Profiles: Amy Yeung '06
Committed to Community
Whether it's a garden or developing a cure, to give back to the community is to have succeeded.
In the course of a 30-minute conversation with Amy Yeung, the theme of giving
back to the community comes up repeatedly.
"Whether it's creating a garden or developing a cure, to give back to the community is to have succeeded," says Yeung, paraphrasing Ralph Waldo Emerson. "That is something I truly, deeply believe in. If you take, you have a responsibility to give back."
Yeung contributes to the Duke Law community in many ways, having assumed a number of key leadership roles: organizer of ESQ., the Business Law Society's annual career symposium; vice-president of the Federalist Society; managing editor of the Duke Journal of Comparative and International Law , and president of the Duke Bar Association (DBA), to name a few. The question of compulsory legal pro bono for Duke Law students is one she wants DBA to consider under her leadership, she says.
"So many Duke Law students are already involved in the community, however they define it–through Guardian Ad Litem, the Public Refugee Program, Street Law, or volunteering to teach children at church camp. But there is always a need for more people to get involved."
It's a philosophy and practice that Yeung says she learned from her parents while growing up in Centerville, Ohio. As a newly immigrated citizen, her mother was involved as a volunteer in shaping policy within the public school system, and in coordinating efforts of Japanese-Americans in Ohio regarding reparations for internment during World War II, in addition to teaching Japanese at Wittenberg University and in her own school.
"I saw the tangible results that came out of her volunteer work, and the special effort she made as a teacher to keep her students motivated and engaged," says Yeung. "That's why I like getting involved."
Following her graduation from the University of Chicago, Yeung worked as a paralegal with Williams and Connolly in Washington, D.C. for two years, in order to get a sense of what was actually involved in a legal career. While there, she joined the Young Republicans, and promptly persuaded its membership to help with the ongoing maintenance of a local school and participate in Habitat for Humanity following the campaign season.
Both organizer and organized, Yeung spent a year before entering Duke Law School as a small business consultant, taking on the reorganization of a satellite contracting business. Although she had no formal experience in business, she says the challenge didn't phase her.
When there's something in front of me, I may not know how to do it, but I'm not above asking, and asking a lot of questions to try to understand the context.
That's the underlying philosophy with which she approached ESQ. 2005, hoping that it would be a forum where students, particularly 1Ls, could ask questions of experienced practitioners in an informal setting, and thus make a connection between their classes and their careers.
"A law school education should be about exploring a range of interests, so that after graduation, individuals can tailor it–they can best mesh their work with their personal goals. And I think ESQ. accomplished that this year," says Yeung. It was an unqualified success; almost 150 students took advantage of a chance to meet and question 30 business lawyers and leaders.
For her part, while she likes the entrepreneurial side of business–she even auditioned for the reality television show "The Apprentice" last spring–Yeung doesn't think she has a taste for the risk involved. Having spent the summer working for Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP in Washington, D.C., she plans to approach business from a different angle, through bankruptcy and white-collar criminal work. Its appeal has a familiar theme.
"I like the policy element–structuring the larger system so that people are motivated to act in the best manner for themselves and for society."