Tuesday, October 8, 2002
Page 4
Three Holland and Knight Lawyers Recognized for Contributions to Legal Profession
By ALLISON LOMAS, Staf Writer
Three local attorneys from Holland & Knight have been recognized for their achievements and contributions to the legal profession, the firm reported yesterday.
Tasha D. Nguyen, a partner at Holland, has been named one of the “Best Lawyers Under 40” by the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association.
Jim Goh, who chairs the panel that compiled the list, said Nguyen was chosen because of her broad field of accomplishment.
“We want people who have accomplished in their area of the practice of law as well as those who have made contribution in the Asian Pacific American community,” Goh said.
This is the inaugural year for the annual list to recognized “Asian Pacific American attorneys under the age of 40 who have achieved prominence and distinction in virtually an area of a lawyer’s life.”
Nguyen, who emigrated from Vietnam in 1975 at the age of 12, was selected after NAPABA solicited nominations nationwide from its membership. Any member of the bar is eligible, even if they are not currently practicing law.
“Being included with so many impressive people who are working to advance the legal profession is such an honor,” Nguyen said.
Twenty-four people were included on the list this year, Goh said. The complete list of names will be unveiled next month at NAPABA’s annual conference in Atlanta, Georgia.
The NAPABA, formed in the late 1980s, is the only national Asian Pacific American bar association
Nguyen’s legal practice encompasses acquisitions, corporate financing and general business law at Holland. In addition to her work at the firm she also represents the Museum of Contemporary Art
Los Angeles Business Journal named Nguyen one of the top 50 most powerful women in Los Angeles law in 1997.
Two attorneys, Geraldine A. Wyle and Bruce S. Ross, who came to Holland & Knight in May 2001 as part of group of seven attorneys joining the firm from Ross, Sacks & Glazier, also have been honored.
Wyle, senior counsel at Holland, was recognized for her outstanding contributions to the Beverly Hills Bar Association over the past seven years.
She received the 2002 Executive Director’s Award from the BHBA at its annual installation and awards dinner on Oct. 2.
“I am honored to receive this award,” she said. “Serving the Beverly Hills Bar Association has been an opportunity for me to aid in the advancement of our members and the organization itself.”
Wyle said she was “very honored” and “surprised” at being given the award. “Being recognized for my efforts and service is an added bonus” for doing something she said she enjoys.
“In short—it’s fun!” she said.
Wyle, whose legal practice includes trust, estate and conservatorship litigation, has been a member of several of the BHBA’s committees and the co-chair of the Trust and Estates Section.
She will be attending the first meeting as a member of the bar association’s Board of Governors tonight.
The BHBA serves over 15,000 lawyers who live or work on the Westside of Los Angeles County. It has 3,500 members, making it the largest voluntary bar association in California that is not a county bar association.
Bruce S. Ross came to Holland along with Wyle in 2001. He is now a partner at the firm’s Los Angeles office. Ross was recently selected for the ninth edition of Best Lawyers in America.
The Best Lawyers, founded by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, is best known for its unique selection process.
The biennial publication’s lists are compiled through a confidential peer-review survey in which attorneys evaluate their peers.
Lawyers are not allowed to pay a fee to be listed. They must be nominated.
“It is an honor to be named in the Beast Lawyers in America,” Ross said. “I am glad I haven’t been dumped,” he added saying that he believed he had been on the list since its inception in 1983.
In total 69 attorneys from 13 of Holland’s offices were included in this year’s edition. This is a “measure of the firm rather than any individual,” Ross said.
Ross heads the estates and trusts practice area at the firm’s Los Angeles office. He is also the co-chair of the national estates trust litigation group.
Holland & Knight is a commercial law firm with over 1,250 attorneys working in more than 30 offices worldwide.
Copyright 2002, Metropolitan News Company