Gala Dinner

We are excited to announce that VABANC’s 28th Annual Gala Dinner will be on Friday, October 23, 2026 at San Jose City Hall Rotunda (200 East Santa Clara Street, San Jose, CA 95112).

The evening is a celebration of VABANC’s commitment to cultivating and nurturing relationships between Vietnamese American judges, legal professionals, law students, and the Vietnamese American communities of Northern California.

Our Gala Dinner will recognize recipients for the “Trailblazer,” “Community Impact,” and “Lifetime Achievement” Awards. Scholarships will be conferred to Bay Area Vietnamese American law students who demonstrate a commitment to serving the needs of the Vietnamese American community and intend on furthering their work in public interest.

PURCHASE TICKETS HERE

Proceeds will go towards providing scholarships for future Vietnamese American law students, and ensuring critical resources are available to continue the work of promoting professional development for Vietnamese Americans in the legal community. If you are interested in becoming a Gala Sponsor, please click here for our packet.

VABANC was formed to cultivate and nurture professional relationships between Vietnamese American judges, attorneys, law students, and the Vietnamese American communities in Northern California.

With your support, VABANC has accomplished so much in the last thirty years, including:

Celebrating the appointment of numerous Vietnamese American judges to the bench in California, with the most recent being the appointment of the Honorable Judge Thanh Ngo;
Raising over $50,000 in scholarship funds to support our next generation of lawyers, including law students from Berkeley Law, UC Davis School of Law, and UC Law San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings);
Establishing the VABANC Law Foundation, a charitable arm of VABANC that offers a year-long public interest fellowship which has grown to $50,000 annually and has fostered the work of seven public interest attorneys working with various legal aid organizations to promote justice and access to legal services and resources for those in the community, particularly those from under resourced or underserved communities;
Celebrating our ten years of pro bono legal clinics supporting hundreds of community members with in-language support through legal consultations, including establishing a legal clinic with the Vietnamese American Service Center in San Jose in 2023/2024;
Elevating our mentorship program spearheaded by the Honorable Judge Jacqueline Duong where experienced attorneys are paired with law students and new/transitioning attorneys; and
Launching the National Conference of Vietnamese American Attorneys (NCVAA), which will be celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.

A big thank you to our sponsors for supporting the 2025 Gala Dinner!

Diamond Sponsors: