New Officers and Board Members
We began the 2025-26 bar year on July 1 by welcoming our new officers and board members and then by electing our honorary board members!
Officers:
- President: Stephen Lee (Law Office of Stephen Chahn Lee, LLC)
- First Vice President: Tae Kim (Chuhak & Tecson P.C.)
- Second Vice President: Belle Katubig (Cook County State's Attorney's Office)
- Secretary: Thor Inouye (Illinois Attorney General's Office)
- Treasurer: Gabriella Pan (Paul Hastings LLP)
- Immediate Past President: Huy Nguyen (Office of State Rep. Hoan Huynh)
Board of Directors:
Honorary Board:
We met on July 11 for a retreat to plan the coming year. We have lots of great ideas but would love to hear from you! Please reach out to chicago.aaba@gmail.com or book a Zoom with Stephen Lee at calendly.com/stephenchahnlee
Planning for the NAPABA 2025 Convention
As you probably know, AABA is an affiliate of the National Asian Pacific Bar Association, and one of the big events on our calendar each year is the NAPABA Convention, which will be in Denver this November. Here is some information to help you plan.
The convention begins on November 6 and ends with a gala on November 8 (the photo above is from the 2024 gala). This is a great opportunity to meet other Asian American attorneys and to hear some great panels (including one based on AABA’s Wen Ho Lee event earlier this year).
Before you register, please consider checking your status as a member of AABA member and as a member of NAPABA – members of AABA Chicago are eligible for complimentary membership in the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) and thus save on the registration fee for the convention, but both memberships need to be set up separately.
- To check your NAPABA status, check https://www.napaba.org/page/Membership. Please make sure that your NAPABA profile is updated set up so that your “Primary NAPABA Affiliated Bar Association” is the Asian American Bar Association of Greater Chicago. If you need help, email membership@napaba.org.
- If you have not already set up a NAPABA account, email chicago.aaba@gmail.com for a link to set up your NAPABA account.
NAPABA is offering scholarships to help members cover some costs associated with attending the convention. There is a general scholarship as well as one specifically for law students. In the past, scholarship awards have typically ranged from a minimum of $300 to a maximum of $700 and are based on individual circumstances. Scholarships are offered in the form of reimbursements for eligible expenses such as Convention registration, roundtrip travel, ground transportation, and lodging. If you’re interested, the deadlines are August 5 for the general scholarship and September 16 for the law student scholarship. More information is at https://web.cvent.com/event/c3849ced-0c03-437a-94a5-a37c1f5a1354/websitePage:bc6beb64-efc4-43cc-9161-459c9898a463?rt=e6nZNVYT4k-fg2hQGVgDyQ
If you’d like to coordinate with other AABA Chicago members while in Denver, please fill out the form at https://forms.gle/Q6xqDJqVPrJKwkfD8 – we’ll use this to help plan activities and a group photo that we’ll plan to take on Friday November 7 before the lunch session. Please also fill this out if you are applying for a NAPABA scholarship, as we’re looking into ways to help our members attend.
Upcoming AABA Events
Here are some upcoming events:
- Monthly happy hour on July 31. We will be having monthly happy hours where you can meet other AABA members and talk to current officers and board members. The July 31 happy hour will be at the Flamingo bar at the Sterling Food Hall, 125 S. Clark Street, from 5 pm to 7 pm. Register at https://aabaogc.wildapricot.org/event-6267175
- Race Judicata on August 14. AABA will be hosting a tent at this annual event sponsored by Chicago Volunteer Legal Services. Please plan to stop by our tent, even if you register with another team. More information at https://aabaogc.wildapricot.org/event-6267177
Check our events page at https://aabaogc.wildapricot.org/Events for additional upcoming events.
We also have a WhatsApp group which you can join if you'd like. Please email chicago.aaba@gmail.com for the link.
