PRESIDENT

Travis Kaya is a senior attorney in the Public Law Department at Richards, Watson & Gershon, representing local governments and public agencies on a wide variety of transactional matters. His work includes counseling clients on real estate transactions, land use and zoning, planning law, CEQA compliance, the Brown Act, and a range of other issues commonly facing public agencies.

Prior to joining RWG, Travis served as a commercial real estate associate with Venable LLP in Los Angeles where he represented real estate investment funds in purchase and sale transactions across the United States. As a real estate associate with Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, Travis also represented national banks and institutional lenders in complex affordable housing financing transactions.

He received his B.A. in philosophy, politics and economics from Pomona College, Master of International Studies from the University of Sydney, and J.D. from Loyola Law School. During law school, Travis served as president of the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, judicial extern to Judge Fernando M. Olguin and Judge Suzanne H. Segal (Ret.), both of the United States District Court, Central District of California, and a Senior Editor for the Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review. Travis is a founding member of the Loyola Law School Asian Pacific Alumni Chapter and serves as Fundraising Chair of the Japanese American Bar Association Educational Foundation and Trustee of the Monterey Park Bruggemeyer Library.

PRESIDENT-ELECT

Grace Pak is the Policy Associate Counsel for the Democratic Attorneys General Association. Previously, she practiced employment law, focusing on wage and hour class action, PAGA representative suits, and wrongful termination/whistleblower cases. Grace received her J.D. from Southwestern Law School, and her B.A. in English Literature from UCLA. In law school, Grace was a certified law clerk for the Public Defender's Office of Riverside County, and a law clerk for the Honorable Fred J. Fujioka of the Los Angeles Superior Court, Sylmar Juvenile Courthouse and the Honorable Timothy R. Saito of the Los Angeles Superior Court, Edelman Children’s Court. Before commencing law school, Grace worked as an educator.

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT

Michael Tang is currently serving as the Executive Vice President for APABA and is an Associate at McDermott Will & Schulte, where he advises ultra high net worth individuals, closely-held businesses, and family offices on all aspects of income, gift, charitable and estate tax planning.  He helps families and family offices optimize the investment and deployment of family capital in both public and private markets across a variety of asset classes.  He regularly creates and implements tax-efficient structures to provide for the transition of generational wealth and business succession. 

Michael holds a Tax LL.M. from the New York University School of Law, a J.D. from Chapman University, and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Southern California.  In addition to Michael’s service on APABA’s Board, Michael also serves on the Board of Directors for the USA Table Tennis Foundation.

TREASURER

Tin Le is an Associate at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He received his B.A. in Economics and Political Science from UC San Diego and his J.D. from Loyola Law School. During law school, Tin served as the President of Loyola's Asian Pacific American Law Students Association and a Production Editor for the Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review.  Previously, Tin was a Law Student Representative for APABA from 2020-2021.

SECRETARY

Katelyn Taira is an associate attorney at Winston & Strawn LLP. Her practice focuses on securities litigation, government and internal investigations, and corporate governance matters. She received her J.D. from the UCLA School of Law, her master’s degree in English from the University of Oxford, and her B.A. in English Literature and Psychological & Brain Sciences from Washington University in St. Louis. During law school, Katelyn served as Managing Editor of the UCLA Law Review and as Student Representative to APABA from 2022 to 2024.

BOARD OF GOVERNORS

Ali Abouesh is an Associate in the Los Angeles office of O’Hagan Meyer and a member of its Labor & Employment Practice. His practice specializes in Wage & Hour Class Actions and representative lawsuits pursuant to the California Private Attorneys General Act ("PAGA"). He also defends employers against claims brought by individual employees involving alleged harassment, discrimination, wrongful termination, and wage claims. Mr. Abouesh received his law degree from LMU Loyola Law School, where he was a volunteer for the Young Lawyer’s Program and served on the board of the Day Student Bar Association. During law school, he gained experience clerking for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

Amy Chau is an associate in Quinn Emanuel’s Los Angeles office. Her practice focuses on complex commercial litigation. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Chau served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Myrna Pérez on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and as an inaugural law clerk to the Honorable Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Ms. Chau previously worked as an associate at one of the nation’s top law firms, where she represented clients in all aspects of employment law in both single-plaintiff and class action matters and maintained an active pro bono practice. Ms. Chau earned her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center. During law school, Ms. Chau served as a judicial extern for the Honorable Gonzalo P. Curiel in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. She also served as Managing Editor of The Georgetown Law Journal, President of the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, and a student attorney in the Center for Applied Legal Studies asylum clinic. She received her B.S. from the University of Southern California. An active member of her community, Ms. Chau currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the USC Asian Pacific Alumni Association and and is looking forward to re-joining board of governors for APABA.

Anthony Lai, CFLS, is an associate attorney at Feinberg Mindel Brandt & Klein LLP. He brings nearly a decade of substantial litigation experience to assist clients in their of dissolution of marriage, paternity, child custody and visitation, spousal and child support matters, prenuptial and postnuptial agreements, and domestic violence restraining orders. The State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization named Anthony Lai as a Certified Family Law Specialist, which requires completion of an extensive application, references from colleagues, judges, and opposing counsel, and passing a rigorous written exam administered only every two years. A Certified Specialist must have served as principal counsel in at least ten contested evidentiary hearings or trials. Anthony was selected as a Superlawyers Rising Star from 2021-2023, a distinction given to the top 2.5% of attorneys, as well as one of Pasadena Top Attorneys for 2022-2023 by Pasadena Magazine. Anthony is an active leader in the legal community, and is honored to serve on several bar association. Anthony serves as the secretary of the California Lawyers Association, Board of Representatives, is a Board Member on the Los Angeles County Bar Association Family Law Section Executive Committee. He is a Member of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Los Angeles Board of Directors and the Loyola Law School Alumni Association – Asian Pacific American Chapter. As a strong advocate for the unique needs and interests of new attorneys across the state of California, Anthony has previously served as Chair of the New Lawyers Section of CLA and is a member of the LACBA Barrister’s Young Lawyers Section Executive Committee. Anthony volunteers at the St. Francis Center to serve breakfast to the homeless and offers legal advice to the immigrant and underserved APA community at the APABA and SCCLA Pro Bono Legal Clinics. In his spare time, Anthony enjoys taking his family to Disneyland, is an avid follower of Tiki culture and is  an unapologetic fan of the Dodgers and the Chargers.

Bonnie Fong is an attorney and the Program Director of the Asian Language Legal Intake Project (ALLIP) and Labor Rights and Employment Attorney at Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California (AJSOCAL). She leads a multilingual team that ensures limited-English-proficient and low-income communities have meaningful access to legal services across Los Angeles and Orange County. Her work focuses on employment rights, wage theft, human trafficking, and individual civil rights matters, as well as strengthening language access infrastructure within direct services programs.

Prior to joining AJSOCAL, Bonnie spent over a decade in private practice litigating employment and wage-and-hour cases, including complex class actions, and has achieved favorable resolutions in the vast majority of her cases through strategic negotiation and mediation. She has represented clients before state and federal agencies, including the EEOC and the California Civil Rights Department.

Bonnie is admitted to practice in California and Washington. She earned her J.D. from the University of West Los Angeles School of Law and is a Certified Mediator through UCLA Extension. She currently serves on the Board of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association, Thai American Bar Association, and remains active in community-based advocacy and legal leadership initiatives.

Derek Song is a second-year law student at UCLA School of Law and serves as a student representative for APABA. He holds the position of Co-Chair for the Let's Go Liberation! Clinic through UCLA's El Centro Legal and will be the incoming Treasurer for UCLA's APILSA. Additionally, Derek is a Staff Editor for the UCLA Entertainment Law Review. This summer, he will join Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AJSOCAL) as a State Bar Fellow.

Emily Duong is an associate attorney at Freeman Mathis & Gary, LLP. Emily previously served as a student representative for APABA. She is also a senior production editor for the Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review. Previously, Emily worked as a judicial extern for the Honorable Martin R. Barash in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California.

Eric Lim is Corporate Counsel at American Healthcare REIT, Inc., a healthcare-focused real estate investment trust based in Irvine, where he practices general corporate law and securities law. He previously worked as a Mergers & Acquisitions associate at Latham & Watkins LLP and Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP in Los Angeles. Eric received his J.D. degree from Harvard Law School and B.A. degree in History from Rice University. 

Jasmine Song is an associate attorney at Consumer Law Experts, where she represents plaintiffs in lemon law litigation. Before transitioning to litigation, she worked as an immigration attorney, helping thousands of foreign nationals obtain employment visas and permanent residency (commonly known as a “green card”). Jasmine earned her J.D. from Southwestern Law School and holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Davis, where she participated in the UC Washington, D.C. program (UCDC).

Jeffrey S. Kwong (鄺世傑) is a partner at Levene, Neale, Bender, Yoo  Golubchik L.L.P represents Chapter 11 debtors, unsecured creditor committees, secured and unsecured creditors, and parties in bankruptcy litigation and appeals from a variety of industries, including hotels and hospitality, lending and banking, commercial real estate, restaurants, retail, and healthcare. Mr. Kwong’s prior Chapter 11 debtor engagements include Cornerstone Apparel, Inc., Anna’s Linens, Tala Jewelers, Inc., and Green Fleet Systems, LLC. Further, he has represented commercial landlords in some of the largest retail bankruptcy cases filed across the country in recent years.

Liana Attwell is the President-Elect of the Asian Pacific American Women Lawyers Alliance and serves as its representative on the APABA Board. She is the Assistant Director of Career Development at LMU Loyola Law School, where she advises and supports students in achieving their professional goals. Previously, Liana practiced as an associate attorney at Turner Henningsen Wolf & VanDenburg LLP defending automotive manufacturers. She graduated from California State University, Los Angeles with a B.S. in Public Health and received her J.D. from LMU Loyola Law School. During her time at Loyola, she served as Vice-President of the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, and interned as a certified law clerk with the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office. Liana also served as Student Representative to APABA for 2020-2021, demonstrating her longstanding commitment to leadership and advocacy within the Asian Pacific American legal community.

Marize Alphonso is president of the South Asian Bar Association of Southern California and serves as its representative on the APABA board. She works as in-house counsel for Apple TV and previously worked at boutique entertainment law firms.  Marize graduated from UC Berkeley with a double major in Rhetoric and English, and from UCLA School of Law with a specialization in Entertainment, Media and Intellectual Property.  She’s currently on the boards/organizing committees for Goans of America (SoCal), Professional Entertainment Female Attorneys, Cal Alumni Association (SGV), and the APA Holiday Toy Drive.  For fun, Marize crochets, fosters kittens, plays board games, decorates cakes, does pub trivia with friends, and is in way too many book clubs.

Matthew Lin is an associate at Polsinelli, where his practice focuses on corporate transactions in the health care industry. Before joining Polsinelli, Matt worked as a white collar investigations and litigation associate at Sheppard Mullin. Matt is a graduate of California State University, Los Angeles and Harvard Law School. 

Ming Chuang is Associate General Counsel at Astrana Health. Previously, he was a member of McDermott's Healthcare practice group focusing on regulatory and transactional matters affecting a variety of health care industry clients, including health systems, healthcare districts, hospitals, physician groups, ambulatory surgery centers, Federally Qualified Health Centers, health plans, and digital health companies. Ming received his undergraduate degree from UCLA and his law degree at the University of San Diego School of Law.

Na Hyun Seo is an associate attorney at Berman Berman Berman Schneider & Lowary, LLP. Her area of practice includes premises liability, automotive negligence, and personal injury. She obtained her law degree at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, where she received the Bernice and Arthur Ullman Endowed Award. During law school, she worked as a clinical student for the Youth Justice Education Clinic and was a research assistant for Professor Karl M. Manheim. She also worked as a summer law clerk at the Law Offices of Robert J. Nachshin, P.C, a family law firm. In law school, Na served as the APABA law student representative from 2018-2019, APALSA board member from 2017-2019, and Treasurer for the International Student Association. Na holds a Bachler of Arts Degree from the University of California, Los Angeles. At UCLA, she received the Chancellor’s Service Award for her services at Project WILD (Working for Immigrant Literacy Development), UCLA Student Legal Services and JusticeCorps. After college, she taught English in Arnedo, Spain, through the North American Language and Culture Assistants Program.

Noelle Frances Adinolf is a 3L at LMU Loyola Law School and a student representative for APABA. She also serves as the President of LLS' APALSA. Previously, Noelle worked as a summer associate at Ireland Stapleton Pryor & Pascoe, PC in Denver and will return to the firm following graduation.

Rebekah Hoelscher is corporate counsel at Hyundai Motor America. Prior to joining Hyundai, Rebekah was an associate at a boutique law firm in LA focusing on real estate transactions.  She graduated with her B.A. from UC Irvine, where she double-majored in Criminology and Chinese Studies. She went on to receive her J.D. from Loyola Law School.  Rebekah currently lives in Orange County with her husband and son.

Ruth Kwon is an attorney at Dentons US LLP where she focuses her practice on representing businesses in various stages of civil litigation in California state and federal courts. Ruth works on consumer class action cases, focusing on cases asserting statutory damages on a classwide basis. Ruth handles commercial matters, including disputes involving misappropriation of trade secrets, unfair business practice, breach of contract, fraud,  false advertising, and real estate disputes. Prior to attending law school, Ruth worked as a college educator, teaching Asian American Studies, English, and Humanities. She also owned and operated a retail tile store and worked with contractors, builders, and large institutions such as the City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles World Airports.

Samantha Chiang is a member of the Davis Wright Tremaine LLP’s commercial litigation group. During law school, Samantha served as a Loyola Anti-Racism Center Research Fellow, where she conducted research regarding the racial triangulation of Asian Americans in the modern legal landscape. She also helped survivors of domestic violence obtain restraining orders through the Los Angeles County Bar Association's Domestic Violence Program. While earning her bachelor's degree, Samantha founded the UC Davis Mental Health Initiative, raising over $50,000 in funding and hosting California's largest student mental health conference.

Sharlynne M. Mate is an associate in the Los Angeles, California, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. Her practice focuses on representing employers in workplace law matters, including preventive advice and counseling.

Rong (Summer) Xia is Corporate Counsel for Zo Motors North America, where she advised on corporate, transactional, and regulatory matters for an electric vehicle manufacturing company. Prior to her in-house role, she practiced family and immigration at the Law and Mediation Offices of Elizabeth Yang and earlier focused on immigration law at the Law Offices of Vivian Szawarc.

Originally from China, Summer earned her Bachelor of Law degree from the Southwest University of Political Sciences and Law and a Master of Law degree from Wuhan University. Before pursuing her legal career in the United States, she served for more than a decade as a government officer with China’s Customs agency of China. She later obtained an LL.M from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law and a JD from University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of law.

During law school, she served as a judicial extern to Chief Judge Dolly M. Gee of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and to Judge Mary Thornton House of the Superior Court of Los Angeles, Pasadena Courthouse.

Summer has been actively involved with Asian Pacific American Bar Association (APABA) since her law school and regularly volunteers at monthly pro bono legal clinics organized by APABA and Southern California Chinese Lawyer Association (SCCLA). In recognition of her service, Summer was named APABA Volunteer of the Year in 2020. She also volunteers with nonprofit organizations including Asian Pacific Advance Justice, the Public Counsel Law Center, and the Harriett Buhai Center for Family Law.

Toan Chung is Co-Chair of the Business Restructuring & Reorganization group at Roquemore, Pringle & Moore. A certified bankruptcy law specialist by the California State Bar’s Board of Legal Specialization, Toan represents Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 trustees, municipalities, creditors’ committees and shareholders in all phases of bankruptcy litigation. He has litigated numerous adversary proceedings, contested matters and appeals in Bankruptcy Courts, District Courts, the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The son of Vietnamese war refugees, Toan values giving back to the community and serves as pro bono counsel on bankruptcy matters for Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Los Angeles, Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, Neighborhood Legal Services, Public Counsel, ACLU of Southern California and Bet Tzedek.  He is a regular volunteer at APABA’s legal clinic in Monterey Park and at SCCLA’s legal clinic in San Gabriel. Toan is the founder of the Lulu’s Water Buffalo Farm Scholarship Foundation, which provides scholarships to high school seniors.

IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT

Jennifer Tsao is the head of Americas Employment Law at ByteDance and TikTok. Previously, Jennifer managed the employment law function at Forever 21, and was a senior associate with the employment and labor law firm Littler Mendelson, P.C. Jennifer has been actively involved with APABA since she was a law student at USC Gould School of Law. During law school, Jennifer served as President of the Asian Pacific American Law Student Association, a legal services intern with the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, and as a judicial extern for the Honorable Ronald S. W. Lew, U.S. District Judge. Jennifer received her undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley.