Lawyers in the Asian Canadian community met in 2007 to discuss forming a coalition of Asian Canadians in law. Support for this idea grew within the Chinese, Korean and Japanese Canadian Lawyers Associations and from these humble beginnings, the Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers (FACL) was born.

Its founding officers are:

• Avvy Go, a bencher of the Law Society;
• Judge Maryka Omatsu of the Ontario Court of Justice; and
• Professor Julia Shin Doi of Osgoode Hall Law School

FACL is a pan-Asian law association. We seek to bridge the barriers between our various communities. Poverty is endemic among visible minority immigrant communities and we strive to work together for the betterment of our communities. Within the legal profession, there are barriers at every level from entry into law school to becoming a senior partner or a judge. We want to address these barriers by encouraging students from under-represented communities to enter law school and to build skills through our mentoring program. FACL would also like to provide opportunities for lawyers to give papers, lectures and to appear before commissions on behalf of FACL.

Currently, FACL is governed by a Board of Directors and has been incorporated as a not for profit organization.

The current Board wishes to acknowledge and thank FACL’s Steering Committee and previous Board members for their contributions and time to the organization, without whom, many of the important work that FACL has started could not be achieved. In particular, we wish to note the significant contributions of the following:

• Amy Hu
• Avvy Go
• Deanna Santos
• Delano Europa
• Immanuel Lanzaderas
• Julia Shin Doi
• Junyi Chen
• Rosa Kang
• Roslyn Tsao
• Tai Nahm