CAPABA is pleased to announce that two of our members, Proloy Das and William Tong, have been selected by a NAPABA Selection Committee to receive the 2011 NAPABA’s Best Lawyers Under 40 Award at the 2011 NAPABA Convention to be held in Atlanta next month.
The purpose of this Award, according to NAPABA, is “to recognize talented individuals within the Asian Pacific American (APA) legal community under the age of 40 who have achieved prominence and distinction in their fields of endeavor – be it the practice of law, academia, business, civic and charitable affairs, the judiciary, or politics – and who have demonstrated a strong commitment to APA civic or community affairs.”
Carlton Chen, chair of the CAPABA BU40 Nominating Committee, said, “In recent years, only 18-20 individuals around the country have been recognized annually to receive this prestigious national Award, making it most highly selective. Therefore, it is extremely rare that two individuals from the same affiliate would be chosen in any given year. That’s a testament to the accomplishments and talents of Proloy and William.”
Proloy is a litigation partner at the Hartford office of Rome McGuigan, P.C. He is the first Indian-American hired by the Connecticut Office of the Chief State’s Attorney and excelled in appellate work. As chair of the Young Lawyer Section of the Connecticut Bar Association, he brought programming to junior lawyers at an unprecedented level. Proloy has been honored by several legal and business publications in New England, including as one of the Law & Politics “Rising Stars” for four consecutive years (2008-11) for those under 40 years old, as well as a Connecticut Super Lawyer & Rising Star for 2009-11. He is a prolific legal writer and serves on the editorial boards of the Connecticut Law Tribune, Connecticut Bar Journal, and Connecticut Lawyer magazine. He was recently appointed to the Judicial Performance Evaluation Program Advisory Panel of the State’s Judicial Branch. Proloy is a law graduate of Indiana University and a member of the Connecticut bar.
William is a Democratic candidate for United States Senate who is running for the seat of Senator Joseph Lieberman (Conn. – I). As an experienced lawyer, he was previously a finalist for the United States Attorney in Connecticut. He currently serves as a state representative of the 147th District (Stamford/New Canaan) in the Connecticut General Assembly, and is a member of its Judiciary Committee. He also is chairman of its Banks Committee, vice chairman of its Energy & Technology Committee, and a member of its General Law Committee and Commerce Committee. When not at the Capitol, he serves as of counsel at the Stamford office of Finn Dixon & Herling LLP, where he is a commercial litigator. He began his legal career as an associate at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in New York City. William is a law graduate of the University of Chicago and a member of the New York and Connecticut bar.
Past BU40 Award recipients who are CAPABA members include Tanya Bovée (2010), Susan Kim (2008), Joe Khanna (2006), and Amy Lin Meyerson (2003).