Executive Officers
KARIN WANG, PRESIDENT:
Karin Wang is Vice-President of Programs at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC), the nation’s largest legal services and civil rights organization for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Prior to her current position, Karin launched the Los Angeles civil rights office of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), where she helped enforce federal civil rights laws in California, Hawaii, Arizona, and Nevada. She has also been a staff attorney at APALC and an associate at Morrison & Foerster LLP in San Francisco. Karin has extensive expertise in immigrant rights and language rights, and has served as chair of the State Bar of California’s Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services and co-chair of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association’s (NAPABA) Pro Bono/Community Service Committee. Karin has also played a leadership role in advocating for marriage equality in California, and is a founding Steering Committee member of API Equality-LA. She has been honored with Lambda Legal’s 2009 Liberty Award and NAPABA’s 2008 “Best Lawyers Under 40” Award. A graduate of UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law, Karin was editor-in-chief of the Asian Law Journal and a law clerk for the Asian Law Caucus in San Francisco.
FLORA YIN, PRESIDENT-ELECT:
Flora Yin is a partner at Reed & Davidson LLP, a firm specializing in political and election law. She advises candidates, corporations, trade associations and nonprofit organizations on campaign, lobbying and tax law compliance matters. Before joining APABA’s board of governors, Flora served as co-chair of the Asian Pacific American Women Lawyers Alliance. She 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.
LORRAINE Y. WU, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT:
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 of the U.S. District Court, Central District of California. Lorraine received her bachelor’s degree from UCLA and her law degree from 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.
EDMOND SUNG, TREASURER:
Edmond Sung is a litigation associate at Weston & McElvain LLP, where he practices business litigation and insurance defense. A graduate of the University of Southern California Law School, he was active in student and professional communities. He served as external vice president of the Asian Pacific American Law Student Association (APALSA), helped revive the Southern California APALSA Conference, and served as a student board member of APABA. In addition, he was a Hale Moot Court participant, an extern for the Hon. Kenji Machida, and a summer associate at a national litigation firm, where he worked on antitrust, intellectual property, commercial litigation, and insurance matters. Ed was the recipient of a legal writing fellowship and taught a section of the first-year legal writing course at USC. He also received scholarships for academic achievement and leadership from the Southern California Chinese Lawyers Association. In addition to these accomplishments, Ed regularly volunteered at the Neighborhood Legal Services’ Workers’ Rights Clinic, where he assisted low-income workers in wage and hour and other work-related claims. Ed graduated from UCLA with dual degrees in Economics and Political Science.
MICHELLE K. SUGIHARA, SECRETARY:
Michelle K. Sugihara is an associate at Luce Forward, where her practice focuses on business and real estate litigation, as well as entertainment transactional matters. Michelle also has expertise in representing and advising residential developers on Department of Real Estate matters. Additionally, she provides pro bono legal services to Public Counsel’s Homelessness Prevention Law Project, providing advice and counsel to homeless clients and representing them at Homeless Court. Michelle also serves on the board of governors of the Japanese American Bar Association of Greater Los Angeles and on the executive committee of the Asian Pacific American Friends of the Theater.
