“Working at the U.S. Attorney’s Office” was a brown bag lunch, held on December 11, 2014 at the attorney’s lounge of the U.S. District Court, 450 Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94102.  API federal prosecutors from the civil, criminal and appellate divisions participated as panelists.  They discussed the job application process, respective work experiences, and the value of public service.  The event was co-sponsored by NAPIPA and the Public Service Committee of the Asian American Bar Association for the Greater Bay Area.  Thanks to NAPIPA Board Member and AUSA Rodney Villazor for helping to make it happen.

On Monday Oct 27, 2014 NAPIPA, along with SCC La Raza Lawyers,  SCC Black Lawyers and the SCC Bar Association's Diversity Committee, co-sponsored a panel event about the judicial appointments process in California that featured Josh Groban, California Governor Jerry Brown's Senior Judicial Appointments Advisor.  The diverse panel also included SCC Presiding Judge Brian Walsh, SCC Judge Sunil Kulkarni, Los Angeles Judge Marguerite Downing, Jody Nunez from the Judicial Nomination Evaluation Committee, Johnny Gogo from the SCCBA Judiciary  Co-Chair and La Raza's Chris Arriola as master of ceremonies.  The panel discussed a wide variety of topics ranging from the type of candidate the governor is looking for to navigating the application process to diversity on the bench.  The meeting room at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose was filled to capacity as over 100 lawyers, and many NAPIPA members, gathered for this unique event.

On Saturday, April 19, 2014, NAPIPA celebrated its 1st Annual Scholarship Banquet.  A sold out crowd of 250 people filled the Crowne Plaza in Foster City to witness this historic event.  

The event began with a cocktail hour where prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, politicians, law students, etc were able to mingle and meet one another.  

Then the doors to the main room opened and people made their ways to their seats.  The twenty five tables quickly filled up.  NBC's own Stephanie Chuang was the MC.  She announced San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee, who made the opening remarks.  NAPIPA National President Charles Huang followed the mayor and he explained the necessity for an organization like NAPIPA.  He then awarded three Honorary Memberships to three API leaders who helped guide our organization.  C.C. Yin, Dale Minami, and Fred Lau spoke to the audience about the importance of APIs as prosecutors and how our organization helps the community in general.  

DDA Johnny Gogo introduced United States Congressman Mike Honda, who presented the four C.C. Yin for Justice Scholarships to  Sandy Yu, Daniel Borca, Jennifer Valverde, and Mark Koo.  

NAPIPA Nor Cal Secretary Nancy Tung introduced the NAPIPA Prosecutor of the Year Award to San Francisco Assistant District Attorney Sharon Woo.

NAPIPA Nor Cal Vice President Paul Jhin introduced the keynote speaker, California Supreme Court Justice Goodwin Liu, who gave a hilarious and inspiring speech about how he got to where he is today.

San Mateo District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe (who along with elected District Attorneys George Gascon, Mark Peterson, and Jeff Rosen graced us with their presence) made the closing remarks.

The event was a rousing success.  We would like to thank everyone for attending and supporting NAPIPA!

Special thanks to our distinguished guests:

United States Congressman Mike Honda

California Supreme Court Justice Goodwin Liu

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee

Contra Costa District Attorney Mark Peterson

San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon

San Mateo District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe

Santa Clara District Attorney Jeff Rosen

Santa Clara County Alternate Defender David Epps

TSA Security Director at SFO Fred Lau

Presiding Judge of the Criminal Division of the San Francisco Superior Court Bruce Chan.

San Francisco Superior Court Judge Garrett Wong

San Mateo Superior Court Judge Barbara Mallach

San Mateo Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Lee

San Mateo Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Hill

Santa Clara Superior Court Judge Kurt Kumli

Santa Clara Superior Court Judge Deborah Ryan

Santa Clara Superior Court Judge Hector Ramon

Santa Clara Superior Court Judge James Towery

Santa Clara Superior Court Judge Philip Pennypacker

San Jose City Council Member Ash Kalra

Mountain View City Council Member Margaret Abe-Koga

Hayward City Council Member Greg Jones

Former Mayor of Millbrae Gina Papan

Chief Assistant San Francisco District Attorney’s Office Sharon Woo

Chief Assistant Santa Clara District Attorney’s Office Jay Boyarsky

Supervising Attorney of the San Jose US Attoney’s Office Jeff Nedrow

Southwest Regional Director of the National Black Prosecutors Association Otis Bruce

President of the Bay Area Black Prosecutors Terry Wiley

President of the San Francisco Asian Peace Officers Association Barrett Chan