Board of Governors
Cyndie M. Chang is a senior associate of Duane Morris LLP, where she litigates matters involving business, antitrust/unfair competition, trademark, trade secrets, entertainment and real estate law. In addition, she has handled environmental, asbestos, and other long-term insurance loss claims in complex litigation involving multimillion-dollar disputes. Currently, she serves as treasurer of the Southern California Chinese Lawyers Association as well as the California Central District Alternate Regional Governor of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. Cyndie previously served on the State Bar of California’s Committee on Women in the Law. In law school, she was a judicial extern to the Hon. Stephen Reinhardt of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She previously was a member of the American Bar Association (ABA) Law Student Division board of governors, a liaison to the ABA Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession and an officer of the Loyola Student Bar Association. Cyndie is a graduate of Loyola Law School, where she was a published note and comment editor for the Entertainment Law Review, the student editor of the ABA Student Lawyer and a member of the National Moot Court Team and Scott Moot Court Honors Board. She is a graduate, with honors, of Johns Hopkins University.
Halim Dhanidina graduated from Pomona College in 1994 with a B.A. in International Relations and from the UCLA School of Law in 1997. While in law school, Halim served as co-chair and social chair of the Asian Pacific Islander Law Student Association, managing editor of the Asian Pacific American Law Journal, and law clerk for the Los Angeles County Public Defender and the Federal Public Defender. He is currently a Deputy District Attorney for Los Angeles County, assigned to the Major Crimes Division. As a Deputy District Attorney, he has handled 50 felony trials, 22 of them for murder. Halim was recognized as the Deputy District Attorney of the month for November 2002 and was awarded a certificate of appreciation from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for his work on victims’ rights in 2007. Additionally, Halim has been an adjunct professor in the paralegal program at West Los Angeles College and frequently volunteers as a guest judge for the trial advocacy programs at Southwestern and Loyola Law Schools. Currently, he is a board member and also the first-ever chair of the Criminal Law Committee for the South Asian Bar Association.
MyLoc Dinh is a third-year student at Southwestern Law School, where she serves on the board of governors of the Trial Advocacy Honors Program. Previously, she externed for Hon. Philip S. Gutierrez of the U.S. District Court, was president of the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, and was vice-president of the Women’s Law and the Native American Law Students Associations. Before law school, MyLoc worked on the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program in Aomori, Japan; the Coro Fellows Program in Public Affairs; at a California state senator’s office; and on a California assembly campaign. She is also active in several community organizations, including the JET Alumni Association of Southern California and the Torrance-Kashiwa Sister Cities Association.
Asha Saund Greenberg is an Assistant City Attorney with the City of Los Angeles. She currently manages the Citywide Nuisance Abatement Program which includes a staff of over 20. The program focuses on abating properties that are plagued with gang, drug and other types of nuisance activity. Asha graduated magna cum laude from Whittier College School of Law as class valedictorian and also served as a research editor on the Law Review. As a member of the Los Angeles City Attorney’s office, Ms. Greenberg has engaged in both civil litigation and criminal prosecution. She has tried several cases to verdict, handled appeals, trained law enforcement and drafted many local and state laws. In addition, she was twice elected to the Santa Monica City Council, where she served from 1992-1998. She is currently the State Bar/Legislative Liaison for the South Asian Bar Association of Southern California and a member of the Anti-Defamation League’s Asian Jewish Initiative. She is a former president of the League of Women Prosecutors and a member of the California District Attorneys Association.
Robin Jung is a 2010 J.D. candidate at Loyola Law School and a proud undergrad alum of UCLA. He currently clerks at the Family Violence Unit of the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office, where he assists in prosecuting perpetrators of domestic abuse. Previously, Robin clerked for the Asian/Pacific Islander Unit of the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, where he assisted low-income monolingual Korean immigrants in various legal areas including family, immigration, consumer, housing and government benefits. Robin is also a California-licensed real estate agent and worked in home mortgages prior to law school.
Princeton H. Kim is a labor and employment attorney with the law firm of Reed Smith. He obtained his law degree from the University of Southern California School of Law in 2001 and received his B.A. in Political Science from UCLA in 1998. Prior to joining Reed Smith, Princeton was an associate in the labor and employment department of the law firm of Winston & Strawn. He has also clerked for the Enforcement Division of the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission. Princeton is the incoming president-elect for the Southern California Korean American Bar Association and has been the organization’s executive vice-president, treasurer and a general board member. He currently serves as co-chair of the Labor and Employment Committee for the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association and as a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s (LACBA) Judicial Profiles Committee. In the past, Princeton has also served as a member of the executive committee for the LACBA Barristers and a member of the young professionals board for the Disability Rights Legal Center.
Stephanie C. Lai is an associate at Marron & Associates, where she handles class actions, employment litigation, and unfair competition law litigation. She graduated from UCLA with a B.S., where her major emphasis was Organismic Biology Evolution and Ecology with a Concentration in Marine Biology and minor in English Literature. She earned her J.D. with a concentration in Intellectual Property at the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law. In law school, Stephanie led the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association for two years, participated in moot court, and studied as a visiting student at Temple University Japan in Tokyo. During law school, she held various clerkships ranging from environmental law at the California Department of Water Resources to international intellectual property at Hiraki & Associates.
Kasie Lee is a Deputy Public Defender at the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office. She is currently in her felony assignment at the Criminal Justice Center in downtown Los Angeles. Prior to becoming a public defender, she served as a staff attorney for the Asian/Pacific Islander Unit of the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles. Kasie graduated from the University of Southern California School of Law in 2003. During law school, she worked for Litt & Associates (now Litt, Estuar, Harrison & Kitson, LLP), a Los Angeles-based law firm focused on civil rights litigation. She also served as a law clerk for the Hon. Robert M. Takasugi of the U.S. District Court, Central District of California. Kasie is a past recipient of scholarships from the Korean American Bar Association, Southern California Chinese Lawyers Association, and Orange County Asian American Bar Association and has also been honored with the Los Angeles County Pro Bono Award. In law school, she served as a student representative to APABA. Currently, she is the Vice-President of the Asian American Public Defenders Association.
Richard Y. Lee is an Assistant United States Attorney in the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. He is currently assigned to the National Security Section and prosecutes federal crimes in the areas of counter-terrorism, counter-espionage, national security, and export controls. From 2001 to 2006, Rich was assigned to the Santa Ana branch office of the U.S. Attorney’s Office where he prosecuted the full range of federal criminal violations including child exploitation, immigration, narcotics, public corruption, identity theft, and organized crime. From 1998 to 2000, Rich was an associate at Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP, specializing in employment matters. Rich is a graduate of the University of Southern California School of Law where he was president of the Asian Pacific American Law Student Association and co-chair of the Southern California Asian Pacific American Law Student Association. While in law school, he received the National Student Service Award presented by the National Asian Pacific American Law Student Association. Rich received his B.A. in Human Biology from Stanford University. In addition to APABA, he currently serves on the board of governors for the Orange County Korean American Bar Association.
Shirley Lee is an associate at Schwartz, Steinsapir, Dohrmann & Sommers LLP, representing private and public sector unions and employees in the areas of collective bargaining, employment discrimination, and state and federal labor and employment laws. Her practice includes advocacy in arbitrations, civil service hearings, and administrative hearings before the National Labor Relations Board and Public Employee Relations Board. Previously, Shirley was a partner at Weinberg, Roger & Rosenfeld, practicing labor and employment law. She received a B.A. (cum laude) in political science from UC Berkeley and is a graduate of UC Hastings School of Law. During law school, Shirley interned for the Asian Law Caucus, Immigrant Legal Resource Center, Consumers Union, Equal Rights Advocates, and Western Center on Law and Poverty. In 2009, she was named as a “Rising Star” by Southern California Super Lawyers.
Cynthia Loo is a judicial officer with the Los Angeles County Superior Court. She is currently assigned to the Eastlake Juvenile Courthouse where she hears juvenile criminal matters. Following her graduation from the University of Southern California School of Law in 1990, Cynthia worked for nearly a decade representing children in child abuse and neglect juvenile dependency matters. Since 2005, she has been a volunteer adjunct professor at the People’s College of Law, where she has taught criminal procedure and “Children in the Legal System.” Cynthia was appointed a Superior Court Referee in 2000 and was named the Los Angeles County Juvenile Court Bar Association’s 2004 Outstanding Judicial Officer. She is a current board member of the Asian Pacific American Women Lawyers Alliance, the American Bar Association Judicial Division’s Standing Committee on Minorities in the Judiciary, and the State Bar of California’s Council on Access & Fairness; she is a former board member of the California Asian American Judges Association and the Women Lawyer’s Association of Los Angeles.
Carmina Ocampo is a 2008 Skadden Fellow at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC). The Skadden Fellowship is awarded to recent law school graduates and provides funding for public interest projects for two years. Through her fellowship, Carmina advocates on behalf of homecare workers using litigation, policy advocacy and community education. At APALC, she has worked on cases in the areas of workers’ rights, employment discrimination, First Amendment rights and housing. Carmina received her J.D. from UCLA School of Law and specialized in Critical Race Studies. During law school, she interned at APALC and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. She served as co-chair of the Asian Pacific Islander Law Student Association and staff editor of both the Asian Pacific American Law Journal and Chicana/o Latina/o Law Review.
Arnold V. Pamplona is a partner in McDermott Will & Emery LLP’s Los Angeles Office. Arnold is a member of the Health Law Department. Arnold counsels health care providers and affiliated entities regarding administrative appeals, Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement regulations, federal and state securities laws, and laws governing health care fraud and abuse. He has significant experience advising clients in all aspects of hospital and pharmacy changes of ownership, including licensure and Medicare/Medicaid provider enrollment. Arnold also has extensive experience in representing health care providers in all aspects of civil and administrative litigation. Arnold is a member of the Firm’s Pro Bono committee, focusing on immigration matters for children under the Firm’s Kids First Initiative. In addition, he is a member of the Board of Governors for the Philippine American Bar Association of Los Angeles (PABA), and is its immediate past president. Arnold is admitted to practice in California. He is fluent in Spanish.
Jason Pu is an experienced business attorney and founder of jd8 Records (www.jd8records.com), an independent music company that supports Asian Pacific American musical artists. He began his practice at the law firm of Cooley Godward Kronish LLP, working with public and private technology companies, venture capital firms, banks and financial institutions in the firm’s flagship Palo Alto office. Since then, he has established his own law practice with expertise in a broad range of business transactions including debt and equity financings; work-outs and re-structurings; entertainment, music and Internet licensing transactions; customer contracts and commercial transactions; mergers and acquisitions; commercial real estate; and intellectual property. Jason received his B.A. in Psychology from Stanford University in 1995 and his J.D. from the UCLA School of Law in 1999.
Byron Shibata graduated from UCLA with a double major in History and East Asian studies and from the University of Hawaii law school. He worked for many years in Japan, including as an assistant professor in the law department of a private university, and served several years as an active-duty Air Force Judge Advocate officer. Currently, he is an attorney at the Los Angeles Office of the County Counsel.
Judy Suwatanapongched is an incoming associate in the business litigation group at the downtown Los Angeles office of Sheppard, Mullin, Hampton & Richter LLP. She received her J.D. from University of Southern California (USC) Gould School of Law in 2009 and her B.A. in Political Science and Sociology from Northwestern University in 2005. As an undergraduate, Judy was actively involved in the Asian and Asian American community on campus and served as president of Northwestern’s Thai Club. Before coming to law school, Judy taught Thai Classical Dance at the Thai Cultural and Fine Arts Institute in Chicago and at various universities. At USC, she was internal vice-president of the Asian Pacific American Law Student Association. Judy also served for two years as a law student representative to the APABA board.
Dennis M. Wu is an associate at Wasserman, Comden, & Casselman LLP where he practices business and real estate law, in primarily transactional matters. He received his J.D. from UCLA School of Law where he served as co-chair and 3L representative of the Asian Pacific Islander Law Student Association. Dennis was also a law clerk at the California Attorney General’s Office, Bet Tzedek Legal Services, and the Los Angeles County Superior Court’s Planning & Research Unit. Prior to law school, Dennis worked as the Multicultural Youth Program Coordinator at the Asian Youth Center and as the Anti-Discrimination Project Coordinator at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center. He completed his undergraduate studies at Pomona College where he received a B.A. in Biology.
Mia F. Yamamoto, a 1971 graduate of UCLA School of Law, is in solo practice specializing in criminal defense. She is a former Deputy Public Defender for the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office. Mia is a former co-chair of the Multicultural Bar Alliance, past president of the Japanese American Bar Association and past co-chair of the Asian Concerns Committee. Among her many honors, Mia received the American Bar Association’s Spirit of Excellence Award in 2008 and has been named Criminal Defense Attorney of the Year by the Los Angeles County Bar Association and one of the “100 Most Influential Lawyers in California” by the Daily Journal.
Bryant Yang is an associate in the Litigation Department of Morrison & Foerster’s Los Angeles office. He received his B.A. in Legal Studies and Ethnic Studies from UC Berkeley in 2004, where he graduated with High Honors and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He obtained his J.D. from UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law in 2007, where he received an American Jurisprudence Award in Introduction to Intellectual Property. During law school, he served as co-chair of the Asian Pacific American Law Student Association, participated in the VIS International Moot Court in Vienna, and was a member of the Asian American Law Journal and the Berkeley Technology Law Journal. Prior to joining the firm, Bryant externed for the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission in Beijing, the Human Rights Law Network in New Delhi, and the International Organization for Migration in Bangkok. He has written several law journal articles on international arbitration, human rights, and immigrant rights and has taught “Asian Americans & the Law” at UC Irvine and the Claremont Colleges.
Deborah Yim is an Assistant United States Attorney in the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. She was formerly an associate at Reed Smith LLP, where she practiced commercial and financial services litigation. Deborah obtained her B.A. from UC Berkeley in 1998 and her J.D. from UCLA School of Law in 2001, where she served as an editor-in-chief of the Asian Pacific American Law Journal and co-chair of the Asian Pacific Islander Law Student Association. While in law school, Deborah received the Southern California Chinese Lawyers Association’s presidential scholarship and she externed for the Hon. Arthur L. Alarcón of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the State Bar of California. She is the founder and program coordinator of Kids Reading for Success, a children’s literacy program in Pasadena. Deborah has also sat on the State Bar of California’s Committee on Federal Courts and the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s (LACBA) Judicial Elections Evaluations Committee, and she currently sits on the LACBA Diversity Committee. In addition, she has served on the board of directors of the Junior League of Pasadena and as Pasadena’s representative to the State Public Affairs Committee of the Junior Leagues of California.
Steven K. Yoda is an associate at Bird Marella Boxer Wolpert Nessim Drooks & Lincenberg, P.C., where his practice focuses on civil commercial litigation and white collar criminal defense. Steve has represented clients in a wide array of matters relating to contract disputes, professional malpractice, fraud, intellectual property, defamation, securities, real estate, consumer class actions, antitrust, money laundering, and money transmitting. Steve received his B.A. and M.A. degrees (both in History) from Stanford University in 1999 and 2000. Steve graduated from the University of California, Berkeley (Boalt Hall) School of Law in 2004, where he was Executive Articles Editor of the California Criminal Law Review and Director of the James Patterson McBaine Honors Moot Court Competition. After law school, Steve served as a law clerk to the Honorable James Ware, United States District Judge for the Northern District of California. From 2005 to 2006, Steve worked as an associate at Keker & Van Nest LLP in San Francisco. Steve currently serves as a Board member of the Japanese American Bar Association (JABA), Asian Pacific American Friends of the Theater (APAFT), and Taiko Project. In 2009, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) named Steve one of its “Best Lawyers Under 40.
