Executive Officers
Raymond W. Sakai, President
president@apabala.org
Raymond W. Sakai is currently a litigation associate at Lawrence Beach Allen & Choi, where his primary practice includes civil rights, employment law and governmental entity defense. He received both his B.A. and J.D. from UCLA, where he was active in both the Asian Pacific Islander Law Student Association and the Asian Pacific American Law Journal. For the past two years, Mr. Sakai has been the Co Chair of APABA’s MCLE/Programs Committee. Additionally, he is on the Japanese American Bar Association’s Community Education Committee.
Edward W. Lew, President-Elect
president-elect@apabala.org
Edward W. Lew, a 1998 graduate of the UCLA School of Law, is Senior Counsel for The Walt Disney Company, where he specializes in business and technology transactions and provides counseling on general corporate, intellectual property, and regulatory matters for the Walt Disney Internet Group. Previously, Mr. Lew was Counsel for Sun Microsystems, Inc. and an associate at McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP. During law school, he served as the Editor-in-Chief of the UCLA Asian Pacific American Law Journal (APALJ) and Co-Chair of the Asian Pacific Islander Law Students Association and Southern California Asian Pacific American Law Students Association. He also authored “Bilingual Education and Resegregation: Reconciling the Apparent Paradox Between Bilingual Education Programs and Desegregation Goals,” which was published in Volume 7 of APALJ and reprinted in Professor Stuart Biegel’s casebook on “Education and the Law.” Mr. Lew received his bachelor’s degrees in Economics and Ethnic Studies from UC Berkeley in 1995. He is a Founding Member of APABA and has served as Co-Chair of its Social Committee since 2003.
Karin Wang, Executive Vice President
exec-vp@apabala.org
Karin Wang is the Vice-President of Programs at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC), in Los Angeles. In that role, Ms. Wang oversees APALC’s program work, which spans issues as diverse as immigration, domestic violence, health care access, workers’ rights, voting rights, language rights, hate crimes and leadership development. From 1997 to 2000, Ms. Wang was a staff attorney at APALC, where she was one of the attorneys behind a landmark civil rights complaint filed against the Los Angeles County welfare department, regarding lack of linguistically-accessible programs and services for limited English speaking welfare recipients. The complaint was resulted in significant reforms to the county welfare department as well as $1.7 million in back benefits to limited English speaking recipients who were illegally terminated. Currently, she serves on the State Bar’s Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services, the board of the Southeast Asian Community Alliance (SEACA), the community funding board of the Liberty Hill Foundation, the steering committee of API Equality-LA, a coalition working in support of marriage equality, and was also the Community Education Committee co-chair this past year. Prior to her current position, Ms. Wang was the Deputy Regional Manager for the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), responsible for enforcing federal civil rights laws in California, Hawaii, Arizona, and Nevada. Ms. Wang is a graduate of UC-Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law, where she was the Editor-in-Chief of the Asian Law Journal. Following graduation, Ms. Wang practiced with the law firm of Morrison & Foerster LLP in San Francisco.
Lorraine Y. Wu, Treasurer
treasurer@apabala.org
Lorraine Y. Wu is an attorney at the Office of Chief Counsel, Internal Revenue Service, where she practices in the areas of federal civil and criminal tax law and bankruptcy law. Lorraine is a former judicial extern for Hon. William J. Rea, U.S. District Court, Central District of California. Lorraine received her bachelor’s degree from UCLA and received her law degree from the UCLA School of Law, where she served as Community Outreach Co Chair of the Asian Pacific Islander Law Students Association and volunteered at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center. Lorraine is the chair of APABA-LA’s Membership Committee.
Flora S. Yin, Secretary
secretary@apabala.org
Flora Yin is a partner at Reed & Davidson, LLP, where she practices political and election law. She currently serves as Co-Chair of the Asian Pacific American Women Lawyers Alliance (APAWLA). Ms. Yin received her bachelor’s degree in political science from UC Berkeley in 1995 and her J.D. from UCLA School of Law in 1998. During law school, she was Managing Editor of the Pacific Basin Law Journal and volunteered at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center.
