PABA is proud to announce the recipient of this year’s PABA Community Champion Award– PABA Lifetime Member, Minh T. Nguyen.
Minh is the founder and lead trial attorney at Nguyen Lawyers, ALC, a boutique five- lawyer litigation firm that primarily represents catastrophically injured clients in personal injury lawsuits. He handles difficult cases that are often rejected by other law firms. For example, in 2002, right out of law school, he took on an orphaned case – a case that had been rejected by three different law firms and could not find a home – from start to finish. He represented a five-year-old boy who was injured in an intersection car accident. The driver of the boy’s car was uninsured, unlicensed, on anti-depressant medication, and had made a left turn in front of oncoming traffic. Despite the foregoing, he sued the city and proved that the intersection was dangerous. He recovered $3.5 million for the boy and his family. Since then, he has gone on to recover over $111 million in settlements and verdicts for his clients. He has been recognized by his peers as a Super Lawyer for the past 5 years for his tireless energy and commitment to his clients. He believes in justice for every man, woman, and child regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual preference.
Minh is a member of the Board of Governors of the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles (CAALA), Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC) President’s Club, and a former trustee for UC Hastings, College of the Law. Minh currently serves on the Executive Committee of CAALA as Secretary and will be President of CAALA in 2023.
Minh mentors young lawyers by volunteering his time as an instructor for CAALA’s Plaintiff Trial Academy, teaching new trial lawyers advanced trial skills in an annual, intense 15-day training. He is a Past President of the Los Angeles Trial Lawyers Charities, an entirely volunteer-run 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides financial assistance, focusing on issues related to education, children, survivors of abuse, persons with disabilities, and homelessness. Under Minh’s leadership in 2014, LATLC implemented the annual “Casino Night” fundraiser, wherein the funds have enabled LATLC to donate more than $3,500,000 to the community in grants, gifts and goods; 545,359 pounds of food, totaling more than 848,000 meals; $120,000 in College Scholarships; and more than $100,000 to Youth Sports. In 2016, Minh led LATLC in hosting the “First Annual Holiday Turkey and Toy Giveaway,” its first own service event to donate over 500 turkeys and over 1,000 toys to local families in Los Angeles. More recently, in 2017, Minh spearheaded LATLC’s partnership with SoCal Trykers, founded by a group of physical therapists who help disabled children in the area acquire adapted tricycles, to fund, built, and present 33 customized tricycles to children with special needs to date.
Minh is an avid supporter of his Long Beach community. He regularly speaks to high school students and funds high school scholarships to local Cambodian-American students. He also sponsors local community centers such as the United Cambodian Community, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, multi-cultural, social services agency.
For more information and to purchase your tickets for the gala, please visit our Gala webpage at http://philippineamericanbar.org/?page_id=1048.