Pathways to Partnership Program

Now in its fifth year, AABA is pleased to announce it is continuing its highly successful Pathways to Partnership, a mentorship program specifically designed to help talented senior Asian American associates at Bay Area law firms develop a strategy to achieve their goal of becoming a partner. This program was developed to provide Asian American senior associates with specific mentorship and guidance about developing a strategy to make partner at a law firm. Pathways to Partnership will match senior associates who are in the “zone” (within a couple years) of partnership eligibility with law firm partner mentors from different firms, as well as in-house counsel mentors, and will assist senior associates in developing a strong business plan, identifying potential obstacles and challenges, and building strategies for the goal of partnership. This is AABA’s fifth Pathways to Partnership class, after its prior years have achieved significant success in elevating associates to partner. In particular, AABA congratulates Grace Yang from Conrad, Metlitzky, Kane and Alston Lew from Murphy, Pearson, Bradley & Feeney from last year’s Pathways to Partnership class and Helen Theung from Sidley Austin from the 2022 Pathways class for making Partner!
 
Pathway to Partnership will kick-off with a meeting of all senior associate participants and mentors in the spring of 2024. Pathway to Partnership will encourage each senior associate to meet one-on-one with their mentors and provide specific tasks for each senior associate to accomplish, with the guidance and input of their mentors. These tasks will include: (1) development of a business plan, (2) identification of key decision makers at the law firm, (3) identification of key sponsors, both at the law firm and outside, and (4) action items. Pathway to Partnership will also plan joint events to supplement one-on-one meetings.
 
Senior associates are invited to apply to Pathways to Partnership by June 28, 2024.  Application requirements are:

• Current résumé.
• Statement of interest describing why you should be selected for Pathway to Partnership (no more than 500 words in length).
• Short statement from a partner/shareholder at your current firm stating that you are in the “zone” of partnership.
• Email all materials in one pdf file to aaba.bayarea@gmail.com no later than 11:59 PM Pacific on June 28, 2024.

Please email any questions to Kelly Matayoshi (kmatayoshi@fbm.com), Angel Garrett (agarrett@truckerhuss.com), Irene Yang (irene.yang@sidley.com), Lily Chinn (lily.chinn@bakerbotts.com), Lucky Meinz (lmeinz@sheppardmullin.com), or Anjali Srinivasan (asrinivasan@keker.com).