Chugh elected first president of NASABA

By siliconindia   |   Friday, 31 October 2003, 20:30 IST
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NEW YORK: Los Angeles attorney Navneet S. Chugh, managing partner of The Chugh Firm, was elected as the first president of National South Asian Bar Association (NASABA), and Vijay Bondada of Skadden Arps in New York was chosen president elect. "The time has come for the 5,000 plus attorneys from the subcontinent to have a national platform to build connections, exchange ideas, and to help the community,” Chugh told India Journal. “It is gratifying indeed to have every one of the 12 South Asian Bar Associations representing the largest cities of America join and support NASABA," he added. NASABA's twelve founding member organizations are the South Asian bar associations of Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. In addition to its local constituent groups, NASABA will offer individual memberships so that Indian attorneys practicing in areas without an affiliate can plug into NASABA's resources. "Over the last decade, there has been a sharp increase in the number of South Asians entering the legal profession across the nation. This growth is reflected in the number of South Asian bar associations that have been created in various regions. The launch of NASABA will provide a conduit for communication between these member organizations and hopefully create a unified voice for the South Asian bar nationwide” said Vijay Bondada. Sabita Singh, VP Individual Membership, NASABA and an attorney with Bingham McCutchen, said, "The time for a national organization of South Asian attorneys has definitely arrived. We hope to serve, not only our members, but also our community." "The formation of NASABA will finally provide a national voice for the South Asian legal profession and serve as a bridge between the local chapters," said Vaishali Udupa, who is the VP-Organizational Memberships of NASABA, and a Jones Day lawyer. "In America it's been clear we have more commonalities than differences. In a globalizing world, everyone is drawing closer together. One small sign of that is the knitting together of our organizations from isolated threads into nationwide fabric. Carpe diem NASABA!" added Tahir J. Naim, Treasurer NASABA.