Past Presidents
1. Paul W. Lee* (1984-1985)
Paul was elected a partner at Goodwin Procter in 1984, becoming one of the first Asian American partners at a major law firm in Boston, along with Bill Lee at Hale and Dorr and Winifred Li at Hill and Barlow. He represented public and privately held companies in business, securities, corporate governance and M&A transactional matters until his retirement in 2013.
In retirement, Paul is currently a Co-Founder and Chair of the Asian Community Fund at the Boston Foundation, the first and only philanthropic fund dedicated to uniting and strengthening the voice of the Asian American community in MA. He also serves on the Board of the Coalition for Anti-Racism and Equity in Education (Care) which is advocating for culturally inclusive education in K-12 schools, as well as the Boards of WGBH, Conservation Law Foundation and Asian Community Development Corporation (ACDC).
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 a past member of that Commission, as well as the Commission on Women in the Profession and the Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. He is a past president of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA).
Paul was a recipient of the NAPABA Trailblazer Award in 2000, Exemplary Public Service Alumni Award from Cornell Law School in 2006, Good Guys Award from the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus in 2007, NAAAP 100 Leadership Award in 2009, Community Service Award from AALAM in 2011, Caroline Chang Leadership Award from the ACDC in 2012, Kwong Kow Chinese School Award in 2012, Boston Bar Association Beacon Award for Diversity and Inclusion in 2013, Community Service Award from the Asian American Civic Association in 2014, AALAM Founders Award in 2017, Humble Dragon Award from the Josiah Quincy Elementary School in 2019, President’s Award from Asian Americans Advancing Justice-AAJC (AAJC) in 2019, Sojourner Award from the Chinese Historical Society of New England in 2020, Race, Equity and Business Award from the Boston Business Journal in 2022, Long Arc of Justice Award from the Harry H. Dow Memorial Legal Assistance Fund in 2022, the 25 Most Influential AAPIs from Get Konnected and the Asian Community Fund in the 2023, John and Abigail Adams Public Service Award from the Boston Bar Foundation in 2024 and Chinatown Gate Award from WGBH in 2024.
Paul is a past Chairman of the Board of AAJC in Washington, D.C., and in Boston, he is a founder and past Board President for the Asian Community Development Corporation, a founding member and past chair of the Massachusetts Asian American Commission, and is a past Senior 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 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.
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.
Diane is one of the founding members of the Asian American Lawyers Association and served as its president in the Association's early years. She is active in the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) and is currently a member of the NASAA Board. She has served as Chair of the Investor Education Section Committee and is currently Chairperson of NASAA’s Alerts & Advisories Project Group. She is also a member of the NASAA Investor Education Training Committee.
Diane has served on the Boards of the Roxbury Latin School, the Winsor School and the Old South Church of Boston.
Diane is a graduate of Wellesley College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and East Asian Studies. She received her law degree from Boston College Law School.
3. Marian Tse* (1986-1987)
Marian Tse is a retired partner of Goodwin Procter, LLP. She was born and raised in Hong Kong and came to the U.S. in 1972 to pursue higher education. She graduated from Vassar College and obtained a law degree from Columbia University School of Law. After law school, Marian moved to Boston and started her legal career at Hill & Barlow. In 1982, she transferred to Goodwin and remained there for 35 years before retiring in 2016. During her years at Goodwin, she maintained a national practice in employee benefits and executive compensation, representing clients in a wide range of industries including financial services, real estate investment trusts, technology and life science companies as well as major universities and hospitals. For many years, she was recognized by Chambers USA at the top tier of her field and listed in the Best Lawyers of America. She served as chair of her practice group for 17 years and also participated in firm management.
Marian, together with Paul Lee, Diane Young Spitzer, Nan Duffly, Francis Chin, Deborah Lau Kee, and a few other young Asian American lawyers practicing in Boston in the early 1980’s, co-founded AALAM in 1984. She was AALAM President for one term and served on its board for many years. She also gave back to the community by serving on the board of the Greater Boston Legal Services for 15 years and on the board of Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center for 11 years. Since her retirement in 2016, Marian has devoted her time to serve the Charlestown community, including volunteering her time with Harvest on Vine, a Charlestown food pantry that serves over 500 families with food insecurities, and serving on the board of the Navy Yard Garden & Art, a not-for-profit that focuses on bringing public art to the Charlestown Navy Yard, as well as enhancing its open spaces and gardens. Recently, Marian joined the Asian Community Fund and is serving on its Campaign Committee.
Marian resides in the Charlestown Navy Yard with her husband James Lee. They have two sons and two granddaughters.
4. Deborah Lau Kee* (1987-1988)
5. Harry Yee* (1988-1989)
Harry served for over 20 years as 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 served as a director for the Hawaii Chapter of the Federal Bar Association from1999 to 2010, including as its president from 2000 to 2002.
6. Jane Hong (1989-1990)
Jane is a retired staff attorney with the Massachusetts Appeals Court, a position she held from 1986 to 2023, where she assisted the justices of the court in drafting and editing their decisions. Before she started with the court, she clerked for the New Mexico Court of Appeals and worked in private practice. She graduated from Dartmouth College and Boston College Law School.
7. Andrew Leong (1989-1994)
Andrew Leong is an Associate Professor at the University of Massachusetts/Boston in the Philosophy Department where he teaches legal studies, Latino and Asian American Studies. He focuses on law, social justice, and equality issues pertaining to disenfranchised communities. His substantive areas of practice and teaching include anti-Asian violence, hate crimes, immigration reform, Asian American legal history, environmental justice, anti-gentrification strategies, and community lawyering.
He was the first Harry H. Dow Fellow, and formerly the supervising attorney of the Asian Outreach Unit at Greater Boston Legal Services, and Director of the Chinatown Clinical Program at Boston College Law School. He has been active in community and civil rights work, having served on the Board of Trustee of numerous Asian American and civil rights related organizations including the Asian American Resource Workshop, Asian Community Development Corporation, President of the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center, 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, the Steering Committee of the Lawyers' Committee For Civil Rights Under Law, NAACP Civil Rights Committee, NAPABA Civil Rights Committee, and the John Jay College Center on Race, Crime and Justice.
Professor Leong served as the President of the Harry H. Dow Memorial Legal Assistance Fund and trustee for 29 years. He is a graduate of graduate of Drake University (1982-BA) Boston College Law School (1985-JD).
8. Kenneth Luke (1993-1996)
Ken Luke has been an assistant bar counsel for the Massachusetts Office of Bar Counsel since 2000. He has worked as a civil litigator for many years and previously worked as an assistant attorney general, as in-house 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 has enjoyed meeting and mentoring younger Asian lawyers over the years and hopes to continue doing so in the future. Ken 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. G. Perry Wu (2000-2002)
G. Perry Wu is a litigation attorney working with the Intellectual Property and Technology practice group at the Boston office of DLA Piper LLP (US). He represents major retailers, consumer goods manufacturers, and technology companies in patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret, and other commercial litigation matters around the country. Before that, Perry practiced for more than 15 years as a senior in-house legal counsel at Framingham-based Staples, Inc., where he managed and co-managed the company's complex commercial litigation docket. In parallel with his litigation management responsibilities, he also served as the primary legal point of contact for the company's corporate risk management and internal audit departments. Earlier in his career, he was with the law firms of Hale and Dorr LLP (now Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP) and Day, Berry & Howard (now Day Pitney LLP) and served as a Special Assistant District Attorney in Middlesex County.
Perry was a member of the AALAM Board from 1996 to 2010. He served as Secretary (1996-2000), President (2000-2002), AALAM's liaison to the Massachusetts Bar Association House of Delegates (2003-2008), and Co-Chair (with Geoff Why) of the Endorsements Committee (2003-2010). He also served, from 2006 to 2015, on the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA)'s Awards Committee and then its Affiliate of the Year Award Committee.
In March 2024, Perry was elected as President of the Massachusetts Bar Foundation. In addition to his ongoing tenure with the MBF's Executive Committee and Board of Trustees, he currently serves on the Board of Directors of MASSCreative, the Board of Governors of the Concord Museum, and the Board of Ambassadors of the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center. He is also a former officer and board member of Mass Humanities -- the state humanities council for Massachusetts -- and the Staples Foundation for Learning. Perry is a graduate of Harvard College and Columbia Law School.
11. Theodore Chuang (2002-2003 partial term)
Theodore D. Chuang serves as a United States District Judge for the District of Maryland and sits at the United States Courthouse in Greenbelt, Maryland. Judge Chuang was nominated by President Obama on September 25, 2013 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 on the Board of Governors of the District of Columbia Bar and is a member of the American Law Institute. He has also 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; as President of the Asian American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts, from which he received the 2018 Founders Award; and as President-Elect of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of the Greater Washington, D.C. Area, from which he received the 2019 Pioneer Award.
Judge Chuang graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1994, where he was an Editor of the Harvard Law Review and a Finalist in the Ames Moot Court Competition, and received his B.A. summa cum laude in Economics from Harvard University in 1991. He was born in Media, Pennsylvania and grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts.
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 was nominated by President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. on July 29, 2022, confirmed by the United States Senate on July 12, 2023, and received his commission on July 14, 2023. He is the first Korean American to serve on any court within the First Circuit.
Prior to his current appointment, Judge Joun was an Associate Justice of the Boston Municipal Court for nine years, having been appointed to that court by Governor Deval Patrick in 2014. Before the bench, Judge Joun was in private practice focusing on criminal defense and civil rights litigation in state and federal courts.
As an active AALAM member, he was the Chair of the newly formed Advocacy Committee (2000-2002) and the Community Service Committee (2000-2002), Vice President (2002-2003) and President (2003-2005).
Judge Joun 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 as Board Chair of the Fred T. Korematsu Institute in San Francisco, CA, is 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, is on the Board of Directors of the Asian Community Development Corporation (ACDC) in Boston, MA, where he serves on the Programs Committee, Development Committee, Investment Committee, and is Chair of the Nominations Committee, and is an Advisory Committee member for the Asian Community Fund at The Boston Foundation. Jeffrey also regularly participates as a volunteer in the Election Protection Projects of the Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote (APIAVote), Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, and the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF).
Jeffrey is former 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 served on the Rutgers Law School Deans’ Advisory Council, and he previously served as a member of the Rutgers Law School Minority Student Program (MSP) 50th Anniversary Alumni Committee, 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 also served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s “Light the Night – Boston”. 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 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 (UMass Chan) 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 Joseph P. Warner of the 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, collaborative intelligence and inspirational leadership. In 2022, she was appointed Vice Chair, DEI Strategic Integration of the Cultural Diversity Committee of ForHealth Consulting (f/k/a Commonwealth Medicine) at UMass Chan.
A native of Hawaii, Ingrid is a past president (2006-08) of the Asian American Lawyers of Massachusetts (AALAM) and served on its Board 2000-12. 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 was first elected to the Boston College Law School Alumni Board in 2009 and served 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 the non-profit, Asian Women For Health, and was appointed its Co-Chair in 2023.
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 a Massachusetts 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), where she served as Uniform Commercial Code Digest-Journal Revisions Editor and was a member of The Wandr’ng Mistrials acapella group.
15. Charlotte J. Kim (2008-2010)
Charlotte Kim is a partner in the Boston 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, project finance and development, and technology sectors. Charlotte has structured, negotiated, and closed more than 200 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 a Deputy Treasurer and the General Counsel for the Office of the Massachusetts Treasurer and Receiver General. In as a Deputy Treasurer, she has general oversight of the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission. As General Counsel, Sarah provides strategic and legal counsel to the Treasurer and senior staff as they implement the Treasurer’s policy priorities and the agency’s mission. She also manages the team of attorneys and paralegals supporting the departments and boards within the Treasury. During her tenure with the Treasury, the Treasurer appointed her to be - on an interim basis – the Chair of the Cannabis Control Commission.
Prior to joining the Treasury, Sarah served as the Assistant Attorney General in the Fraud & Financial Crimes Division at the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office. In the role, Sarah investigated and prosecuted alleged theft of money and services from businesses and individual. Before entering public service, Sarah worked for ten years at Bingham McCutchen LLP (now Morgan Lewis & Bockius, LLP), where she focused her practice on securities enforcement, securities litigation, and broker‐dealer defense.
Sarah is a member of the Board of Directors of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston and the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center. She is part of the Advisory Council of the Asian Community Fund at the Boston Foundation. And, she is co-chair of the Women of Color Attorney Forum at the Boston Bar Association. Previously, she was a member of the Board of Directors of the Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence, including its Chair. She is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Villanova University School of Law.
Sarah first joined the AALAM Board in about 2005. She was a co-chair of the Banquet Committee. Sarah was President of AALAM from 2010 to 2012 and a co-President in 2012 to 2013. Sarah rejoined the Board from 2021 to 2023.
17. Peggy Ho (2012-2015)
Peggy is the General Counsel and Chief Risk Officer at Commonwealth Financial Network. She oversees the legal, anti-money laundering, fraud and senior investor protection, and risk management functions for the firm, bringing leadership, strategic acumen, and a deep understanding of the business to drive positive outcomes. Prior to joining Commonwealth in 2021, Peggy spent 14 years with LPL Financial, most recently as Chief of Staff for Compliance, Legal & Risk and Head of Government Relations. She began her career in private law practice at Ropes & Gray LLP.
Peggy currently serves as on the FINRA Board of Governors and is a director on the FINRA Investor Education Foundation. She was recently appointed by Governor Maura Healey to serve as Commissioner on the Judicial Nominating Commission for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Peggy earned her A.B. from Harvard University and holds a Masters of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and a Juris Doctor from the Georgetown University Law Center.
Peggy served on the AALAM board from 2007 to 2023, including as Secretary (2009-2012), Co-President (2012-2013) and President (2013-2015). She also 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 a Partner at Verrill Dana LLP, where he maintains a sophisticated and diverse transactional practice. 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 trustee of the Harry H. Dow Memorial Legal Assistance Fund. Eugene was a member of the AALAM Board from 2010-2022. 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 Senior Trial Counsel in the MA Attorney General's Office's Public Protection and Advocacy Bureau. Prior to this role, she served as Deputy Chief of the False Claims Division and as an Assistant Attorney General in the Medicaid Fraud and Trial Divisions. 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, serving as AALAM Vice President from 2015 to 2017, and AALAM President 2017-2019. Christina has also served on the Board of Directors for the Asian American Civic Association and as Vice Chair of the Massachusetts Bar Association's Civil Rights and Social Justice Section Council. 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 research attorney with the Massachusetts Superior Court. From 2016 to 2022, she worked as 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 was a Board member of AALAM from 2014 to 2023 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. Before 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 was named a 2020 In-House Leader in the Law by the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly and 2022 Emerging Leader by the Women's Bar Association. Emily currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Greater Boston Legal Services and Discovering Justice and previously served on the Board of Directors for the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center. Emily joined the AALAM board in 2015 and served as the Chair of the In-House Counsel Committee before serving as AALAM President from 2021 to 2023.
* Founder
[Current through May 2024]