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The NAPABA Trailblazers Award recognizes the outstanding achievements, commitment and leadership of lawyers who have paved the way for the advancement of other APA attorneys. As part of its annual convention, NAPABA honors a member from each region who meets these criteria. The honorees are selected by the regional governors and the affiliates in their region. The paths and achievements of our awardees are often very different. However, they all have had careers and otherwise made contributions that demonstrate vision, courage and tenacity, and which have resulted in substantial and lasting contributions to the APA legal profession, as well as the broader APA community.

Peggy Nagae is an independent consultant with extensive experience in change management, leadership development, executive coaching, diversity and inclusion, strategic planning, marketing, and potentiating the human spirit at work. Her work is collaborative, values-based and heart-driven. Peggy earned an A.B. in East Asian Studies from Vassar College, a J.D., from the Northwestern School of Law at Lewis and Clark College, and a M.A. in Spiritual Psychology from the University of Santa Monica.

Her legal practice included business litigation, criminal defense, and general practice. She served as the Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs at the University of Oregon School of Law and the Affirmative Action Director at Northwestern School of Law at Lewis and Clark College. She helped found and served as president of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. She is the current co-chair of NAPABA’s Leadership Advisory Council and the Diversity Task Force. She is also the program director for The Center for Asian Pacific American Women. Peggy is highly recognized for her work on the National JACL Redress Committee, as the lead attorney for Minoru Yasui in reopening his WWII Japanese American incarceration case, Yasui v. United States, and as a Presidential appointee to the Civil Liberties Public Education Fund.

NAPABA’s Best Under 40 award recognizes talented individuals within the APA legal community under the age of 40 who have achieved prominence and distinction in their fields of endeavor—be it the practice of law, academia, business, civic and charitable affairs, the judiciary, or politics — and have demonstrated a strong commitment to civic or community affairs.

Ms. Liani Reeves was selected earlier this year by Gov. John Kitzhaber to be his chief legal advisor. A graduate of Willamette University, Liani most recently served as Deputy Chief Trial Counsel for the Oregon Department of Justice under Attorney General John Kroger. She also was staff attorney for the National Crime Victim Law Institute at Lewis & Clark Law School.

Raised on Oregon’s south coast in North Bend, Liani has served with numerous community organizations, including the Oregon Minority Lawyers Association, Oregon Commission on Asian Affairs, and Oregon State Bar Affirmative Action Committee. She was tagged by the Oregon Business Journal as among the “40 under 40″ up and comers in Oregon and recently by the Daily Journal of Commerce as its Up & Coming Lawyer of the Year.

As Governor Kitzhaber’s counsel, she works extensively on tribal issues, public record requests and judicial appointments.

“As a statewide organization, OAPABA is proud to have been able to endorse such a strong candidate as Valeri Love for the Lane County judiciary,” said Elisa Dozono, OAPABA President. “We hope Judge Love will add strength to OAPABA’s pipeline efforts, which have been generating great results, in part, thanks to mentoring and leadership by sitting Asian Pacific American (APA) jurists. Moreover, we hope that her appointment encourages other Willamette Valley APAs to get involved in OAPABA.”

Ms. Love received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Linfield College, a Master of Management degree from the Atkinson Graduate School of Management at Willamette University, and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from Willamette University College of Law. She started her legal career as a law clerk with the Lane County Circuit Court and then served as a deputy district attorney with the Lane County District Attorney’s Office. She currently works as a civil litigator with the firm of Gleaves Swearingen Potter & Scott LLP. Ms. Love is involved in numerous community activities including the Oregon Asian Pacific American Bar Association and Oregon Women Lawyers.

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“With her distinguished career in public service, it is fitting that Janelle Wipper will become Oregon’s first Filipino-American appointed to the bench,” said Elisa Dozono, OAPABA President.  “We are excited that she will continue to serve on OAPABA’s board and be a model for those participating in our pipeline program.”

“Janelle Wipper’s diverse background, which includes both criminal and civil law, will make her an asset to the trial court,” said Governor Kitzhaber.  “Her personal and professional experiences, along with her commitment to public service, will benefit the citizens of Washington County and the State of Oregon.”

Ms. Wipper received her Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from Willamette University College of Law and her Bachelor of Science degree from Oregon State University.  Ms. Wipper currently serves as Associate Chief Counsel for the Civil Enforcement Division of the Oregon Department of Justice and was previously a Deputy District Attorney in Washington County for 11 years.  As the current President of the Washington County Bar Association, Ms. Wipper is also a member of the Oregon Women Lawyers, Oregon Minority Lawyers Association, and the Oregon Asian Pacific American Bar Association.

For more information about OAPABA’s pipeline initiative, please contact committee chairpersons, Bonnie Richardson,  bonnie@farlawfirm.com or David Wang, dvwag@vestas.com.

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“I hope to capitalize on the solid foundation we have built over the past two years by increasing OAPABA’s voice as an advocate for the larger statewide APA community,” said incoming President Dozono.

Elisa Dozono (President) is an associate at Miller Nash LLP, and focuses her practice on business litigation and government relations.  A native Oregonian, Elisa served as the chairperson for the 2011 NAPABA Western Regional Conference, held this past June in Portland, Oregon, hosting over 100 Asian Pacific American attorneys, judges and law students.  She is also the recipient of 2010 Oregon Area Jewish Committee Emerging Leadership Award and the 2010 Daily Journal of Commerce’s Up & Coming Leaders Award for Outstanding Professional Organization Involvement.

Simon Whang (President-Elect) is an assistant attorney general at the Oregon Department of Justice, Financial Fraud/Consumer Protection Section, focusing on mortgage and foreclosure concerns.  Originally from Beaverton, Oregon, Simon attended Johns Hopkins University and NYU School of Law.  Simon currently serves as the secretary of the Oregon State Bar’s (OSB) Unlawful Practice of Law Committee and teaches trial advocacy.  In the past he has served as faculty for OSB’s Trial Advocacy College and Opportunities for Law in Oregon, and as Bar Disciplinary Counsel.  He lives with his wife and two beautiful daughters in SE Portland.

Corinne S. Celko (Secretary) is an associate at Perkins Coie, LLP in the firm’s Real Estate and Land Use practice.  She focuses in the areas of land use and development law, representing a wide range of clients in obtaining permits from local governments and state agencies for commercial, residential, mixed-use and industrial projects.  Her practice also includes experience with land use due diligence, natural resource issues, and appellate work before the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals and the Oregon Court of Appeals.

Connie Kong (Treasurer) serves as a law clerk for the Honorable Marco Hernandez of the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon.  Prior to her clerkship, she practiced intellectual property litigation for several years.  Connie is one of the founding members of OAPABA.

Jessica Asai has a B.A. in Politics from Willamette University, and a J.D. from Lewis & Clark Law School and has previously served as a board director for OAPABA.  She is currently a Civil Rights Investigator with Oregon Health & Science University’s Affirmative Action & Equal Opportunity Department and is a member of Oregon Minority Lawyers Association and Oregon Women Lawyers.

Janelle Factora Wipper is the Associate Chief Counsel of the Civil Enforcement Division at the Oregon Department of Justice.  Previously, Janelle served as a Senior Assistant Attorney General for the Financial Fraud & Consumer Protection Section and a Deputy District Attorney for Washington County.  She is currently the President of the Washington County Bar Association and an advisory member of the OSB Criminal Law Section.

Annie Jhun has been a member of the Oregon State Bar since the fall of 2010.   Before attending law school, she worked at a national non-profit organization in New York and as a paralegal at a large Atlanta law firm.  In 2010, she received her J.D. from NYU School of Law, where she was an Executive Editor for the NYU Journal of Legislation and Public Policy.  She currently clerks for a circuit court judge in Clackamas County.

Chin See Ming serves as senior counsel at Smith Freed & Eberhard PC.  Ming is a member of the firm’s Construction and Development Group. He has a diverse civil litigation practice in which he handles cases emphasizing in the defense of construction defect, businesses litigation and employment disputes.  Previously, Chin served as the chairman for OAPABA’s advocacy committee.

Miyuki Yoshida was born in Yokohama, Japan and raised in Portland, Oregon, where she currently is a solo practitioner.  Bilingual in English and Japanese, she is licensed to practice in Oregon and Washington State, advising a diverse array of clients in immigration, employment law, business, renewable energy and geothermal energy development.  Miyuki is a director of the Asian Pacific American Chamber of Commerce of Oregon and SW Washington and a Scott M. Johnson Fellow of the US-Japan Leadership Program, US-Japan Foundation.

Tung Tommy Chau received his B.A.S. in Bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 2005 and is a rising second-year law student at Lewis and Clark Law School. This summer, Tommy is working as a law clerk at Brindle McCaslin & Lee and as a judicial intern for the Honorable Youlee You of the Multnomah County Circuit Court.

OAPABA would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to outgoing board members, President David Wang, Secretary Emily Yip, Treasurer Kevin Kono, Representative Beth Bagley, and Law Student Representative Rebecca Guiao for their immeasurable service.

About OAPABA

OAPABA is an organization of lawyers, law students, judges and law professors. OAPABA seeks to:

• foster communication, fellowship and the exchange of ideas among Asian Pacific American attorneys and between Asian Pacific American attorneys and other individuals, organizations and governmental entities;
• to implement, coordinate or support legal services impacting Asian Pacific American communities at the local and national levels;
• to encourage, support, research and implement programs related to professional development and advancement; and
• to represent and advocate the interests of Asian Pacific Americans in the legal profession, in legal education and in the community and to provide a vehicle and forum for formulating, adopting and expressing opinions and positions on matters or events of concern to Asian Pacific American attorneys in Oregon.

For more information on joining OAPABA, please contact Corinne Celko at secretary@oapaba.org.

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Dear OAPABA Members,

Happy New Year from the OAPABA Board of Directors! We wanted to take some time to update you on some of OAPABA’s activities over the last 6 months. We are very proud of our young organization’s accomplishments so far and hope to do more in 2010! In 2009, our organization took strong positions on a number of issues important to the APA community, and related letters and press releases are attached to this e-mail.

Please stay tuned for e-mails about OAPABA’s upcoming spring event and social.

Oregon Asian Pacific American Bar Association Activities: July – December 2009

July 14, 2009: OAPABA members elect the first board of directors. (Please scroll down for director roster and contact information)

August 17, 2009: The OAPABA Board issued a statement to the press condemning the racially-motivated assault on Vietnamese-American student, Bao Vuong, in NE Portland.

September 15, 2009: The OAPABA Communications Committee successfully nominated Trung Tu (a partner at McEwen Gisvold) as a recipient of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association’s (NAPABA) 2009 “Best Lawyers Under 40″ Award. Trung was recognized at the annual NAPABA Convention Awards dinner on November 21, 2009, in Boston, MA.

(Photo: OAPABA members at the 2009 Annual NAPABA Convention in Boston, MA: (left to right) Connie Kong, Emily Yip, Elisa Dozono, Trung Tu, Angela Sagalewicz, Julia Markley)

September 29, 2009: The OAPABA Events Committee hosted a social with former California State Bar President, Holly Fujie, where she spoke about the importance of Asian Pacific American bar associations in the legal community.

October 26, 2009: The OAPABA Board sent a letter to Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley regarding the U.S. Attorney and U.S. Marshal vacancies. The letter urged the senators recognize the importance of assessing each of the finalists, in addition to experience and moral character, on their commitment to diversity.

November 10, 2009: The OAPABA Events Committee hosted the first OAPABA member social at the Crown Room in NW Portland. Members enjoyed happy hour food and drinks while getting to know one another.

November 25, 2009: The OAPABA Board sent a letter to Eugene city officials Kitty Percy (Mayor), Jon Ruiz (City Manager), and Pete Kerns (Chief of Police) regarding the September 22 incident in which a Eugene police officer deployed his taser against a non-English speaking Chinese student attending the University of Oregon. The student was confronted inside a townhouse by Eugene police officers who erroneously believed that he was trespassing. When the letter was written, the City of Eugene was reluctant to release video footage from the “taser cam”. OAPABA’s letter urged City officials to release the video in the interest of transparency. The letter also encouraged the Eugene Police Department and University of Oregon to better collaborate on how to recognize and overcome language barriers with non-native English speakers. Eugene Chief of Police, Pete Kerns replied in a letter stating that the Eugene Police Department would be working to improve its cultural competency in the future. The City of Eugene has since released the taser cam video to the public.

December 15, 2009: The OAPABA Board sent a letter to Governor Theodore Kulongoski regarding the appointment process to fill the Oregon Court of Appeals vacancy created by Judge Walter Edmond’s resignation. The letter invited the Governor to use OAPABA as a resource in the appointment process, and also offered to provide the names of several OAPABA members who would be willing to serve on the Governor’s next Oregon Court of Appeals advisory committee.

As a paid member of OAPABA, you are automatically a member of NAPABA, with full rights and benefits. If you are a paid member and are not receiving NAPABA communications by e-mail, please contact Emily Yip at eyip@osbar.org.

We also wanted to remind you of who your board members and committee chairs are. Please feel free to contact us with your ideas, thoughts, and concerns. We are here to serve you.

* Please note that there were no candidates for Region 1. As such, Region 1 became an at-large position.

Regions by County:

Region 1: Clatsop, Columbia, Lincoln, Tillamook, Polk, Yamhill

Region 2: Coos, Curry, Douglas, Jackson, Josephine

Region 3: Baker, Crook, Deschutes, Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Hood River, Jefferson, Klamath, Lake, Malheur, Morrow, Sherman, Umatilla, Union, Wallowa, Wasco, Wheeler

Region 4: Benton, Lane, Linn, Marion

Region 5: Clackamas, Multnomah, Washington

Please click here for more pictures

From the Asian Report Foundation website:

Scholarship Awards Banquet   2011 Most Honored Elders Isabel Centeno Carino Frank deWater Rev. Van Cong Phan Charlie Tjanden Rick VanderPol 2011 Exemplary Community Volunteer Awards Council of Filipino American Associations of Oregon & SW Washington (CFAA) Oregon Asian Pacific American Bar Association (OAPABA) Zomi Association of USA (ZAUS) AR Foundation College Scholarship Winners 2011 Scholarship Winners   Read Last Year’s Story We are currently looking for Donations. The Asian Reporter Foundation’s 13th Annual Scholarship Awards Banquet Will be held Friday, April 22, 2011 Social hour: 5:30 – 6:30pm Banquet: 6:30-9:30pm Dancing: 9:30-11:00pm Legin Restaurant, Banquet Hall 8001 S.E. Division St., Portland, Ore. Ticket Order Form Indivdual Ticket:$35.00 Community Table: $350.00 Corporate & Government Table: $1000.00 The Asian Reporter Foundation is proud to host our annual Scholarship and Awards Banquet, currently in its thirteen year. Held yearly in late April, the banquet honors young scholars, respected elders and community groups in the days leading up to Asian Pacific American Heritage Month in May. Over $800,000 in college scholarships has been awarded to deserving students from Asian-American families since the event was conceived. The Foundation also recognizes the lives and accomplishments of our seniors through its Most Honored Elder award. Our Exemplary Community Volunteer award is presented to groups that demonstrate exceptional service to the community. Many companies have supported our growth throughout the years. In the banquet’s first year the Oregon Lottery generously sponsored four $500 scholarships. Since 1999, more companies and organizations have joined to offer their support to help Asian-American youth attain a higher education. We are thankful for the generosity of these scholarship partners. In 2010, 8 students received scholarships, and the United States Navy marked the occasion by presenting four-year R.O.T.C. scholarships to young Asian Americans. Example of the FAFSA “Information Acknowledgment Student Aid Report (SAR), Federal Student Aid Program” Pdf & Doc 2011 Sponsors:

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