2010: Thank you to our guests and sponsors for attending our Sixth Annual Banquet.
Our evening was kicked off with our President Lam Nguyen-Bull's welcome speech.
The keynote speaker was Andrew Lam. Mr. Lam is an accomplished author, editor, and commentator on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered.” Mr. Lam’s first book, “Perfume Dreams: Reflections on the Vietnamese Diaspora” won the Pen American “Beyond the Margins Award” in 2006. Mr. Lam’s writings and essays have appeared in numerous publications including the New York Times, the LA Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Chicago Tribune, Mother Jones, The Nation, San Francisco Focus, Proult Journal, and many others. In addition to writing, Mr. Lam co-founded New America Media, an association of over 2000 ethnic media organizations in America. Mr. Lam was born in Vietnam and came to the United States in 1975. he was featured in the PBS documentary “My Journey Home,” where a film crew followed him back to his homeland.
An Ngoc Duong, our 2010 Hong Duc Clerkship Recipient, shared with our guests her experience clerking with Hogan Lovells in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, during her summer 2010. To read more about An's Hong Duc Clerkship experience, click here.
VABAW presented its 2010 Community Service Award to Helping Link. Helping Link was created in 1993 by a group of working professionals, who sought to meet the needs of the Vietnamese community by utilizing the potential human and financial resources of Vietnamese professionals. Young and old, the founders sought the cooperation of the community to create the three main programs: conversational ESL, homework tutoring, and youth leadership program. These programs assist Vietnamese immigrants in their effort to settle in their new country, strengthen the Vietnamese community, and promote cultural harmony.
Fashion designer Thai Nguyen presented a showcase of the traditional Vietnamese “Ao Dai” dress with his own modern twist. Mr. Nguyen graduated from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in 2002. Following graduation, Mr. Nguyen served as the Associate Designer for BCBG Max Azria until 2004. Mr. Nguyen’s work has been featured in numerous Vietnamese entertainment shows and musical productions and is available through his showroom in Westminster, California. You may have also recognized him as one of the final contestants in Bravo TV’s “Launch My Line” reality competition show. For a link to the video of the fashion show, please go to http://vimeo.com/16860579
Thank you to our banquet sponsors:
Tamarind: Davis Wright Tremaine
Papaya: BECU; Fenwick West; Foster Pepper; Garvey Schubert Barer; Helsell Fetterman; Perkins Coie; Seattle University School of Law; and Stafford Frey Cooper.
Fashion Show Sponsor: Ho & Associates
Supporters: Christensen O'Connor Johnson Kindness.
*********************************
Thank you for joining us for our Fifth Annual Banquet, which was held on October 22, 2009!
Thank You to our Banquet Sponsors: Cairncross & Hempelmann; Davis Wright Tremaine; Foster Pepper; Garvey Schubert Barer; Helsell Fetterman; Perkins Coie; Seattle University School of Law; Stoel Rives; Stokes Lawrence; University of Washington School of Law; and Williams Kastner. And a special Thank You and Recognition to Johnson Flora for their donation.
The evening's celebrations were kicked off by emcees Jessica Nguyen and Tien Nguyen.
2009 VABAW President Thi Huynh welcomed our guests.
Our keynote speaker was Dr. Eugene Trinh, the first Vietnamese-American to travel into outer space.
Guests also heard from our 2009 Hong Duc Clerkship Recipient Dai Dao.
During the reception hour, guests participated in the silent auction of authentic Vietnamese scrolls.
We also held an auction for the "Let's Go Home" painting.
Traditional to all of our VABAW Banquet celebrations, guests were treated to entertainment highlighting the Vietnamese culture. Fashion designer Thai Nguyen presented a showcase of the traditional ao dai dress, accompanied by "modern" "skinny jeans."
Thank you to our banquet sponsors:
Tamarind: Cairncross & Hempelmann
Papaya: Davis Wright Tremaine; Foster Pepper; Garvey Schubert Barer; Helsell Fetterman; Perkins Coie; Seattle University School of Law; Stoel Rives; Stokes Lawrence; University of Washington School of Law; and Williams Kastner.
And a Special Thank You and Recognition to Johnson Flora.
*********************************
2008: Fourth Annual Banquet: Ambassadors to Our Communities
VABAW’s Fourth Annual Banquet was held on October 28, 2008 at the Triple Door, and our sold-out event was attended by 230 guests who shared in our celebration!
(Pictured below: Davis Wright Tremaine)
(Pictured below: Cairncross & Hempelmann) 
(Pictured below: Foster Pepper)
(Pictured below: Helsell Fetterman)
(Pictured below: Ryan Swanson and Cleveland)
(Pictured below: Schwabe Williamson and Wyatt)
(Pictured below: Stafford Frey Cooper)
Guests kicked off the evening’s celebration with hosted hors d’oeuvres and drinks in the Triple Door’s Musicquarium Lounge, and then proceeded to the Mainstage Theatre for a three-course Wild Ginger dinner.
Our keynote speaker was Jerilyn Brusseau, co-founder and President of PeaceTrees Vietnam. PeaceTrees Vietnam sponsors the clearance of landmines and unexploded ordnance in the Quang Tri Province of Vietnam as a means of realizing the mission to reverse the legacy of war. Jerilyn gave a moving speech about being an ambassador to foster cross-cultural friendship and healing with the people and the land of Vietnam.
The theme of being “Ambassadors to Our Communities” was also reflected in VABAW’s Hồng Đức Clerkship. At the banquet, we featured a presentation by our VABAW 2008 Hồng Đức Clerkship recipient, Stephanie Tuong-Vi Do, University of Washington School of Law Class of 2009. The Hồng Đức Clerkship seeks to provide a law student with the opportunity to clerk at an international law firm in Vietnam for three summer months. The student will have the unique experience of learning the local cultures and customs while living in Vietnam and learning international and comparative law working at a major law firm.
Stephanie spent the summer of 2008 at the international law firm Lovells. Lovells is one of the largest international business legal practices, with over 1,600 lawyers operating from 26 offices in Europe, Asia and the United States. Stephanie clerked at Lovells’ Ho Chi Minh City office in Vietnam, and expressed the following summary of her Hồng Đức Clerkship experience.
The Hồng Đức Clerkship was a way for me to discover Vietnam, to observe its evolution and development, and to see its growing legal system in practice. I went to Vietnam hoping to develop a new perspective of what it means to be a lawyer and what it means to be a Vietnamese American. And once I was working in Vietnam, I felt the vibrant energy of the country and the diverse group of people drawn to Vietnam and living in Vietnam. There is more to being a lawyer than mastering a legal regime. Rather, I recognize that being successful in a legal career encompasses a holistic approach that utilizes all of my skill sets and experiences, a flexibility to adapt.
For more information about Stephanie and the Hồng Đức Clerkship, please visit http://vabaw.com/2008hongduc.aspx We also invite you to view her video presentation at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neqCNEQ9k48 (or by searching “VABAW Hong Duc”). Special thank you to Prolumina Trial Technologies for the video presentation.
Traditional to VABAW’s annual banquets, the evening is concluded by live entertainment that reflects our Vietnamese culture. For the 2008 celebration, guests were treated to a fashion show of the traditional Vietnamese “ao dai” dress by designer Thai Nguyen.
We thank all our guests for joining in our celebration.
Photographs courtesy of event photographer and former VABAW board member Hien Nguyen.
Thank you to our banquet sponsors:
Tamarind: Davis Wright Tremaine
Papaya: Cairncross & Hempelmann; Christensen O’Connor Johnson & Kindness; Foster Pepper; Garvey Schubert Barer; Helsell Fetterman; Perkins Coie; Ryan Swanson & Cleveland; Schwabe Williamson and Wyatt; Stafford Frey Cooper; Stoel Rives; Stokes Lawrence; and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.
*********************************
2007: Third Annual Banquet: Embracing Our Heritage
VABAW’s Third Annual Banquet was held on November 7, 2007. The theme for the evening was "Embracing Our Heritage," which was reflected in the board members’ and guests’ wearing traditional Vietnamese dresses; the welcome speech presented in Vietnamese and English; the keynote speaker’s message; the recognition of two instrumental community service award recipients; and the closing entertainment by the martial arts group Vovinam.
Sponsors of VABAW’s Third Annual Banquet were: Cohen and Iaria; Davis Wright Tremaine; Cairncross and Hempelman; Aoki Sakamoto Grant; Christensen O'Connor Johnson and Kindness; Helsell Fetterman; Perkins Coie; Ryan Swanson and Cleveland; Schwabe Williamson and Wyatt; Stafford Frey Cooper; and Stokes Lawrence.
Quang X. Pham, author of A Sense of Duty, was the keynote speaker and gave a universal message reminding all of the guests to be attentive to our moral compass.
At the Third Annual Banquet, VABAW presented its community service award to recipients Ghi Dang and Dr. Giap Phuc Dat who were recognized for their formation and ongoing contributions to the Vietnamese Community Activity Center (VNCAC), whose objective is to promote Vietnamese cultural identity in Vietnamese Americans.
The sold-out event was attended by 200 guests, including over 40 dignitaries comprised of state elected officials, judges, Washington State Bar Association’s Board of Governors, representatives from the King County Bar Association, representatives of each minority bar association, leaders from local organizations throughout King County, and representation from Seattle University and University of Washington.
The Third Annual Banquet was also marked by VABAW’s unveiling of its student clerkship program in Vietnam named the Hồng Dức Clerkship. “Hồng đức" was used in the 15th Century to refer to the legal code of Vietnam allowing women to inherit properties. VABAW has secured partnership with at least six law firms in Vietnam, one of which will be selected to host a law student for summer 2008. The Hồng Dức Clerkship will provide the student with substantive legal work and client relations. VABAW will provide airfare, housing, and reasonable living expenses for the law student. The Hồng Dức Clerkship will assist in outreach efforts to the Vietnamese community in Washington and abroad while also providing the law student with a unique clerkship experience from an international perspective in a fast emerging country. (To read about the recipient of our 2008 Hồng Đức Clerkship, please click here. )
Guests of the Third Annual Banquet also enjoyed the authentic Vietnamese embroidery paintings, which were donated for auction.
The evening’s program and our theme of Embracing Our Heritage was concluded by the Vietnamese martial arts group Vovinam.
All photos of our Third Annual Banquet were contributed by our event photographer Hien Nguyen, a fellow attorney and 2005 VABAW Board Member who is now doing a splendid job of picking up photography as a hobby.
Thank you to the Sponsors of our Third Annual Banquet
Lychee Sponsors:
Cohen & Iaria
Davis Wright Tremaine
Tamarind Sponsor:
Cairncross & Hempelmann
Papaya Sponsors:
Aoki Sakamoto Grant
Christensen O'Connor Johnson Kindness
Helsell Fetterman
Perkins Coie
Ryan Swanson Cleveland
Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt
Stafford Frey Cooper
Stokes Lawrence
*********************************
2006: Second Annual Banquet: Raising the Bar
Our 2006 banquet was a memorable one, incorporating many cultural elements. Our theme was "Raising the Bar."
One of the highlights of the evening was University of Denver College of Law Professor Wendy Duong’s passionate speech reminding Vietnamese American attorneys of the need to overcome stereotypes, to always remember where we come from, and most importantly to use the law profession as a means to “supply ourselves with the podium in life from which we can speak” to make a difference in our profession, communities, and global society. To read Professor Duong's speech, click here.
The banquet generated a buzz in the local Asian-American community. Almost 200 guests were in attendance, including 40 dignitaries comprised of WSBA Board of Governors, Judges, representatives of each minority bar association, leaders from local organizations, and representation from Seattle University, University of Washington, Gonzaga University, and Lewis & Clark. Our event was mentioned in 4 local newspapers in both English and Vietnamese, together totaling a circulation of nearly 75,000. A performance by the Huong Viet Performing Arts group closed out the evening.
For photos from the Second Annual Banquet, click here.