howell, LLP. She received her J.D. from Southwestern Law School and her B.A. in Linguistics from UCSD. During law school, she externed for a U.S. Central District Court Judge and served on the boards of the Trial Advocacy Honors Program, the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, Women's Law Association, and the Native American Law Students Association. She received CALI Excellence for the Future Awards in Torts and Anglo-American Legal History. Previously, MyLoc worked as an English teacher in Japan, as a Coro Fellow in Los Angeles, for a California state senator, and on a California assembly campaign. For APABA, she is co-chair of the Community Concerns Committee and Membership Committee. She also serves on the board of the Asian Pacific American Women Lawyers Alliance (APAWLA) and is co-chair of its Young Lawyers/Law Student Committee. MyLoc is conversant in Vietnamese, Japanese, and French.
Derek Ishikawa is an associate in the Litigation Department at the Los Angeles office of Loeb & Loeb LLP. Derek graduated from UCLA with a joint J.D./M.P.P. degree and served as Co-Chief Managing Editor for the Asian Pacific American Law Journal. While at UCLA, Derek worked for the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles and the California Department of Real Estate. In addition, Derek was a summer associate at a national labor and employment firm and externed for U.S. District Court Judge Dean D. Pregerson. Prior to law school, Derek worked as a Management Aide for the City of Torrance, as a California Senate Fellow in Sacramento, and as an Assistant English Teacher in Ibaraki, Japan. Derek graduated from Pomona College with a B.A. in Public Policy Analysis-Politics.
Robin Jung currently practices products liability defense at O'Hagan Spencer LLP. Previously, he clerked at the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office - Domestic Violence Prosecution Unit and the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, Asian Pacific Islander Unit. A graduate of Loyola Law School and UCLA, Robin was one of APABA's law student representatives before becoming a board member. He was also a recipient of the Honorable Kenneth B. Chang Memorial Scholarship and the Southern California Chinese Lawyers Association's Loyola Alumni Scholarship. Recently, Robin served on the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association Inspire Convention host committee.
Teddy M. Kapur is an associate at Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones, where he represents debtors, creditors, trustees, and asset purchasers in chapter 11 bankruptcy cases and out-of-court restructurings. He has represented a broad range of clients, including real estate finance companies, national retailers, and professional services firms in the legal and medical industries. Teddy graduated magna cum laude from Rice University. He received his J.D. from New York University School of Law and his Master in Public Administration from Harvard University. Teddy is the President-elect of the South Asian Bar Association of Southern California, a member of the NAPABA Bankruptcy, Restructuring and Creditors'/Debtors' Rights Committee, and a member of the Nominating Committee for the Asia Society Southern California LAsia 21 Program.
Winston S. Keh is a partner with the litigation firm of Murphy, Pearson, Bradley & Feeney. Winston handles all forms of civil litigation in state and federal courts with emphasis on premises liability, personal injury, products liability, business litigation, mass tort, landlord-tenant, and municipal liability defense. He has tried cases to verdict including jury trial, bench trials and arbitrations. Winston also serves as a Judge Pro Tem in the Los Angeles Superior Court presiding over Small Claims and Traffic cases. He also serves as a mediator/crash settlement officer. Winston speaks fluent Fookien Chinese and Tagalog.
Hyongsoon Kim is litigation counsel at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, where his practice focuses on business litigation matters, including contractual and business disputes, class action matters, corporate governance and shareholder disputes, securities litigation and bankruptcy litigation. Hyongsoon received his B.A. magna cum laude from California State University in 1998 and his J.D. in 2001 from Columbia Law School, and clerked for Judge Miriam Cedarbaum in the Southern District of New York before coming to Akin Gump. He is a member of the New York and California bars. Hyongsoon is the President-Elect of the Korean American Bar Association of Southern California and also serves as a member of the board of directors of the Friends of the Los Angeles County Law Library.
Tim Laske is an Assistant United States Attorney in the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California. Previously, he was an associate at DLA Piper LLP, where he practiced commercial, employment, securities and white collar litigation. Tim obtained his B.A. from UCLA and his J.D. from U.C. Hastings. At Hastings, he served as a board member of the Asian Pacific American Law Student Association, and was a senior executive editor for the Communications and Entertainment Law Journal. Tim currently serves as a co-chair for APABA's Public Appointments & Judicial Endorsements Committee, and is a member of the Community Service & Outreach Committee.
Kasie Lee is a Deputy Public Defender at the Los Angeles County Public Defender's Office, representing indigent defendants in third-strike cases and other cases involving serious felonies. Prior to becoming a public defender, she served as a staff attorney for the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles. Kasie graduated from the University of Southern California Law School in 2003. In law school, she worked for Litt & Associates (now Litt, Estuar, Harrison & Kitson, LLP), a law firm focused on civil rights litigation. She also externed for the Hon. Robert M. Takasugi of the U.S. District Court, Central District of California. Kasie is a past recipient of scholarships from KABA, SCCLA and Orange County Asian American Bar Association and has been honored with the Los Angeles County Pro Bono Award. Currently, she is the President of the Asian Pacific Public Defenders Association.
Cynthia Loo has been a judicial officer with the LA County Superior Court since 2000. She is currently assigned to the Eastlake Juvenile Courthouse where she hears juvenile criminal matters. Following her graduation from USC Law School in 1990, Cynthia worked for nearly a decade representing children in child abuse and neglect juvenile dependency matters. Since 2005, she has been a volunteer law professor at the People's College of Law where she teaches criminal procedure. In 2011 she was bestowed the "Teachers Making a Difference Award" at the 2011 Cherry Blossom Festival and the "Community Leadership Award" from the Asian Pacific American Dispute Resolution Center. Cynthia was named the Los Angeles County Juvenile Court Bar Association's 2004 Outstanding Judicial Officer. She is the Chair to the Judicial Committee of the State Bar's Council on Access & Fairness, as well as President-Elect of the Asian Pacific American Women Lawyers Alliance.
Jason Pu is an experienced business attorney who serves as outside general counsel for start-ups, entrepreneurs, music clients and institutional investors. He practices in the areas of corporate, commercial, finance, real estate, intellectual property, licensing and music. He began practicing law at the large firm of Cooley Godward LLP, working with public and private technology companies, venture capital firms, banks and financial institutions and has since worked with Kehr, Schiff & Crane, LLP in Los Angeles and Harrington Music Law Group, P.C. in Santa Monica. Jason was also the founder and manager jd8 Records, an independent music company for Asian American artists. Jason received his B.A. in Psychology from Stanford University in 1995 and his J.D. from the UCLA School of Law in 1999.
Jacob Satayaviboon is a Staff Attorney at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC). Jacob joined APALC in 2011 and has worked on cases in the areas of immigration and employment law. He also is the Thai language intake worker who helps low-income Thai individuals and families receive legal counsel and advice in various areas of law. Jacob received his J.D. from Michigan State University College of Law in East Lansing, Michigan, in 2010 and received his B.S. in Biology from the University of California, Riverside in 2004. While at MSU Law, he was involved in the Multicultural Executive Council as a board member, Asian Pacific American Law Students Association as President, and the Student Bar Association. During law school, Jacob interned at the Los Angeles County Counsel - Dependency Division, Baker & McKenzie in Bangkok, Thailand, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Washington, D.C.
Byron Shibata graduated from UCLA with a double major in History and East Asian studies and from the University of Hawaii law school. He worked for many years in Japan, including as an assistant professor in the law department of a private university, and served several years as an active-duty Air Force Judge Advocate officer. Currently, he is an attorney at the Los Angeles Office of the County Counsel.
Jennifer Song is an Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps Legal Fellow at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC), focusing on foreclosure prevention and tenants' rights issues. She has always been committed to public interest issues, and worked at APALC and Bet Tzedek as a law student while at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. She was also involved in Homeless Legal Services and served as the Vice President of APALSA during her time at Hastings. Additionally, she was a judicial extern for the Honorable Stephan Reinhardt of the United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, and for the Honorable Kathleen Thompson Lax of the United States Bankruptcy Court, Central District. Jennifer received her undergraduate degree from the University of Southern California.
William C. Sung is an associate in the Employment and Labor Group of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP. Billy received his J.D. from USC Law School. In law school, he served as a Senior Content Editor on the Southern California Law Review and published a Note entitled, Taking the Fight Back to Title VII: A Case for Redefining "Because of Sex" to Include Gender Stereotypes, Sexual Orientation, and Gender Identity, 84 S. CAL. L. REV. 487 (2011). A recipient of SCCLA's scholarship, Billy has externed for the Hon. Kim M. Wardlaw of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the Hon. Ernest M. Robles of the United States Bankruptcy Court. Billy graduated from UC Irvine with a B.A. in Philosophy.
Kira Teshima is currently a third year law student at Southwestern Law School where she is the Special Projects Editor of the Law Review and President of the Environmental Law Society. As a second year law student, she was the Vice President of Southwestern's Asian Pacific American Law Student Association (APALSA). Kira also sits on the New Leadership Advisory Council of the Japanese American National Museum located in historic Little Tokyo. Originally from Honolulu, Kira is an avid surfer and outdoors enthusiast. She graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a bachelor's degree in International Studies -Economics and began her legal career as a litigation paralegal in the downtown Los Angeles office of O'Melveny & Myers.
Helen Tran is currently a third year law student at the University of Southern California Law School where she is the Production Editor of the Southern California Review of Law and Social Justice. She has previously served on the boards of USC's Asian Pacific American Law Students Association and Public Interest Law Foundation. Prior to law school, she worked with the Asian American Action Fund and spent some time in DC and on the Hill. Helen received her bachelor's degree in Public Policy, Management, and Planning and master's degree in Health Administration from USC in 2009. She is a proud triple Trojan!
Felix Woo is a partner in SNR Denton's Litigation practice. Felix has extensive experience litigating cases in federal and state court in matters involving commercial contracts, real estate transactions, business torts, employment disputes, entertainment, intellectual property, trade secret misappropriation, products liability, unfair competition, whistleblower (qui tam) claims and class actions. He has represented a broad range of individual and corporate clients in the aerospace, music and television, medical, finance, telecommunications, beverage, hospitality, and manufacturing industries. He has had significant involvement with large-scale discovery efforts and electronic discovery issues, including the use of cutting-edge e-discovery tools. In his career, Felix has devoted significant time to pro bono matters and since 2008, served as the Los Angeles office's pro bono matters partner.
Mia F. Yamamoto, a 1971 graduate of UCLA School of Law, is in solo practice specializing in criminal defense. She is a former Deputy Public Defender for the Los Angeles County Public Defender's Office. Mia is a former co-chair of the Multicultural Bar Alliance, past president of the Japanese American Bar Association and past co-chair of the Asian Concerns Committee. Among her many honors, Mia received the American Bar Association's Spirit of Excellence Award in 2008 and has been named Criminal Defense Attorney of the Year by the Los Angeles County Bar Association and one of the "100 Most Influential Lawyers in California" by the Daily Journal.
Christina Yang is an associate in the litigation and dispute resolution practice group of Mayer Brown LLP, focusing primarily on commercial litigation. Prior to joining the firm, Christina participated in the Mayer Brown Public Interest Fellowship Program, spending one year with the impact litigation unit of the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC). At APALC, she gained experience in the areas of employment law, consumer fraud, immigration law, and constitutional law. Christina is a 2009 graduate of the UC Berkeley School of Law, and received her undergraduate degree summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania. During law school, she was a Publishing Editor for the California Law Review and a Senior Articles Editor for the Asian American Law Journal. In 2009, she published an article regarding Korean adoptee identity in the Asian American Law Journal, which also awarded her piece the Akiyu Hatano Student Writing Award.
Deborah Yim is an Assistant United States Attorney in the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California. Previously, she was an associate at Reed Smith LLP, where she practiced commercial and financial services litigation. Deborah obtained her B.A. from UC Berkeley and her J.D. from UCLA, where she served as editor-in-chief of the Asian Pacific American Law Journal and co-chair of the Asian Pacific Islander Law Student Association. A recipient of SCCLA's presidential scholarship, Deborah has also externed for the Hon. Arthur L. Alarcon of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the State Bar of California. Presently, Deborah serves as a Code Enforcement Commissioner for the City of Pasadena, and she is the founder and Executive Director of Kids Reading to Succeed, a children's literacy program. Deborah also serves as a co-chair of APABA's Community Service & Outreach Committee.
Steven K. Yoda is an attorney at Kelley Drye & Warren LLP, where his practice focuses on civil commercial litigation. Steve received his B.A. and M.A. degrees (both in History) from Stanford University in 1999 and 2000. He graduated from the UC Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall) in 2004, where he was Executive Articles Editor of the California Criminal Law Review and Director of the James Patterson McBaine Honors Moot Court Competition. After law school, Steve served as a law clerk to the Honorable James Ware, U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of California. Steve currently serves as a board member of the Japanese American Bar Association (JABA), Asian Pacific American Friends of the Theater (APAFT), and Taiko Project.
