Officers
Yankun Guo
President
Yankun Guo is a Partner in the Chicago office of Dinsmore & Shohl LLP. She has extensive experience working with emerging growth companies, investment funds, and family offices. Yankun advises these clients on topics that include entity formation, day-to-day business matters, boards of directors’ governance, product counseling, due-diligence, debt and equity financing transactions, fund formation, corporate venture capital and joint ventures. She acts as a trusted business adviser for emerging and growth-stage companies to fortune 500 companies. In addition, Yankun is a recognized expert on blockchain and digital assets. Previously, Yankun spent several years company-side in the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group’s Transactions, Commercial Relations Group and Corporate Compliance team. She also served as regulatory counsel for one of the fastest growing fintech firms in Chicago and was responsible for all the firm’s state and federal regulatory matters. Currently, Yankun is the Vice Chair of the Financial and Emerging Technologies Committee at the Chicago Bar Association.
Y. Jeffrey Tsai
Vice President
Y. Jeffrey Tsai is an associate attorney at Greer, Burns & Crain, Ltd. He has previously worked for Pattishall, McAuliffe, Newbury, Hilliard & Geraldson LLP and clerked for the Honorable Moira S. Johnson at the Law Division, Circuit Court of Cook County, IL.
Jonathan Yee
Treasurer
Jon Yee is an associate at Hinshaw & Culbertson, LLP where he regularly represents domestic and London-based insurance carriers with respect to financial institution bonds, as well as commercial crime and broker-dealer professional liability policies. In addition, Mr. Yee has extensive litigation experience with respect to matters involving complex commercial and professional liability disputes. Mr. Yee attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he received a degree in urban and regional planning, and the University of Notre Dame Law School, where he graduated cum laude. While at Notre Dame, Mr. Yee served as the Treasurer of the Environmental Law Society and Assistant Rector of Stanford Hall. Mr. Yee has served as CABA's President 2023-2024. He also received CABA’s 2020 Rising Star Award.
Lishuang Peng
Secretary
Lishuang Peng has been a judicial law clerk at the Law Division, Circuit Court of Cook County, IL, for about three years. She initially clerked for Honorable Daniel P. Duffy at the Tax & Miscellaneous Remedies Section and then as a pool law clerk for all the motion judges at the Motion Section. She is licensed to practice law in China's Mainland, the States of New York and California. Ms. Peng has work experience at multiple courts and law firms in China, where her practice focuses on foreign trade, cross-border investment, intellectual property, and related dispute resolution. She earned her LL.M. degree from Northwestern University School of Law.
Board of Directors
Welson Chu
Welson Chu is an associate at the Nolan Law Group assisting clients with aviation, product liability, medical malpractice, and other litigation matters. Prior to Nolan Law Group, he worked at a top law firm in the Philippines handling corporate transactions and special projects. Mr. Chu earned his LLB degree from the University of the Philippines, College of Law and later earned his LLM degree from Northwestern University School of Law, with a certificate in business administration from the Kellogg School of Management. Mr. Chu is licensed to practice law in the states of New York and Illinois, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, and the Philippines.
Alan Chen
Alan Chen is a partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP and focuses his practice on private equity and mergers & acquisitions. He has also worked at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and in the Office of the General Counsel of the Governor of Illinois. Mr. Chen is a graduate of the University of Chicago, where he competed as a member of the Men’s Varsity Swim Team. He received his JD from the University of Illinois College of Law.
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Mary Goers
Mary Goers is an associate in Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani’s Chicago office. She focuses her practice on employment law and professional liability defense. Her practice encompasses a wide variety of industries and covers all stages of litigation in federal and state courts. Prior to joining Gordon Rees, Mary gained experience through a variety of professional malpractice matters, appellate work, and employment litigation while working for a Chicago-based civil defense law firm. Mary also acted as an Assistant Attorney General in the General Law Bureau, representing state agencies and representatives in administrative review matters. Mary serves as a coach for Loyola University Chicago’s Seigenthaler-Sutherland First Amendment moot court team, where she prepares current law students for oral argument on various First Amendment issues. Mary received her JD from Chicago-Kent College of law and her BA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Frank Gao
Frank Gao is a registered patent attorney Ladas & Parry LLP. Mr. Gao has counseled corporate clients and individual inventors since 2008, in a wide variety of patent matters, securing patents in chemical, mechanical, material science, medical technologies, and litigating patents and trademark matters all around the U.S. Before entering law school, Mr. Gao worked at Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) editorial division, where he analyzed and built database entries for patents in the fields of pharmaceuticals, polymer, and material science. Mr. Gao also worked at Princeton Biomolecules where he synthesized customized peptides via solid-state synthesis.
Vincent Kan
Vincent Kan is Senior Attorney (Tax) at the Internal Revenue Service’s Office of Chief Counsel, Litigation & Advisory Division. He represents the IRS in United States Tax Court proceedings and provides legal advice to IRS revenue agents. Previously, Mr. Kan served as a Hearing Officer at the Illinois Department of Revenue's Board of Appeals and as an Assistant Attorney General at the Illinois Attorney General’s Revenue Litigation Bureau where he practiced state and local taxation. Mr. Kan has also been a speaker at both the American Bar Association Section of Taxation and Chicago Bar Association Federal Tax subcommittees. He earned his LLM in Taxation and JD from Chicago-Kent College of Law, and his BS in Information Systems from University of Maryland, College Park. He is admitted to the bars of Illinois (2008), New Jersey (2008), and New York (2009).
Rachel Huan Kao
Rachel Huan Kao is an attorney licensed to practice in Illinois, with a solo practice dedicated to immigration law. She serves AILA Chicago Chapter on various committees. She also serves Chinese American Bar Association - Chicago on the Board of Directors. She is a past board member and Treasurer of the Chinese Mutual Aid Association, past Treasurer of Chinese American Bar Association – Chicago, and past board member of Asian American Bar Association – Chicago. Ms, Kao is actively involved in the ISBA Minority Bar Association CLE program, enforcement of the Unauthorized Practice of Law, and has often spoken on immigration issues to the community. Ms. Kao is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (JD), the University of Illinois School of Public Health (MPH), and Washington University in St. Louis College of Arts and Sciences (AB).
Yan Zong
Yan Zong is an associate at Merz & Associates P.C., a boutique IP firm. She focuses her practice on trademark, copyright, and unfair competition. She develops strategy for protecting and enforcing intellectual property rights and resolves disputes globally for clients. Prior to Merz & Associates, Ms. Zong worked at a law firm representing domestic and international clients in a wide range of matters. Ms. Zong is licensed to practice in Illinois and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. She volunteers at the Chinatown Pro Bono Clinic. She also has participated in the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association lobby day in Washington D.C.
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Mona Li
Mona Li began practicing immigration law in 2018 and is an attorney at Vedder Price. Her practice focuses on business immigration. She has experience working with nonimmigrant visas, including H-1B, L-1, and O-1 as well as immigrant processes such as PERM and EB-1 petitions. Prior to joining Vedder Price, Ms. Li worked for a boutique immigration law firm as well as in the Global Immigration & Mobility practice of an international law firm. Ms. Li received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan and her Juris Doctor from the University of Illinois College of Law. She speaks Mandarin and Spanish.
Elaine Sit
A solo practitioner focused on guardianship matters and a Guardian ad litem in Cook County, Elaine Sit attended the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (B.A., M.A.) and graduated from I.I.T. Chicago-Kent College of Law (J.D.). She has written for the ASIAN LAW JOURNAL (U-California Boalt), 20th CENTURY CHICAGO: 100 YEARS, 100 VOICES (SUN-TIMES) and FEDERAL LAWYER MAGAZINE; she was featured in the July 2019 issue of CHICAGO LAWYER MAGAZINE for her work at the Chicago Volunteer Legal Services (CVLS) clinic in Chinatown. Elaine received CABA’s Justice Laura Liu Lifetime Achievement award in 2020. She also serves on the Board of CVLS.
Andrew Sylora
Andrew Sylora is an associate in Vedder Price’s Chicago office and a member of the firm’s Health Care & Professional Associations practice group. He advises clients in the life sciences and healthcare industries on a variety of transactional, regulatory and compliance matters. Andrew serves on the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee for the Illinois Association of Healthcare Attorneys and on the Health Law Committee for the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. He received his J.D. and M.B.A. from Loyola University Chicago, where he served as the president of the Asian Pacific American Law Student Association, and received his B.A. from the University of Michigan.
Advisory Board
Ann Chen
Ann Chen is Assistant General Counsel at TransUnion, managing legal matters in litigation, employment, diversity & inclusion, intellectual property, real estate, and tax. She has significant in-house experience advising global businesses, including in the financial services, healthcare, and consumer goods industries. She is a leader in the area of diversity, equity, and inclusion, including previously leading the Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion program for the in-house legal department of a Fortune 100 company and as a Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) Fellow. Ann received her BA from Yale University and her JD from the University of Michigan Law School. She clerked for U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan in the Southern District of Florida (now on the 11th Circuit). The National Law Journal previously named Ann a "Top 40 Under 40 - Chicago's Rising Stars."
Michael Chu
Michael Chu is a partner with McDermott Will & Emery in Chicago. Michael focuses his practice on all aspects of intellectual property law. As an experienced litigator for over 28 years, Mr. Chu handles complex IP cases before the federal courts and the International Trade Commission (ITC). Mr. Chu also supervises the prosecution of patent and trademark applications and leads inter partes review teams before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Mr. Chu also has extensive experience working with domestic and international clients on cross-border transactions, IP portfolio growth, licensing, government regulation, outsourcing and import/export issues in Asia and Europe.
June Htun
June Htun is the principal attorney of the Law Offices of June J. Htun. She has been practicing Immigration Law since 2009. She is tri-lingual in English, Spanish and Burmese. She focuses her practice on removal/deportation defense, humanitarian and family-based immigration, asylum and federal litigation. June regularly practices before the U.S. Immigration Courts, BIA, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals. She has successfully represented immigrants who have had prior orders of removals and has brought back immigrants who were physically removed out of the U.S.
Sharon Hwang
Sharon A. Hwang is a member of the Executive Committee and a Shareholder at McAndrews, Held & Malloy, Ltd., where she focuses her practice on patent litigation and intellectual property counseling. Ms. Hwang has been awarded numerous accolades, including being listed in the IAM Patent 1000 as one of the world’s leading patent professionals, Best Lawyers’ Lawyer of the Year for IP Litigation-Illinois 2024, Crain’s Chicago Business 2023 Notable Litigators and Trial Attorneys, Top 100: Illinois Super Lawyers, Top 50 Women: Illinois Super Lawyers, and Chicago United Business Leaders of Color 2023. Ms. Hwang sits on the Board of Trustees for the Chicago History Museum, the Membership Committee for the Economic Club of Chicago, the Board of Directors for the Greater Chicago Legal Clinic, and the Electrical and Computer Engineering Alumni Board for the University of Illinois. She has previously served as President of the Asian American Bar Association, the AABA Law Foundation, the Greater Chicago Legal Clinic, the Chicago Committee on Minorities in Large Law Firms, and the ECE Alumni Board.
Nathan Leong
Nathan Leong is a legal executive for technology, AI, and cloud companies. He was recently General Counsel & Corporate Secretary of Memora Health, a health technology company backed by Andreessen Horowitz and Transformation Capital. At Memora, Nathan was a member of the executive team, drove all legal and corporate affairs, and built Responsible AI & Trust. Prior to Memora, Nathan led the legal affairs team for Microsoft U.S. Industries & AI, where he won the Microsoft Circle of Excellence award in 2021 for his work as a key advisor to the U.S. business on COVID-19. Nathan has served on numerous boards and committees including the LCLD Alumni Executive Council, Law Foundation Board of AABA-Chicago, and several NAPABA national committees.
Jean Liu
Jean Liu is the Senior Vice President, General Counsel of CompTIA, Inc., an edtech company backed by Thoma Bravo and H.I.G. Capital. Jean attended the University of California, Irvine, where she received degrees in cognitive science and anthropology, and Loyola University Chicago School of Law, where she received her law degree and served on the executive boards of the Annals of Health Law, Loyola Consumer Law Review, and APALSA. Jean is a past president of the Chinese American Bar Association of Greater Chicago and of the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Chicago Area. She was recently honored by Loyola University Chicago School of Law’s APALSA with its 2024 Trailblazer Award. Jean currently serves on the Illinois Supreme Court Committee for Character & Fitness.
Dennis Mondero
Dennis Mondero served as Executive Director of Chinese Mutual Aid Association (CMAA) since August 2013, after serving for approximately ten years on CMAA’s Board of Directors. After some time practicing commercial real estate law, Mr. Mondero joined the City of Chicago as Chief Counsel for the Department of Buildings, then subsequently held positions as Deputy Buildings Commissioner, Deputy Chief of Staff for the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), and Senior Vice President & Chief Administrative Officer for the CTA. Mr. Mondero is a past President of the Asian American Bar Association and the Asian American Action Fund of Greater Chicago. Among his current activities, he serves on Illinois State Comptroller Susana Mendoza’s Advisory Collective, and various other community advisory boards, including the University of Illinois at Chicago and Truman College.
Huy Nguyen
Huy Nguyen is a senior associate at Factor where he advises on corporate and commercial matters for clients in the life sciences, banking, and renewable energy industries, including mergers and acquisitions, project finance, technology transactions, and data protection. He was previously an associate at a consumer bankruptcy law firm providing financial guidance to debtors to navigate their Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy filings. Huy is also an advisory board member of the Chinese American Bar Association of Greater Chicago, and regularly volunteers with the Chinatown Pro Bono Legal Clinic, Asian Americans Advancing Justice Chicago, Erie Neighborhood House, and Celebrate Argyle. He received his BBAs in Marketing and International Business from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and his JD from Chicago-Kent College of Law.
Lei Shen
Lei Shen is a partner in the Cyber/Data/Privacy group at Cooley LLP. Lei advises clients on a wide range of global data privacy issues and works collaboratively to develop practical privacy and data protection strategies for their products and services. She helps companies navigate and comply with state, federal and international privacy regulations, including the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and upcoming state consumer data protection laws. She also advises on issues concerning emerging technologies, such as telematics, connected products and services (including connected and autonomous vehicles), and big data.
Darryl Tom
Darryl Tom is of counsel to Shaw Legal Services, Ltd., and concentrates his practice on commercial litigation and public finance. He received a B.A. in economics from Cornell University, and a J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law. Mr. Tom is a past president of the Chinese American Bar Association of Chicago and the Chicago Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, and past board member of Erie Family Health Center, the Lynn Sage Foundation, and the Chinese American Service League. He was a Leadership Greater Chicago fellow in 1999-2000, and received the Business Leaders of Color Award from Chicago United in 2009.
Andy Wang
Andy Wang is a partner at Wang Austin LLC, a boutique law firm that practices exclusively in the employee benefits and executive compensation area. He advises public and private companies, not-for-profit organizations and educational institutions all over the country on the design, implementation, administration, and compliance issues that arise in connection with all types of employee benefits plans, including retirement plans, executive compensation arrangements, cash and equity-based incentive compensation plans, health and welfare benefit plans, and fringe benefit programs. Mr. Wang has been selected for inclusion in the Illinois Super Lawyers Listing in 2016, 2017 and 2018. He is a board member of the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Chicago Area Law Foundation, and is a past honorary board member of AABA Chicago. Mr. Wang earned his J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law, and his B.A. from the University of Michigan.
Virginia Yang
Virginia Yang retired from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources in 2021. She currently lives in Oak Park, Illinois, and is maintaining an active lifestyle with friends, family, and the Riverside Presbyterian Church. Ms. Yang's legal work in environmental law began in the late 1970s and has spanned over 40 years. Her work has included USEPA Superfund matters, FEMA grants & appeals, and administrative rulemaking. Most notably, she served as Administrative Law Judge for the Department of Natural Resources in the 2014 Lake Michigan Water Allocation issue and was appointed as Special Assistant Attorney General for IDNR Office of Mines and Minerals in 2009. Ms. Yang obtained her law degree from the DePaul University College of Law and her M.S. and B.A. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Ms. Yang is the first recipient of the 2016 Justice Laura Liu Lifetime Achievement Service Award from the Chinese American Bar Association for her work with CABA, including as President from 1995-2002.
Gary Zhao
Gary Zhao represents clients in high-stake and complex business litigation matters nationwide. A partner in SmithAmundsen LLC’s commercial litigation group, Mr. Zhao has secured victories through both trial and arbitration for his client in cases involving breach of contract, intellectual property, false advertising, unfair competition, business fraud and other disputes. Mr. Zhao has been recognized by NAPABA as one of Best Lawyers Under 40 in 2015. He is the past President of the Chinese American Bar Association and is a recipient of the Presidential Leadership Award from the organization. Mr. Zhao is a past board member of AABA Chicago and received its Member of the Year Award in 2010. He was recognized as one of 40 Illinois Attorneys Under 40 to Watch by Chicago Daily Law Bulletin. Mr. Zhao is a past member of NAPABA’s Board of Governors.
Alan K. Tse
Alan K. Tse is the Global Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary of Jones Lang LaSalle, Inc (NYSE: JLL). Mr. Tse has worked in Petco, Churchill Downs, Inc. (NASDAQ: CHDN), LG Electronics MobileComm U.S.A., Inc., Ligos Corporation, and Centerpoint Broadband Technologies, Inc. Mr. Tse started his career as a business and technology attorney at Brobeck Phleger and Harrison LLP Silicon Valley offices. Mr. Tse served on the Board of the Association of Corporate Counsel (2013-2019) and the Asian American Legal Foundation. He was named as Best Lawyers Under 40 (2005) and awarded Diversity in Action (2022) by National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. He was also named as a Legend of the Law by the ABA/Burton Foundation (2020) and Top 20 In-House Legal Leaders (2022) by Financial Times, and Lead by Example Award by the National Association of Women Lawyers (2023). Mr. Tse holds a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley where he earned Phi Beta Kappa honors and graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School.
Student Board
Eunsoo Choi
Loyola University Chicago School of Law
Eunsoo Choi is currently a 2L at Loyola University Chicago School of Law, where she serves as the VP of the Asian Pacific American Law Student Association. She recently worked as a privacy legal extern at Walgreens where she assisted with both healthcare privacy compliance and consumer privacy protection. Prior to attending law school, she worked for two Fortune Global 500 companies as a corporate paralegal in Los Angeles. During her 1L summer, she was a summer associate at Barnes & Thornburg in Chicago. For her 2L summer, she will join Reed Smith in Chicago as the Managed Care Litigation Fellow and summer associate. Eunsoo likes to explore new food, cocktail, and coffee spots in her free time.
Mengyao He
DePaul University College of Law
Mengyao He is currently a 1L student at DePaul University College of Law, where she is a student member of Asian Pacific American Law Students Association. Prior to DePaul, Ms. He served as a legal specialist at Gaw Capital, a Real Estate investment firm, for two years. During that time, she participated in investment, acquisition, and management of different kinds of real estate projects, including retail plazas, office buildings, and logistics centers. Ms. He received her LL.B from Zhejiang University in China and her LL.M from Georgetown University.
Cherie Zhang
Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
Cherie Zhang is a 2L at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. She currently serves as the Co-President of the Asian Pacific American Law Student Association and the Treasurer for the International Law Society. Prior to law school, she graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in Economics and Social Policy in 2021. Planning to build a long-term career in the greater Chicago area, Cherie interned at the General Counsel Office of the Illinois Human Rights Commission during her 1L summer. For her 2L summer, she will be joining Sidley in Chicago. Cherie is originally from Suzhou, China, and attended high school in Hong Kong. In her free time, Cherie loves to paint, watch sci-fi shows, or do tarot reading for her friends.
Zejian Zhou
University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) School of Law
Zejian Zhou is currently a 2L at University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) School of Law. He was born and raised in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of China. He graduated from St. Lawrence University in 2021 with a double major in Economics and Government. He interned in the World Bank Group at Washington D.C. when he was at college. At law school, he is the vice president of International Human Rights Law Association (IHRLA). He externed at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. He likes reading, playing basketball, and dancing.