Asian
   American
      Lawyers
        Association of
           Massachusetts

Past Presidents

1. Paul W. Lee* (1984-1985)

Paul is of counsel at Goodwin Procter LLP in Boston, where he concentrates on corporate and securities law and represents high technology and financial services companies. Paul has over 35 years of experience advising boards of directors and representing large and small public and privately held companies in connection with business, securities and M&A transactional matters.

Paul is of counsel at Goodwin Procter LLP in Boston, where he concentrates on corporate and securities law and represents high technology and financial services companies. Paul has over 35 years of experience advising boards of directors and representing large and small public and privately held companies in connection with business, securities and M&A transactional matters.

Paul has served on the American Bar Association Board of Governors and is a 2007 recipient of the Spirit of Excellence Award from the ABA Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity. He is currently a member of the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession. He is a past president of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association.

In August 2009 he was named a NAAAP 100 leader by the National Association of Asian American Professionals. He has also received the Good Guys Award from the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus. Paul serves as Chairman of the Board of the Asian American Justice Center in Washington, D.C., and in Boston, he is Board President for the Asian Community Development Corporation. He is a past chair of the Massachusetts Asian American Commission, and is a 2013 Fellow in the Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative

Paul is a graduate of Columbia University (B.S., Electrical Engineering and Computer Science) and received his J.D., cum laude, from Cornell Law School, where he was an editor of the Cornell International Law Journal.

2. Diane Young-Spitzer* (1986 partial term)

Diane is Deputy Director and General Counsel of the Massachusetts Securities Division. The Division administers and enforces the Commonwealth's securities laws which were enacted to protect investors by prohibiting unlicensed and/or fraudulent activity. One of Diane's primary duties is serving as the presiding officer in the Division's Administrative Hearings.

Prior to joining the Division, Diane worked in the Office of the General Counsel of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, DC. 

Ms. Young-Spitzer is active in the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA). She is Vice-Chair of the Investor Education Section Committee and Chairperson of NASAA’s Alerts & Advisories Project Group. She is also a member of the NASAA Senior Issues/Diminished Capacity Committee.

Diane is currently a trustee of the Roxbury Latin School and has previously served on the Boards of the Winsor School and of the Old South Church of Boston.

Ms. Young-Spitzer is a graduate of Wellesley College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science.  She received her law degree from Boston College Law School. 

3. Marian Tse* (1986-1987)

Marian is a retired partner of Goodwin Procter LLP where she practiced law from 1982 to 2016. While at Goodwin, her specialties were executive compensation and employee benefits and her clients included both publicly traded and privately held real estate investments trusts, technology and life science companies, banks, mutual funds and other financial services companies as well as many not-for profit institutions including major universities, teaching hospitals and health insurance companies. She also represented many compensation committees and boards of directors of publicly traded companies in negotiating employment agreements and compensation arrangements with top executives. She was a frequent speaker on executive compensation and employee benefits matters for Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, National Association of Stock Plan Executives and National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts. 

Marian has served on the Board of Directors of Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center since 2010. She also served on the Board of Directors of  Greater Boston Legal Services  from 2001 to 2016. Marian also volunteers for Ricesticks & Tea Food Pantry and Harvest on Vine Food Pantry. In June, 2016, she received the Board President's Award from Greater Boston Legal Services and in December, 2012, she received the Community Service Award from AALAM. 

Marian is a graduate of Vassar College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History. She received her law degree from Columbia Law School.

4. Deborah Lau Kee* (1987-1988)

5. Harry Yee* (1988-1989)

Harry is an Assistant U.S. Attorney of the District of Hawaii representing federal agencies and U.S. armed forces in a wide variety of civil matters in the Federal District Courts and the Federal Circuit Courts of Appeal. Previously he was the Chief of the Civil Section of the U.S. Attorney's Office in the District of Hawaii and before that served in private practice concentrating on civil and commercial litigation in Hawaii.

Prior to Harry's move to Hawaii, he served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the Civil Rights Division, as a fieldwork supervisor, clinical instructor, and staff attorney at the Harvard Law School Legal Services Center, as a staff attorney of the Greater Boston Legal Services and as the clinical director of the Chinatown Clinical Program for Boston College Law School, the first legal clinical program in the country dedicated to serving the Asian American community.

Harry is a founding member of AALAM and also served as Treasurer from 1983 to 1986 in addition to serving as its president from 1988 to 1989. Harry is also a founding member of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, founding trustee of the Harry H. Dow Memorial Legal Assistance Fund, and Founder, Treasurer and Secretary of the Asian Community Development Corporation. Harry also previously served on the National Civil Rights Advisory Committee on the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund for the establishment of Asian Americans Advancing Justice. He has serve as a director for the Hawaii Chapter of the Federal Bar Association since 1999 and as its president from 2000 to 2002. 

6. Jane Hong (1989-1990)

7. Andrew Leong (1989-1994)

Andrew Leong is an associate professor at CPCS. He has taught at CPCS since 1990. His specialty is on law, justice, and equality pertaining to disenfranchised communities, with a focus on Asian Americans. From 1987 to 1993 he was clinical director of the Chinatown Clinical Program at Boston College Law School. He was supervising attorney of the Asian Outreach Unit at Greater Boston Legal Services from 1986 to 1990.

Professor Leong is a graduate of Drake University (1982-BA) in Des Moines, Iowa and Boston College Law School (1985-JD) in Newton, Massachusetts.

He is active in community and civil rights work, having served on the Board of Trustee of numerous Asian American and civil rights related organizations (e.g. Asian American Resource Workshop, Asian Community Development Corporation, the Chinatown Quincy School Community Council, the Executive Committee of the Greater Boston Civil Rights Coalition, the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, The Institute for Affirmative Action, the Fair Housing Center of Greater Boston, and the Steering Committee of the Lawyers' Committee For Civil Rights Under Law).

Professor Leong served as the President of AALAM from 1989 to 1994. During the same period he was also President of the Harry H. Dow Memorial Legal Assistance Fund. He has fought numerous episodes of environmental injustice in Boston 's Chinatown neighborhood and chairs "The Campaign to Protect Chinatown."

Professor Leong has further provided legal representation and technical assistance to victims of anti-Asian violence. He was the legal counsel for thirteen victims of an anti-Asian bias hate incident at Tufts University and successfully negotiated an agreement where the perpetrator admitted to his actions. Professor Leong also provided legal counsel and training on a case where more than thirty Asian students were systematically beaten on one day in South Philadelphia High School.

Professor Leong has written about welfare and immigration reform, hate crimes, environmental justice, and community lawyering.

8. Kenneth Luke (1993-1996)

Ken Luke has been an assistant bar counsel since 2000.  He has worked as a civil litigator for many years and previously worked as an assistant attorney general, as inhouse litigation counsel for a large insurer, and in private practice.   Ken served on the SJC Commission to Study Race & Ethnic Bias in the Courts from 1990 – 1994; on the MBA Committee on Bar Admissions from 1991 – 1993; on the MBA Committee on Minorities in the Profession from 1994 – 1997; on the MBA Civil Litigation Council from 1994 -1997; on the Governor’s Asian American Commission from 1995 – 1998; and was an adjunct professor at UMass-Boston from 1993 – 2000.  Ken has been serving on the board of directors at Greater Boston Legal Services since 1989 and is also active in other community organizations.    He is a graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center, Boston University, and the Boston Latin School.

9. Rebecca Lee* (1996-2000)

Rebecca is a Member at Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. and Chair of the firm’s Real Estate Development Practice. She represents developers, lenders, nonprofit organizations, and other parties in a range of real estate matters, including financing, the procurement of entitlements, property dispositions, condominium creation, site acquisitions and assemblages, leasing, and related tax incentive transactions.

Rebecca has extensive experience relating to land use and development permitting in the Greater Boston area. She previously served as Chief of Staff/Special Counsel to the Director at the Boston Redevelopment Authority (now known as the Boston Planning & Development Agency), where she was responsible for policy development, overseeing development reviews, negotiating acquisitions and dispositions, and representing the agency in financing transactions.

Rebecca is an avid baseball fan and regularly participates as a pianist in the Chamber Music Conference of the East at Bennington College.

10. Perry Wu (2000-2002)

11. Theodore Chuang (2002-2003 partial term)

Judge Chuang was nominated by President Obama on September 25, 2013 to serve as a United States District Judge for the District of Maryland and received his commission on May 2, 2014. Prior to his appointment, Judge Chuang served as Deputy General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from 2011 to 2014 and as Associate General Counsel of DHS from 2009 to 2011.  In 2009, he served as Chief Investigative Counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Energy and Commerce. From 2007 to 2009, he served as Deputy Chief Investigative Counsel for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.  From 2004 to 2007, Judge Chuang was in private practice in Washington, D.C. at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, LLP.

From 1998 to 2004, Judge Chuang served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts. From 1995 to 1998, he served as a trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, in Washington, D.C.  Judge Chuang began his legal career as a law clerk to Judge Dorothy W. Nelson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Throughout his career, Judge Chuang has been active in professional and community organizations. He has served as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center, a legal services organization serving low income, limited English proficient Asian Americans and immigrants in Maryland and the Washington, D.C. region. He has also served on the Board of Governors of the District of Columbia Bar, as President of the Asian American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts, and as President-Elect of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of the Greater Washington, D.C. Area.

12. Myong Joun (2003-2005)

Hon. Myong J. Joun is a United States District Judge on the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. He is the first Korean American to serve on this court. Prior to his current appointment, Judge Joun was an Associate Justice of the Boston Municipal Court. He was appointed by Governor Deval Patrick in 2014. Previously, Myong was in private practice focusing on criminal defense and civil rights litigation in state and federal courts. He was active in a number of legal, civic and community organizations, including being on the Boards of the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Lawyers Guild, the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Myong is a graduate of Suffolk University School of Law and the University of Massachusetts. 

13. Jeffrey Hsi (2005-2006)

Jeffrey is a shareholder at Wolf, Greenfield & Sacks, P.C. Jeffrey's practice is devoted to all aspects of commercialization of technology. Jeffrey was previously a Partner at Locke Lord LLP (fka Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge), where he served on the Executive Committee, as Chair of the Intellectual Property Department, and on the Diversity and Inclusion Committee.

Jeffrey currently serves on the Board of Directors of Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC (Asian American Justice Center) in Washington, D.C. where he serves on the Executive Committee and chairs the Policy and Programs Committee. He also regularly participates as a volunteer in the Asian American Election Protection Project of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF). Jeffrey is a past president of the Asian American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts (AALAM) and served on their Executive Board for seven years, and he previously served on the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) Board of Governors. He was also Co-Chair of the NAPABA 2009 National Convention Host Steering Committee in Boston and served on the NAPABA Committee on Regional Conferences. Jeffrey is an avid tennis player and volunteered with the Massachusetts Special Olympics State Games (tennis) having previously served on its Tennis Management Team. Jeffrey is a member of the Rutgers Law School Minority Student Program (MSP) 50th Anniversary Alumni Committee, and previously served as a member of the Rutgers Law School MSP Legacy Alumni Campaign Committee and as a member of the Board of Trustees of Kalamazoo College, where he served on the Audit Committee and the Finance Committee.

Jeffrey obtained his B.A. from Kalamazoo College (MI), M.S. from Indiana University, Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, and J.D. from Rutgers Law School. He is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois and Massachusetts and by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

14. Ingrid Chiemi Schroffner (2006-2008)

Ingrid Chiemi Schroffner joined the Office of Management at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School in March 2020.Previously, she served as Acting Deputy General Counsel (12/2019-3/2020) and Associate General Counsel since 2015, at the Executive Office of Health and Human Services ("EHS") having joined as Assistant General Counsel in 2008 as the lead attorney for MassHealth Estate Recovery. Prior to EHS, Ingrid had practiced at Burns & Levinson LLP since 1998, specializing in probate/family litigation. Ingrid also clerked for Chief Justice Warner (Massachusetts Appeals Court), the Massachusetts Superior Court justices, and worked at Davis, Malm & D’Agostine PC. She has written and spoken extensively in her areas of expertise, most recently on issues of unconscious bias as well as collaborative intelligence.

A native of Hawaii, Ingrid is a past president (2006-08) of the Asian American Lawyers of Massachusetts ("AALAM") and served on its Board 2002-12. She also served on the Boston Bar Association (“BBA”) Council 2009-12, and as the Education Co-Chair for its Diversity and Inclusion Section 2010-12. She has been elected to the Boston College Law School Alumni Board since 2009, serving as its President in 2018. Ingrid also chaired the Legal Intern program for EHS 2010-20, as well as the EHS Diversity Council 2014-20, the latter for which she received a Certificate of Appreciation from Massachusetts Medicaid in 2015. In addition, since 2012, she has served on the Supreme Judicial Court Standing Advisory Committee on Professionalism, and in 2022 was appointed as its Co-Chair. She has also served on the Board of Trustees for Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education since 2019 and is Co-Chair of its Diversity & Inclusion Committee. In 2022, she joined the Board for Asian Women For Health.

Ingrid was named as part of the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly (“MLW”) “Circle of Excellence" for its Top Women of Law event in 2022, having been previously named as one of MLW’s Top Women of Law in 2013. She was also named aMassachusetts Bar Foundation Life Fellow by its Board of Trustees in 2015.  In 2008, the Asian Community Development Corporation presented Ingrid with its Excellence in Community Service Award.

Ingrid graduated from Boston College (Phi Beta Kappa), summa cum laude, and Boston College Law School (Campbell Fellowship Recipient and White, Inker, Aronson Professional Achievement & Service Award). 

15. Charlotte J. Kim (2008-2010)

Charlotte Kim is a partner in the New York office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where her practice focuses on global corporate finance with particular expertise in the energy, healthcare, life sciences and biotech, software, retail, manufacturing, aviation, materials science, foodtech, agtech, and technology sectors. Charlotte has structured, negotiated, and closed more than 180 transactions with a total value exceeding $20 billion. Previously, Charlotte was a partner at Choate Hall & Stewart in Boston. Earlier in her career, she practiced at both Chadbourne & Parke and Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy in New York. Before attending law school, Charlotte was a Fulbright Scholar at the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels, Belgium.

16. Sarah G. Kim (2010-2013)

Sarah Kim is General Counsel at the Treasurer and Receiver General of Massachusetts, where she works on legal matters pertaining to the Massachusetts Treasury, including its subsidiary agencies and affiliated programs. Previously, Sarah served as the Assistant Attorney General in the Fraud & Financial Crimes Division at the MA Attorney General’s Office. Before entering public service, Sarah worked for ten years at Bingham McCutchen LLP, where she focused her practice on securities enforcement, securities litigation, and broker‐dealer defense. Sarah is a member of the Boston Bar Association Council, a long‐time member of the board of the Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence, and volunteer for Ricesticks & Tea Food Pantry. She is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Villanova University School of Law.

17. Peggy Ho (2013-2015)

Peggy L. Ho is Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Commonwealth.

Peggy holds a J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center, a M.S.F.S. from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and an A.B. in East Asian Studies from Harvard University. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the New England Council, is chair of the LPL Financial Political Action Committee and is Secretary for the Committee for the Choral Endowment at Harvard University. She was appointed by Governor Charlie Baker in February 2016 to serve as a Commissioner on the Massachusetts State Ballot Law Commission.

Peggy served as Secretary of AALAM from 2009-2012 and President of AALAM from 2012-2015 and most recently served as co-chair for the Boston Host Committee for the 2015 NAPABA Northeast Regional Conference.

18. Eugene Ho (2015-2017)

Eugene H. Ho is Partner at Verrill Dana LLP, where he maintains a sophisticated and diverse transactional practice. Over his years of practice,  Eugene has gained significant transactional experience in all aspects  of mergers and acquisitions, sales and divestitures, joint venture arrangements, commercial loan transactions, and private offerings. Eugene received his B.A. from Amherst College and his J.D. from American University, Washington College of Law.

Outside of his law practice, Eugene is a member of the Board of Directors of Asian Community Development Corporation (ACDC) and chair of its Finance Committee. Eugene is also a member of Bentley University's Arts and Sciences Advisory Council

Eugene lives with his wife, Natalie, and their rescue dog, Mildred, in the South End of Boston. He loves to travel and is in constant search of the next great undiscovered destination. When he's not traveling, Eugene spends most of his free time watching sports, reading about sports and talking about sports.

Eugene has been a member of the AALAM Board since 2010. He was Treasurer from 2011 to 2013 and Vice President in 2014 and President from 2015-2017. 

19. Christina Chan (2017-2019)

Christina Chan is an Assistant Attorney General in the MA Attorney General's Office Medicaid Fraud Division and prosecutes medical providers for fraud and abuse allegations related to the Massachusetts Medicaid program.  She also has served as an AAG in the Trial Division, where she represented the Commonwealth and its state agencies in civil rights, wrongful conviction, employment discrimination, eminent domain, tort, and medical malpractice claims, among others. Prior to joining the AG's office, Christina was a litigation associate at Bingham McCutchen LLP, where her practice focused on complex commercial disputes, including breach of contract disputes, violations of unfair trade practices laws, securities litigation. While at the firm, Christina actively engaged in pro bono work, representing clients on various matters, including domestic violence protection, prisoner's rights claims, and transgender rights issues.

Christina graduated from a joint degree program between Northeastern University School of Law and Tufts University School of Medicine leading to a J.D. and Masters in Public Health. She attended Cornell University where she received a B.S. in Policy Analysis and Management.

Christina served as Director of Community Relations on Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick's successful re-election campaign in 2010 and from 2011 to 2015 served as Chair of the Governor's Asian American Commission/Advisory Council. Christina has been a Board member of AALAM since 2014, served as AALAM Vice President from 2015 to 2017, and currently is AALAM President.  Christina has also served on the Board of Directors for the Asian American Civic Association and serves as Vice Chair of the Massachusetts Bar Association's Civil Rights and Social Justice Section Council and is a member of the MBA's Judicial Diversity Taskforce.  Christina also currently serves on the Boston Bar Journal Board of Editors.  Most recently, Christina was named a "Best Under 40" Lawyer by the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), an Up & Coming Lawyer by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, one of Boston's Top 100 Most Influential People of Color by Get Konnected, and one of the Top 50 Most Influential Attorneys of Color by Get Konnected.  Christina has also received the Attorney General Francis X. Bellotti Award for Excellence and Attorney General Martha Coakley Award for Outstanding Teamwork.

20.  Leslie Su (2019-2021)

Leslie F. Su is a law clerk with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts. Prior to her clerkship, Leslie was a sole practitioner and the principal of Minerva Law, P.C., a bankruptcy and litigation firm based in Andover, Massachusetts. She has represented debtors, creditors, trustees, and unsecured creditors’ committees in a variety of bankruptcy contexts and she has also represented businesses and individuals in litigation. Leslie has participated as a panelist for a number of programs concerning bankruptcy law and diversity in the legal profession. She has also served as a volunteer mediator in courts throughout Massachusetts.

Leslie has served as a co-chair of the Boston Bar Association Bankruptcy Section's Pro Bono, Education, Consumer, Diversity & Inclusion, and Membership Committees. From 2007 to 2021, she taught legal research and writing at Boston University School of Law. Leslie is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Boston College Law School.

Leslie has been a Board member of AALAM since 2014 and she served as President from 2019 to 2021, Vice President from 2018 to 2019, and Secretary from 2016 to 2017.

21. Emily Sy (2021-2023)

Emily Sy is Litigation Counsel at Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.SA., Inc. Prior to joining Takeda, Emily was a Vice President and Litigation Counsel at State Street Bank and Trust Company.  Emily started her career as a commercial litigation and white collar associate at Nixon Peabody LLP. Emily holds a J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where she served as President of APALSA, and a B.A. from Wellesley College, where she served as President of the Asian Student Union. Emily currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Greater Boston Legal Services. Emily served as AALAM President from 2022 to 2023. Emily was named as a 2020 In House Leader in the Law by the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly and 2022 Emerging Leader by the Women's Bar Association. 


* Founder

The Asian American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts (AALAM) is a non-partisan, 501(c)(6) non-profit organization.

Asian American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts
c/o The Boston Bar Association
16 Beacon Street
Boston, MA 02108-3774
E-mail: aalam.info@gmail.com

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