On Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021, the Georgia Asian Pacific American Bar Association returned true to form with its 7th Annual GAPABA Gala at the Georgia Aquarium. With a vaccination requirement and Aquarium mask mandate policy, over 500 guests attended, reuniting after more than a year since the Pandemic began, to celebrate our wins, and remember those we lost.

The Gala was emceed by Richard Lui, MSNBC | NBC News Anchor. President Angela Hsu (Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner) delivered warm welcoming remarks, together with the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) President, Rear Admiral A.B. Cruz, III.

Our Honorees for the evening included:

• Monica Howard Douglas, SVP and General Counsel of The Coca-Cola Company, who received the Women's Leadership Award, and introduced by GAPABA Board Member Michael C. Wu (Chief Legal Officer, Bath & Body Works) 
• Peter Carter, EVP and Chief Legal Officer of Delta Air Lines, who received the General Counsel Diversity Champion Award, and introduced by incoming GAPABA President Timothy Wang (Associate General Counsel, Delta Air Lines); 
• Byung J. “BJay” Pak, Partner at Alston & Bird, and former U.S. Attorney, N.D. Ga., who received GAPABA's highest honor, the Judge Alvin T. Wong Pioneer Award. Judge Wong himself introduced BJay Pak; and
• Jae Yeon Jeong, Emory University School of Law 2L, who was selected for the 2021 NAPABA Law Foundation Han C. Choi Scholarship. Members of the Choi family presented him with a $5,000 check, with remarks delivered by Christopher Choi.

The GAPABA Law Foundation recognized the 2020 mini-grant recipients, with outgoing Secretary Raymond Tran (Seyfarth Shaw) toasting the memory of Trinh Huynh, a GAPABA Board Member lost to violence in 2018. 

The evening also was a commemoration of the victims of the March 16, 2021 Atlanta Asian shooting, with many family members in attendance. They stood to be recognized after a moment of silence, and Richard Lui presented excerpts from his NBC Asian America documentary Remember the Flowers. The campaign for the AAPI Crime Victims & Education Fund, co-chaired by Sara Hamilton (Thompson Hine) and BJay Pak, was launched to raise funds for other AAPI victims of hate and bias crimes, as well as create programs to dispel harmful stereotypes.

As a capstone to the Gala, Georgia Supreme Court Justice Carla Wong McMillian, delivered the oath of office to all the incoming GAPABA Officers, Board Members and Committee Chairs. Cheers to everyone for coming, and thank you to all our Sponsors whose generosity made our event, and all our GAPABA programming, possible.