Cultivating Leaders. Inspiring the Future.
The Don H. Liu Scholars Program, Inc. (the “Program”) was founded in 2014 by two past presidents of the Asian American Bar Association of New York (“AABANY”), Jean Lee and Mike Huang. The Program seeks to identify, cultivate and inspire future Asian American leaders within the legal profession in order to address the single most important reality facing Asian American professionals today – the barrier to advancement.
Asian Americans remain grossly underrepresented in positions of influence, leadership and power within the legal profession. The number of Asian American partners in law firms and general counsel in our largest corporations do not reflect the diversity found in today’s law school classes or the ranks of junior associates at law firms. It is the mission of the Program to increase these numbers
In its inaugural year, the Program awarded $15,000 each to its first two Don H. Liu Scholars (“Scholars”) and provided mentorship to ensure that each Scholar would start their career at a prominent law firm. Each year since then, the Selection Committee has chosen three new Scholars who possess the greatest potential to both excel in the classroom and succeed at a top law firm or Fortune 500 corporation. To support these emerging Asian American leaders, the Program continues to award each Scholar a financial scholarship of $15,000 as well as to provide mentorship and assistance with their career development, including identifying potential internships.
For more information about the Scholarship and our Scholars, the application process and donation information, please visit our website at http://www.donhliuscholars.org/.
The Scholarship was named after Don H. Liu, Executive Vice President and Chief Legal and Risk Officer of Target Corporation because of his longstanding commitment and dedication to supporting the Asian American legal community by mentoring a generation of Asian American lawyers as well as his unwavering support of AABANY.
He is the recipient of America’s Top General Counsel Honor from NYSE Euronext’s Corporate Board Member, National Law Journal - America’s 50 Outstanding General Counsel recognition, the Legend in Law Award from the Burton Foundation and The Library of Congress, Inside Counsel magazine’s Transformative Leadership Award, Connecticut Law Tribune’s Legal Department of the Year – In-House Counsel Management Award, MCCA/American Lawyer Media Diversity Award, the Edwin Archer Randolph Diversity Award from the Lawyers Collaborative for Diversity, the Spirit of Asian America Award from the Asian American Federation, the Diversity Award from ABA’s Council on Legal Education Opportunity, the Justice in Action Award from the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the ICON Award from the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, the Founders Award from the Asian American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts, the Achievement Award from Asian Pacific American Lawyers Association of New Jersey, and the Business Leadership Award from the Korean American Coalition.
Born in Seoul, Korea, Mr. Liu and his family immigrated to the U.S. in 1972. He received his B.A. degree in Philosophy and Religion from Haverford College with Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa honors. He earned his J.D. from Columbia University School of Law, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.
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