By I grew up in San Francisco and feel a strong duty to give back to my community. Like everyone else, I am an amalgamation of the lessons gleaned from those who preceded me and my experiences as a native San Franciscan, a lawyer, a woman, and a member of the Asian-American community. These are all elements of who I am, each of which informs my experiences. This Saturday, at the 5th annual Legally Asian event, I will join fellow members of the Asian American Bar Association, the Filipino Bar Association, the South Asian Bar Association and Golden Gate University APALSA to share our experiences with high school and college students interested in pursuing a career in the legal profession. As in years past, we will take questions and discuss issues faced by Asian and Pacific Islander communities. I’ll share my perspective as a plaintiff’s attorney who handles catastrophic personal injury cases, and look forward to hearing my peers’ perspectives as government attorneys, judges, in-house counsel and attorneys who have pursued non-traditional legal careers. It is not just important for me to give back, generally. I want to provide students someone they can look at and think, “That could be me.” Before any of us achieve success, it gives us a leg up to imagine ourselves succeeding — to visualize ourselves graduating from school and realizing our potential. I also want students to realize that not only is a legal career attainable, but that there are many options within the legal field, including plaintiff’s work, which would benefit from having more attorneys from diverse backgrounds practice in this area. At the end of the day, I hope that the students will receive inspiration from the distinguished speakers at the event and appreciate that they too are capable of becoming successful attorneys and performing meaningful legal work in their community. Legally Asian is a free event from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. this Saturday, February 22 at Golden Gate University School of Law. Attendees must RSVP here.