Thank you for helping with a submission.
The BBB Project relies entirely on submissions from AAPI legal luminaries. We understand that legal luminaries have become what they are because they are very busy and have limited time. We sincerely appreciate your willingness to share your story alongside so many other important ones and want to make the process as effortless as possible.
Submission guidelines for participants are provided on this page, below. Please reach out with questions to the BBB Project team directly or through the contact form and we will do our best to help.
Six Questions to Help Frame Your Submission
How did you become a legal luminary?
Determining who is a “legal luminary” is subjective. Google AI says the term refers to a prominent or highly respected individual within the legal field. Each of our participants was asked to submit their story because they have broken barriers for AAPI lawyers and judges even if not all in the same way. We consider an AAPI legal luminary someone from the AAPI community who made a significant impact on the legal profession as a lawyer or judge.
What would you like to say to the next generation of AAPI lawyers?
One of the primary purposes of the BBB Project is to encourage the next generation of AAPI lawyers to excel beyond factors that have historically limited this community from excelling in the practice of law and in the judiciary. Future AAPI lawyers do not necessarily need the most sage wisdom you can think of—they would likely want to hear what you want to say to them.
How helped you become the luminary you are today?
The BBB Project is not possible without mentorship. Our legal luminaries have made significant impacts on future lawyers and judges, whether intentionally through formal pedagogy or unintentionally from the luminaries’ independent barrier-breaking. Some mentors have shared that their generosity in mentorship stems from having benefited themselves from strong mentors .
What are you most proud of?
A career is one component of our life and for many of our participants, it has brought immense pride. On the other hand, some participants have shared that they are not the most proud of themselves, but of their parents or other family and friends. We welcome stories from your perspective, but it need not only be about you.
What are the hardships you overcame and how did you overcome them?
Because the AAPI community is incredibly diverse, generalizations about the hardships that Asians in the U.S. must overcome to become successful lawyers and judges are less helpful. That is why the BBB Project sources submissions directly from the participants themselves, so they can illustrate any hardships they overcame in their own way.
Would you have done anything differently if given the chance to do it again?
Most of our luminaries may not have very many regrets in light of their success. However, some of our luminaries have already shared incredible stories of wishing they had done something differently—earlier, later, better, etc. Stories of hindsight are helpful for readers wanting to understand the human behind the luminary, especially because they can look most of our luminaries up and learn about their accomplishments themselves.
Participant Submission Guidelines
Written Submission
The six questions above are a non-exhaustive and meant to help frame your submission. We welcome your individual approach. We are happy to discuss other approaches to the submission you may prefer that are aligned with the purpose of the BBB Project.
Your written submission can be anywhere from one sentence to approximately two pages (12-point Serif font with double-spacing).
Photo Submission
We would also appreciate it if you can provide a digital copy of one photograph to immediately follow your submission. The photograph can be of anyone or anything—you, family, a mentor, a place, etc.—that helps the reader visualize your submission from your perspective. It should provide insight into you as an individual, as well as context for your submission for the book.
Ways to Submit
You can send your submission directly to your contact on the BBB Project team via email if we have already been in contact with you about your participation. Recommendations for candidates should be submitted through the contact form on this website and a member of the BBB Project team will get back to you.
Sample Participant Submission
Victor has been a huge support system from the conception of the BBB Project to each day we continue to advance it, including by completing his submission so our future participants can have a reference. We hope you enjoy his submission below and find it helpful for your own.
I was supposed to be named Howard. For all three kids, my parents wanted a “normal” American name that sounded like my Chinese name. Days before I was born, though, another Chinese family had a son they named Howard. No mother of another Howard, my mom scrambled, cast alliteration aside, and named me “Victor” so I would be the victorious one.
Growing up, I remember an obsession with what my classmates were doing and how I stacked up against them. Like many second generation immigrants, dinner conversation often focused on why an A- was not an A+; my extracurriculars were based on my success and not my interests (hence, debater not athlete); my future was my choice between doctor, lawyer and engineer; and college visits were unnecessary since my choice of school was going to be the one ranked highest. Though annoying at the time, I can now understand this constant comparison as my parents, desperate for guidance and validation, navigated life in an unfamiliar place. For me, it meant I never had to agonize over who I was or what I wanted to be; for our family, these were simple questions with obvious and empirical answers.
Thankfully, I have largely lived up to my name and parents’ expectations—high school valedictorian, Stanford, Harvard Law, AmLaw 100 firm, and litigation partner. (Though, truthfully, I have no idea what Howard has done.) Imagine their shock, then, when my sister and I informed them we would be competing in Season 14 of The Amazing Race. They could not fathom why I would want to risk everything for a stint on reality TV. This is not something big law partners did. True, and that was one of the main reasons why I wanted to do it.
As I reflect on my career so far, I take most pride not in the above achievements, but in the choices I made without regard to what others did or how it compared to others. I am extremely grateful for my parents and thankful for the achievements they pushed me towards. But there is something unsatisfying about orthodox success; and, by definition, a life guided by comparison to others is impersonal. My mark on law and in life lies elsewhere.
If I had to describe myself as a lawyer, I would say: Victor is someone who chose not to apply for law review or judicial clerkships, who did not pursue international transactional work even though he could take advantage of his Chinese language skills, who started as an entertainment lawyer in the hopes that would make him “cool,” who was a mid-pack biller who wanted to be seen as the “smart” one and not the “hardworking” one who tried to bill his way to partner, who stubbornly embraced a generalist practice despite clear trends towards specialization, and who tried to live a balanced life with many interests and projects beyond the law, all in an attempt to prove that one could work as a full-time lawyer, on a part-time basis, without compromising.
I do not claim to have transcended comparison. But I truly believe I was and am at my best when I practice law, nay live life, without comparing myself to others. I want my legacy to be defined not in terms of Howard or anyone else, but by the choices I made that are the most indisputably Victor.
Victor Hao-Jan Jih