LETTER TO A YOUNG PUBLIC INTEREST ATTORNEY
LOS ANGELES PUBLIC INTEREST LAW JOURNAL
2 L.A. PUB. INT. L.J. 249
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LETTER TO A YOUNG PUBLIC INTEREST ATTORNEY*
Kim H. Luu-Ng

I am a refugee by definition. When I was two, my family fled Vietnam by boat, but since I was very young, I do not remember my family’s refugee experience. Still, I have lived in its shadows my whole life. My family’s refugee legacy has in many ways dictated the choices that I have made in my career. For my parents, it was their dream to see me become a successful corporate lawyer. In their eyes, working in the corporate world meant a good income and giving face to the family. Thus, I felt tremendous pressure from my father, who believed in the power of the law to protect and uphold freedom and liberty. To him, my success as an attorney defined his own success and made the escape out of Vietnam worth it.

*This is an excerpt.  For more of this piece, please download the PDF.

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Authors

Kim H. Luu-Ng is an attorney with the Torture Survivors Project at Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles. She provides legal services to victims of torture in immigration proceedings and works on asylum and refugee issues. She previously served as a detention
attorney with the Legal Orientation Program at San Pedro Detention Center, and subsequently, as pro bono coordinator at Mira Loma Detention Center.

Kim started her legal career as a litigation associate at the law firm Reed Smith LLP. She received her JD and MA in Public and International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh, and graduated cum laude with a BA in International Relations from the University of Southern California.