The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) is a

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

representing

Asian Pacific American Asian/Pacific American (APA) or Asian/Pacific Islander (API) or Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) or Asian American and Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islander (AANHPI) is a term sometimes used in the United States when including both Asian a ...

lawyers in the United States. ational Asian Pacific American Bar Association Employer Identification Number (EIN): 77-0233358
IRS lookup

Activities

The group has advocated for the nomination and confirmation of more Asian American judges to the

federal courts Federal court may refer to: United States * Federal judiciary of the United States ** United States district court, a particular federal court Elsewhere * Federal Court of Australia * Federal courts of Brazil * Federal Court (Canada) * Federal co ...

. In 2000, the group led a consortium of

Asian American Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous people ...

organizations that called for a bipartisan independent inquiry in the

Wen Ho Lee Wen Ho Lee or Li Wenho (; born December 21, 1939) is a Taiwanese-American scientist who worked for the University of California at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. He created simulations of nuclear explosions for the purposes of ...

case, including whether the investigation of Lee, a former scientist of

Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos National Laboratory (often shortened as Los Alamos and LANL) is one of the sixteen research and development laboratories of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), located a short distance northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, ...

, was tainted by anti-Asian bias.James Sterngold
Reno Says She'll Seek Release of U.S. Study on Los Alamos
''New York Times'' (October 6, 2000). Along with other civil rights groups (including other Asian American advocacy organizations), NAPABA has joined

amicus brief An ''amicus curiae'' (; ) is an individual or organization who is not a party to a legal case, but who is permitted to assist a court by offering information, expertise, or insight that has a bearing on the issues in the case. The decision on ...

s defending affirmative action. It did so in the '' Grutter'', '' Fisher I'',APABA Files Amicus Brief in Supreme Court Affirmative Action Case
(August 3, 2022). '' Fisher II'',Press Release: Over 160 Asian American and Pacific Islander groups file amicus briefs in U.S. Supreme Court in support of affirmative action
Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (November 3, 2015). and '' Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and UNC'' cases. In 2018, NAPABA, along with other civil rights groups, also submitted an amicus brief in support of

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

in the ''

Trump v. Hawaii ''Trump v. Hawaii'', No. 17-965, 585 U.S. ___ (2018), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case involving Presidential Proclamation 9645 signed by President Donald Trump, which restricted travel into the United States by people from sever ...

'' challenge to Trump's "Muslim ban" executive order.Alison Frankel
Snubbing Trump DOJ, Big Law firms back Hawaii amici in SCOTUS travel ban case
Reuters (April 3, 2018). In 2017, NAPABA and a group of

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by ''U ...

students co-published a study critiquing the lack of Asian American representation in major legal positions. The study found that although Asian Americans made up 10% of graduates at elite law schools (more than Asian American's overall share of the U.S. population, 6%), few Asian Americans were underrepresented among

U.S. Attorneys United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal c ...

(at the time, only 3 of the 94 U.S. Attorneys were Asian American), state elected prosecutors (4 of the 2,437 were Asian Americans), federal judges, state judges, and law school deans.Tracy Jan
Law schools are filled with Asian Americans. So why aren't there more Asian judges?
''Washington Post'' (July 18, 2017). Justice

Goodwin Liu Goodwin Hon Liu (born October 19, 1970; Chinese: 劉弘威) is an American lawyer, educator and an associate justice of the Supreme Court of California. Before his appointment by California Governor Jerry Brown, Liu was Associate Dean and Profes ...

of the

California Supreme Court The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sacra ...

was one of the authors of the report. A follow-up study in 2022 (entitled ''A Portrait of Asian Americans in the Law 2.0'') was a collaboration between the NAPABA, the

American Bar Foundation The American Bar Foundation (ABF) is an independent, nonprofit national research institute established in 1952 and located in Chicago. Its mission is to expand knowledge and advance justice by supporting innovative, interdisciplinary and rigorous ...

, and several law schools; it found that Asian Americans had progress in increasing representation in many areas within the legal profession (including the proportion of Asian Americans among active federal judges and

Fortune 1000 The Fortune 1000 are the 1,000 largest American companies ranked by revenues, as compiled by the American business magazine ''Fortune''. It only includes companies which are incorporated or authorized to do business in the United States, and for ...

corporate general counsels), but remained stagnant in other areas (including the proportion of Asian Americans among U.S. Attorneys and

equity partner A partnership is an arrangement where parties, known as business partners, agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments o ...

s at major law firms).Karen Sloan
More Asian Americans on the federal bench; progress lacking at Big Law
Reuters (December 5, 2022). Liu also co-authored the 2022 report.

References

{{Reflist Asian-American organizations American bar associations