Professor Steven Chien presented his empirical project, Portrait Project 2.0 – A Portrait of Asian Americans in the Law, at the 2022 National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) Convention from November 3-6 in Las Vegas. 

The project originated with A Portrait of Asian Americans in the Law, the first comprehensive account of the progress of Asian Americans in the legal profession, which was presented at the 2016 NAPABA convention in San Diego.  The final report, published in 2017, has provided a crucial resource for advocacy by and on behalf of Asian Americans in law firms, the corporate sector, government, and many other settings where the Asian American community continues to be under-represented, especially at the top levels of leadership.  The report has been cited extensively in the media and in proceedings before Congress and state courts. 

Professor Chien served as part of the research team that completed this five-year update of the Portrait Project and presented it at the NAPABA convention.  The new report updates previous findings on Asian American representation in diverse sectors of the legal profession.  It also has several new components, including data on Asian American lawyers’ experiences and perceptions of their role in light of the pandemic and anti-Asian racism, as well as ethnic subgroup comparisons that shed light on diversity within the Asian American community.  The updated report gives a concrete representation of the experiences of Asian Americans in the legal profession, and it provides a comprehensive empirical foundation for continued advocacy to advance the interests and aspirations of Asian American lawyers.  As with the original 2017 report, the updated 2022 report will be a critical resource of interest to every member of our community.