On Friday, September 17, 2021, the San Diego Chapter held our 2nd Annual Conference at the beautiful Sheraton Hotel and Marina. Members from across the country and representing all 7 chapters attended MCLE trainings put on by some of our best and brightest.

The conference kicked off with a Fireside Chat with the Honorable Judge Dana Sabraw, moderated by AUSA Connie Wu. Judge Sabraw serves on the US District Court, Southern District of California, and has been a staunch supporter of our organization. Thank you, Judge Sabraw!

We then heard from Ramsey County Attorney John Choi and Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Hao Nguyen who flew out from our newest chapter in Minnesota to discuss "Social Justice Reform & How It Affects Prosecution." Ramsey County Attorney Choi is one of only a handful of elected API prosecutors in the United States. Thank you, Ramsey County Attorney Choi for your time and support!

In the afternoon, attendees were able to choose between two different panels at 1 pm and at 2:15 pm.

At 1 pm, the two panels were "Handling High Profile Cases & Ethics" and "Juvenile Justice Reform & Best Practice Models."

At the "High Profile Cases" panel, we were honored to  here from NAPIPA members who have handled some of the most high profile prosecutions in the country, including the Golden State Killer case (Thien Ho, Sacramento) and the Brock Turner Stanford Rape case (Alaleh Kianerci, Santa Clara).

At the "Juvenile Justice Reform" panel, we heard from NAPIPA members who are experts in juvenile delinquency law and how various jurisdictions are handling the massive changes in juvenile justice law.

At 2:15 pm, the two panels were "Combating Hate: Updates, Community Engagement & Collaborative Efforts" and "Pipeline to Managment & Leadership Development."

At the "Combating Hate" panel, NAPIPA members who are experts in hate crime prosecution discussed the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes and incidents, and how to best prosecute those cases.

At the "Pipeline to Management" panel, NAPIPA members discussed how API prosecutors, who are statistically underrepresnted in leadership positions in their offices, can work to advance within their offices.

Finally, everyone got back together at the "Pathways to the Bench" panel. This panel starred four judges who got to the bench in different ways, were all former prosecutors, and were all former NAPIPA members. The Honorable Judge Johnny Gogo (former NAPIPA Nor Cal President), the Honorable Judge Esther Kim (former NAPIPA So Cal President), the Honorable Judge Tony Cho (former NAPIPA So Cal Board Member), and the Honorable Judge Alana Robinson (former NAPIPA SD Chapter member) discussed how they decided to leave prosecution offices for the bench and what they had to do in order to get there.

 After the wonderful conference, everyone hung out on the balcony overlooking the San Diego Bay, had a beer, and connected with other members from across the country.

On Saturday, September 18, 2021, the San Diego Chapter, with help from members from all seven chapters, put on a stunning 7th Annual Scholarship Banquet.

The theme of the evening was "Stronger Together to Protect, Serve, and Achieve Equity & Justice."

Our amazing emcee was Marie Coronel from ABC10 News. National President Paul Jhin gave an entertaining President's Message.

San Diego District Attorney Summer Stephan delivered inspirational Special Remarks. Thank you, District Attorney Stephan for your time and support.

The Honorable Judge Patrick Bumatay of the United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, gave a rousing keynote speech about the importance of voicing dissenting opinions. When Judge Bumatay was an AUSA he was a member of NAPIPA. Thank you, Judge Bumatay!

We then honored Judge Johnny Gogo with the NAPIPA Trailblazer Award for all the work he did for NAPIPA as our Nor Cal President. Congrats Judge Gogo!

We gave Sergeant Doug Tran the Law Enforcement of the Year Award for his tremendous work especially with the Vietnamese community in San Jose.

We proudly awarded Deputy District Attorney Leonard Trinh with the Prosecutor of the Year Award for his awesome work, including prosecution of the Poway synagogue shooter John Earnest.

And of course we gave scholarships to five deserving law students who we hope will continue their stellar work and join the prosecution ranks in the future.

NAPIPA & Sherri Hobson Scholarsips for Justice 

- Amy Dao

- Ryba Ghullar

- Carolyn Park

- Joshua Yoo

NAPIPA & Aris Elijah Pugal Foundation Scholarship for Justice Award

- Weston Caindec

Congratulations to our scholarship recipients and special thank you to Sherri Hobson and the Aris Elijah Pugal Foundation for your generous donations!

We wrapped up the evening with National Vice-President Fanny Yu giving a touching tribute to Peter Quon and the formation of our Peter Quon Student Sponsorship Fund. Peter was a true trailblazer and a great man - he will be missed.

Thank you all for supporting us! We look forward to seeing everyone in 2022 in Los Angeles!