Victoria chan

Victoria Chan is a 3L at Golden Gate University School of Law (GGU Law). Raised in San Francisco’s Chinatown, she is an advocate for workers’ and immigrants' rights. Prior to law school, Victoria spent almost six years as the Senior Community Advocate for Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus, where she empowered and represented low-wage and immigrant workers on issues including wage and hour, retaliation, discrimination, unemployment insurance, and workplace health and safety. During law school, Victoria interned/clerked for the Hon. Michelle Tong of the San Francisco Superior Court, Levy Vinick Burrell Hyams LLP, GGU Law’s Women’s Employment Rights Clinic, and the California Labor Commissioner’s Office - Legal Unit. Victoria is an Associate Editor for the GGU Law Review. After graduating from GGU Law and sitting for the California Bar Exam in July 2024, Victoria will begin her Foundation for Advocacy, Inclusion, and Resources fellowship at Legal Aid at Work.

LAUREL (NA HYE) KIM

Laurel (Na Hye) Kim is in the Class of 2026 at Stanford Law School.  She has drawn from her experience as a first-generation immigrant in working as a Pro Bono Legal Intern at Proskauer Rose in New York, where she staffed the Legal Aid Society’s Immigration Hotline and worked with clients through the Sanctuary for Families Human Trafficking Intervention Court clinic.  She then was a law intern/clerk for the Judiciary Team for Senator Mazie Hirono, working on technology and immigration issues.  She is also a co-inventor on U.S. Patent 10,672,213 (Currency Sorting Mechanisms and Methods).

KIRSTEN-AUDREY C. MAUBAN

Kirsten-Audrey is a first-generation law student at the University of San Francisco School of Law, Class of 2024. Throughout her journey, she has been deeply involved in advocacy and service within the Asian-American, underserved, and immigrant communities. Kirsten's commitment to social justice stems from her personal life experiences as an immigrant. She interned at the Contra Costa County Public Defender’s Office and worked simultaneously in their misdemeanor, felony, post-conviction, and juvenile units working on resentencing and complex felony cases. Additionally, Kirsten served as a certified clinician for USF Law’s Criminal and Juvenile Justice Clinic, providing assistance to individuals facing misdemeanors in San Francisco. During her 1L summer, she externed in Cambodia at NGO-CEDAW (the United Nations Convention on Eliminating All Forms of Discrimination Against Women) and researched on the legal rights of women migrant workers in Southeast-Asian garment factories. While in law school, Kirsten served as Treasurer and Secretary for USF’s Pilipino American Law Society (PALS) and served as Professional Development and Mentorship chair for USF Law’s Asian Pacific American Law Student Association (APALSA) hoping to mentor and lead the next generation of AAPI law students.

Kirsten has dedicated herself to volunteer work by supporting community members with immigration and housing issues through the Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach Virtual Immigration Clinics and at Housing and Economic Rights Advocates (HERA). Prior to law school, she worked at a non-profit and interned at the Clark County Public Defender’s Office in Las Vegas. Kirsten’s exemplary efforts have earned her recognition. She is a recipient of the CALI Award for Future Excellence in Interrogations and Confessions. For her dedication to intersectional women’s rights, she received the 2024 AABA Judge Puri Family Scholarship. For her dedication to public defense, she received the Alameda-Contra Costa Trial Lawyers Association 2024. She was also the inaugural recipient of the 2023 FBANC Ernie and Mila Llorente Scholarship for her work towards the San Francisco community

sinporion phuong

Sinporion Phuong is a second-year law student at King Hall, UC Davis School of Law. He previously graduated from UC Berkeley with a double major in Sociology and Legal Studies. There, he wrote a sociological honors thesis examining the similarities and differences between the public perception of the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements' approaches to addressing inequality and criminal justice reform. In law school, he is a civil procedure tutor for first-years, a senior article editor for law review, the banquet chair for APALSA, and competed in several negotiation and moot court competitions. He has also previously interned at the California Supreme Court, Sacramento Public Defender's Office, and ACLU NorCal. He will join the Public Defender Service at the District of Columbia Special Litigation Division in the Summer of 2024 and his law school's Civil Rights Clinic in the Spring of 2024. He is incredibly passionate about ensuring that all individuals have proper representation regardless of their financial status or identity. He hopes to carry this passion into a career working towards direct criminal representation or towards impact criminal justice litigation.

ariana canalez

Ariana Canalez, JD is a recent graduate of Golden Gate University School of Law.

While at GGU, Ariana was on the board for the Latin American Law Students Association for two terms, one as secretary, and one as social chair. She also served as the president of the Pilipino American Law Society. Ariana was also on the inaugural board for HASSANI (Helping Advance Student Success and Networking Initiative). HASSANI was a mentorship program at GGU that matched primarily first-generation students of color who want to apply to law school with attorneys or law students to guide them through the LSAT and the law school application process.

Ariana had the opportunity to compete with the GGU Mock Trial Team in the Texas Young Lawyers Association annual mock trial competition, and McGeorge's National Ethics Trial Competition. She had the privilege of working as an intern in the public defenders' offices in San Francisco County, Alameda County, and Contra Costa County serving vulnerable populations. Working in these offices ultimately showed her that she wanted to pursue a career in public defense.

After taking the July Bar, Ariana looks forward to working at the Contra Costa County Public Defender's Office as a law clerk.

euni lee

Euni Elisabeth Lee (she/her) is a 2L Thelton E. Henderson Center Scholar at University of California, Berkeley School of Law. In 2023, she graduated magna cum laude from Columbia University with degrees in English Literature and Ethnicity & Race Studies. As an undergraduate student, Euni served on Columbia’s Queer and Trans Advisory Board, worked as an Equality California Fellow for State Senator Susan Talamantes-Eggman, and interned with PFLAG National’s Advocacy, Policy & Partnerships Department. At Berkeley, Euni serves the LGBTQ+ community by co-leading Queer Justice Project, a student-led project partnered with Transgender Law Center, and provides pro bono legal services to trans and gender-expansive people. She is also an Associate Editor of California Law Review and the Asian American Law Journal, as well as a member of APALSA, the Women of Color Collective, and Queer Caucus.

Euni approaches LGBTQ+ advocacy through a lens centering liberation and justice for queer and trans people of color. Her lived experiences as a queer Korean-American woman shape her perspective and prioritization of QTPOC voices, stories, and struggles. She is honored to receive the 2024 APABA/BALIF Joint Scholarship!

KARISSA LIN

Karissa Lin is a 2L at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. At Berkeley Law, she is actively involved in the California Asylum Representation Clinic, Berkeley Law Technology Journal, and Asian Pacific American Law Student Association. Prior to law school, Karissa completed her undergraduate degree in public health and worked at a healthcare economics research center, where she studied the effects of health system consolidations on patient costs and prototyped a healthcare plan for the state of California. During her 1L summer, Karissa completed a summer clerkship at Asian Law Alliance and worked closely with the immigration team to provide legal services for members of the Asian-Pacific and Hispanic communities. As a first-generation law student and daughter of immigrants, Karissa looks forward to using her legal knowledge and experience to support the Asian Pacific community throughout the rest of law school and her legal career.