January 25, 2012
St John’s School of Law’s
Asian Pacific American Law Students Association (APALSA)
recently held its annual Lunar New Year Dinner at Chef Yu in
Manhattan. The event drew over 70 students, faculty, alumni and
members of the Asian American Bar Association of New York
(AABANY).
The evening was a festive celebration of the Year of the Dragon and
provided ample networking opportunities for students. The highlight
of the event was APALSA’s presentation of the Thomas H. Lee Award ―
named for the 1936 St. John’s graduate who was the first Asian
American lawyer licensed in New York State ― to Daniel D. Chu
’97.
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A Queens native, Chu is the Chairman of the New York City Civilian
Complaint Review Board (CCRB), an independent agency that
investigates allegations of police misconduct. He began his legal
career as an assistant district attorney in the Queens County
District Attorney’s Office and later served as an Administrative
Law Judge with the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission.
After working as a senior associate at Stern & Montana, LLP,
Chu started his own solo practice specializing in criminal
defense.
Accepting the award, Chu shared that he was humbled by the
wisdom and experience of many of the other practitioners in the
room and expressed hope that, just as he has shared some of his
knowledge with St. John’s law students, others further along in
their careers would do the same for him and that Asian American
attorneys and others in the St. John’s community would continue to
support each other. “It was a great reminder that we are never done
learning, even when we are done with law school,” said Henry Huang
’13. “I understand that, to be successful, I need to seek the
advice of those who have come before me.”
“The many students and alumni in attendance provided a vivid
illustration of the vibrancy of the Asian American community at St.
John’s — and the willingness of our alumni to return to help our
current students,” said Dean
Michael A. Simons, who attended the event. “Many thanks to
APALSA President Peter Yi ’12 and the organization’s entire
Executive Board for putting together a wonderful
celebration.”