Blossom Kan, Assistant General Counsel at MetLife and novelist, on unconscious bias, self-advocacy, and taking ownership of your aspirations. Blossom is a powerhouse lawyer at MetLife, an author of two fiction novels, and a graduate of Yale College and NYU School of Law. Together, we explore what it was like growing up as the only Asian kid in her Bronx neighborhood, how she managed to write novels in her spare time working in BigLaw, and how she has continued to grow throughout her 14-year tenure at MetLife.  Drawing on lessons from her own past, Blossom also offers practical tips a ..read more

Glenn Magpantay, civil rights attorney, professor, and nonprofit executive, on self-acceptance, confidence, and hope. As a civil rights activist, a professor of law, and the former Executive Director of the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance, Glenn is a force of nature. In this episode, he opens up about his mental health journey, which included overcoming thoughts of suicide as a result of the harassment, bullying and death threats he faced as one of the only gay and Asian men in his Queens community. Glenn also shares his take on what he believes is driving the spike in anti-Asia ..read more

Stephanie Tsao, an attorney and founder of API International Connectors: On taking a pause from BigLaw and organizing an international rally to Stop Asian Hate We are so excited to host Stephanie Tsao, a former BigLaw attorney who founded API International Connectors (API-IC), a nonprofit connecting community leaders, NGOs and grassroots organizations to unite to Stop Asian Hate. Alongside organizations in the U.S., Canada and Australia, API-IC is organizing an international rally for May 15, 2021 to fight against anti-Asian hate around the world. For more information, plea ..read more

Shinhong Byun, an attorney, a mother, a military spouse, and podcast host: On surviving rape and PTSD, and channeling her pain into power. We are so excited to host Shinhong Byun, an Of Counsel at Chan + Punzalan and the host of The Curious Ahjuma podcast (https://curiousahjuma.libsyn.com/), for which she bravely shares her healing journey following a brutal rape and a harrowing trial in Korea, and the bouts of PTSD, shame, and depression that haunted her even after 15 years. Together, we explore everything -- from discovering self-compassion to refusing to numb ourselves t ..read more

Wookie Kim is the Legal Director of the ACLU of Hawaiʻi, as well as a Lecturer in Law at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa and an endurance athlete who competes in 100-mile trail races.  On this episode, we explore how Wookie's Teach for America experiences motivated him to become a civil rights lawyer, how he navigated the transition from BigLaw to the ACLU (pro tip: grab a copy of The Great Firm Escape here: https://hls.harvard.edu/dept/opia/the-great-firm-escape/), and how the spike in anti-Asian violence has resurfaced all the various microaggressions we all too e ..read more

For our next episode of The Whole Lawyer Project, Facebook's top antitrust lawyer, Anant Raut, speaks on how he balances his own career ambitions with living a whole life, how he accidentally fell into the field of antitrust when his top-choice job unexpectedly fell through, and what he advises for those of us who may be overly concerned about making a "wrong" move in their careers. As a former BigLaw associate as well as the former Counsel to Senate Ranking Member Diane Feinstein, Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General at the Department of Justice, and Counsel to the House Judiciary Commit ..read more

For our next episode of The Whole Lawyer Project, we speak with Steph Cha, a Korean American novelist and attorney who wrote her first novel while a student at Yale Law School. Steph's fourth and most recent book, Your House Will Pay, won the LA Times Book Award. After trying her hand in BigLaw, Steph knew very early on that she was going to forge her own path. Steph opens up about how she structured her legal career so she can write for six months out of the year, what advice she has for those of us who want to pursue our creative passions, and how important it is for us to keep an ..read more

For our third episode of The Whole Lawyer Project, we are honored to have Karen Kithan Yau, who shares her inspiring and authentic journey as a public interest lawyer, a former community organizer, a former professor, and a proud wife and mother of two multiracial children. Now an Of Counsel at Kakalec Law in New York who fights for employees, workers, and immigrants, Karen shares her personal story as the daughter of two garment workers who grew up in public housing projects in Hong Kong and a one-bedroom Brooklyn apartment with her family. Karen explores how her own family story shaped her m ..read more

Hosted by Jane Jeong We are excited to present to you AABANY's The Whole Lawyer Project, which highlights Asian American attorneys and leaders throughout the nation and the human stories behind their success. Today, I am happy to introduce David Lat, the founding editor of Above the Law, as well as a legal recruiter at Lateral Link. Before launching Above the Law, David attended Harvard College and Yale Law School. After law school, he worked as a law clerk for a federal appeals judge, an associate at Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz, and an Assistant U.S. Attorney. On this episode, David shar ..read more

Hosted by Jane Jeong We are excited to present to you the AABANY Whole Lawyer Project, which highlights Asian American attorneys and leaders throughout the nation and the human stories behind their success. For our inaugural episode, we had the pleasure of speaking with Brian Song, a litigation partner at BakerHostetler in New York City, the former president of AABANY, and a Lieutenant Colonel for the Judge Advocate General's Corp of the U.S. Army Reserve. Together, we explore Brian's childhood growing up as the child of Korean immigrants in environments where he was often the only Asian kid ..read more