Press Release

New York, NY…On Tuesday, February 16, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) will present its 2016 Justice in Action Awards to Eric H. Holder, Jr., partner at Covington & Burling LLP and former U.S. Attorney General, Heidi C. Chen, Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary of Zoetis, Inc., and Phil Yu, founder and editor of the Angry Asian Man blog. The awards presentation will take place at AALDEF’s Lunar New Year Gala at PIER SIXTY, Chelsea Piers, in New York City.

Presenters of the 2016 Justice in Action Awards are: Neal Katyal, Partner at Hogan Lovells and former Acting Solicitor General of the United States, Louise M. Parent, Of Counsel at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, and Jeff Yang, columnist for Wall Street Journal. Co-emcees for the evening are Cindy Hsu, CBS 2 anchor, and Sree Sreenivasan, Chief Digital Officer of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Actor and activist George Takei, a 1992 Justice in Action award recipient, will deliver a special message at the awards ceremony. He is appearing until Feb. 14 in Allegiance, the Broadway musical inspired by his experiences in a Japanese American internment camp during World War II.

The AALDEF Justice in Action Awards are presented to exceptional individuals for their outstanding achievements and contributions in advancing justice and equality. Past recipients include Congressman John Lewis, David Henry Hwang, Fareed Zakaria, Jose Antonio Vargas, BD Wong, Sandra Leung, Don H. Liu, Mira Nair, Deval Patrick, George Takei, Katrina vanden Heuvel, Harry Belafonte, Seymour Hersh, Larry Tu, Margaret Cho, Neal Katyal, and Yoko Ono.

Over 700 leaders of the civil rights, legal, business, and arts communities across the country are expected to attend AALDEF’s 2016 Lunar New Year Gala. The evening begins with a 6 p.m. cocktail reception and silent auction, followed by the Justice in Action Awards ceremony and a banquet dinner. Tables of ten, available at $50,000, $20,000, $15,000, and $10,000, include a VIP reception. Individual tickets start at $500. To reserve tickets, please contact Lillian Ling at 212.966.5932 ext. 202 or lling@aaldef.org. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is the 2016 Justice Circle sponsor.

Founded in 1974, AALDEF is a national organization that protects and promotes the civil rights of Asian Americans through litigation, advocacy, organizing, and community education. All proceeds from the Lunar New Year Gala support AALDEF’s legal and educational programs in immigrant rights, economic justice for workers, voting rights and civic participation, educational equity, and the elimination of hate violence, police misconduct, and human trafficking.

For further information, contact:
Lillian Ling, Assistant Director
212.966.5932, ext. 202
lling@aaldef.org