NAPABA Law Foundation Names

2023 Sharon and Ivan Leadership (SAIL) Scholars

Washington, DC (August 4, 2023) — The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) Law Foundation (NLF) announced today that Emily Taing, a second-year law student at the University of California College of Law, San Francisco has been awarded a SAIL Scholarship for her outstanding professional promise and leadership potential.

“Emily exhibits the very best not only in her academic excellence, but especially in her demonstrated leadership and commitment to the community,” said NLF president Nimesh Patel. “NLF and SAIL are proud to be a small part of her journey as she continues to serve her community, complete her studies and embark on her legal career.”

Ms. Taing is a staff editor of the UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice, president of her law school’s Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, and a NAPABA Fred T. Korematsu Fellow and Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Silicon Valley Achievement Scholar. Ms. Taing is a Bay Area native and grew up working alongside her parents at their family donut shop in Santa Clara. She is also a writer and curator for Pink Box Stories, a storytelling platform sharing stories of the Cambodian families behind California’s donut shops. She received her M.A. in American Studies from Columbia University, where she was an international policy writer for the Society for Immigrant & Refugee Rights, and has a B.A. in International Development Studies and Asian American Studies, with honors, from the University of California, Los Angeles, where she was a student assistant for the UCLA School of Law Critical Race Studies and Public Interest Programs, as well as a volunteer Mandarin interpreter for Asian Americans Advancing Justice.

“We are excited to welcome Emily into the fourth cohort of SAIL Scholars,” said Ivan Fong, who with his wife Sharon endowed the NLF SAIL Scholarship program. “Emily shows great promise as a leader who gives generously of her time and effort to the broader community. We could not be more delighted to help her as she completes her academic work and becomes part of the next generation of leaders in our profession.”

Two unique aspects of the SAIL Scholarship program are that, in addition to monetary support, SAIL Scholars will also receive mentoring and leadership development from each other and from a network of legal and community leaders. “A second feature of this scholarship program,” said Sharon Fong, “is that the recipients commit to ‘paying it forward’ — by supporting each other, future SAIL Scholars and the communities in which they will live and work.”

The 2023 NLF SAIL Scholarship selection committee was comprised of the Honorable Theodore Chuang, U.S. District Judge for the District of Maryland; Esther Lim, partner and chief diversity & inclusion officer at Finnegan and a former D.C. Bar president; and Nimesh Patel, chief diversity, equity & inclusion officer at Akin.

NLF is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that carries out its work primarily by awarding scholarships and fellowships that promote the interests of the Asian Pacific American community, as well as hosting the Judge Thomas Tang and Dr. Pearl Tang Moot Court Competition. Since its founding, the Foundation has awarded more than $500,000 in scholarships and nearly $1 million in fellowships and internships.

For more information about NLF and the SAIL Scholarship program and application process, please visit www.napabalawfoundation.org/scholarships.

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