Speakers

Sung Eun (Summer) Kim
Professor of Law, Faculty Director UCI Law Korea Law Center

Professor Summer Kim is Professor of Law, and Faculty Director of the Korea Law Center, at the University of California, Irvine, School of Law. Professor Kim’s primary research and teaching interests are in corporate law, corporate governance, financial regulation, and contracts. Her scholarship examines how legal and market structures create and deepen inequities in our society, and her work aims to close these gaps. Prior to law teaching, Professor Kim practiced law at Kirkland & Ellis and Shearman & Sterling, where she specialized in the areas of debt finance and capital markets. She received her J.D. from Harvard Law School and her B.A. in Economics, summa cum laude, from Seoul National University. She is a member of the New York and California bars. 


Khary D. Hornsby
Assistant Dean of Global Programs, UCI Law

Khary Hornsby’s passion is developing programs that grow resilient legal professionals who are able to employ cognitive, emotional, and cultural intelligence skill sets to gracefully manage the diverse and demanding issues presented in a dynamic, global, professional setting. As the Assistant Dean for LL.M. and International Programs at the University of California, Irvine School of Law, he oversees the development of the school’s first suite of international student programs. His responsibilities include overseeing the marketing, recruitment, admission, cultural and academic orientation programming, international alumni relations, and cultural and academic orientation efforts.

Dean Hornsby earned a Bachelor of Science degree in cellular and molecular biology from the University of Michigan—Ann Arbor, and is a graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School, where he was on the editorial board of Law and Inequality: A Journal of Theory and Practice.


Grace Lee
Program Director, UCI Law Korea Law Center

Grace Lee serves as the Program Director for the Korea Law Center at the University of California, Irvine School of Law. Before coming to UCI Law, Grace was the National Training and Policy Attorney at the American Bar Association Commission on Domestic & Sexual Violence in Washington, D.C.  Prior to that, she was a staff attorney with the Asian and Pacific Islander Community Outreach Unit at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles. She provided direct representation to limited English-proficient domestic violence survivors in family and immigration proceedings and has spoken and presented at national conferences on the topics of language access, family and immigration law. Ms. Lee received her undergraduate degree in political science from the University of California, Irvine and her J.D. from Loyola Law School of Los Angeles. She is a member of the California bar.


Stephen Lee
Professor of Law, UCI Law

Professor Lee received his B.A. from Stanford University, his M.A. from UCLA, and his J.D. from UC Berkeley School of Law. Previously, Professor Lee worked at Skadden, Arps, and clerked for Judge Mary Schroeder on the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.  Prior to joining the UCI law faculty, he was a Grey Fellow at Stanford Law School.

Professor Lee writes about immigrants and immigration law. Past scholarship has addressed how enforcement realities constrain immigration law and policy across a variety of contexts, including the workplace, the criminal justice system, the food industry, and our banking system; the legal, political, and empirical significance of deferred action programs; and how the law enables violence across the immigration system.   Recent work has appeared in or is forthcoming in the Duke Law Journal, Columbia Law Review, and the Washington University Law Review among other publications.


Hye-Won Shin, Ph.D.
UCI Office of Global Engagement

Dr. Hye-Won Shin serves as the international liaison for Korean and Asia relations at UCI.  She is involved in departmental, college, and university level initiatives that promote UCI’s vision of becoming a global leader in education and innovation.  Her role is to facilitate collaborative relationships with educational, governmental, and private industrial entities in Korea and other Asian countries.  As a biomedical scientist with a chemical engineering background and clinical translational science experience, Dr. Shin is responsible for connecting UCI’s K-12 educational programs with public and private schools in Asia.  In addition, Dr. Shin leads UCI’s Korean Alumni Chapter, the very first international alumni chapter at UCI. Dr. Shin received for D.Engr. from the University of California, Irvine in Biomedical and Chemical Engineering and her M.Engr. from KAIST, South Korea, in Chemical Engineering.


William Hernandez
Executive Director of the Center for Global Leadership, UCI Paul Merage School of Business

Professor William Hernández has a Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University Law Center, in Washington D.C., and a Masters Degree in Spanish and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of California, Irvine.

Professor Hernández is the Executive Director of the Center for Global Leadership at UC Irvine’s Paul Merage School of Business. He also consults in the areas of international management, international business development, international negotiations, and organizational development.

Professor Hernández has taught or is presently teaching at UC Irvine’s Paul Merage School of Business and the Instituto de la Empresa (IE) School of Law in Madrid, Spain. His courses include Advanced Negotiations, International Business Negotiations, International Trade Regulation and the WTO, International Expansion, and international Marketing. In addition to teaching, Hernández also was the founding Director of the Asturias Business School, a joint venture between the Spanish government and California State University, San Francisco. As a result of his efforts, a degree from ABS is recognized in the U.S. and Europe. Recently, Professor Hernández was named an international expert by the United Nations Development Program in Cuba in the area of Foreign Investment Negotiations.


James Irvine Swinden
Board Member and Founder of UCI Law

James Irvine Swinden is a direct descendent of James Irvine and the Irvine family, who have been instrumental in developing much of Orange County’s residential, commercial, and preservation land since the family first purchased over 100,000 acres in the mid-1860s. As the son of fourth generation Irvine family descendant Joan Irvine Smith, who is a longtime member of the Irvine Company Board of Trustees, Irvine Swinden studied law at the Loyola Law School and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School before becoming a real estate developer.

He co-founded the Irvine Museum Collection in 1992 with Joan Irvine Smith and his grandmother (Joan’s mother), Athalie Richardson Irvine Clarke, after his mother called on him to help her house the extraordinary display of California regional art that she had collected. The museum opened to the public in 1993 and was dedicated to the preservation and display of California art of the impressionist period (1890-1930).


Austen Parrish
Dean and Chancellor’s Professor of Law, UCI Law

Austen Parrish joined University of California, Irvine School of Law in August 2022 as Its third dean. Previously, Dean Parrish was the Dean and James H. Rudy Professor of Law at Indiana University Maurer School of Law. Dean Parrish’s research and teaching interests focus on transnational law, transnational litigation, and the role that national courts and domestic institutions play in solving global challenges. He is the author of numerous scholarly articles published in leading law reviews and is the co-author of two books. He has particular expertise in legal and policy issues related to the extraterritorial application of domestic law. Over his career, he has taught a variety of courses, including Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Federal Courts, Transnational Law, International Environmental Law, and Public International Law.  Dean Parrish received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington and his law degree from Columbia University, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone scholar. 


Tammy Kim
Councilmember, City of Irvine

Tammy is a mother, a nonprofit leader, educator, community advocate, small-business owner, and former corporate executive who has lived, worked, and raised her son in Orange County for the past two decades. She was elected to the Irvine City Council in November 2020 in a historic win, beating out 13 other candidates to take first place. She won her seat with more than 43,700 votes, the highest vote count for any City Council candidate in the City’s history.

Born in Korea, Tammy’s family immigrated to America as an infant and went on to a successful career as a business executive in Fortune 500 and venture-backed technology start-ups resolving highly complex business and management issues managing multinational teams.

She is the founder and Managing Director of the Irvine based nonprofit Korean American Center. The center then merged with KCS Inc, becoming one of the largest social service providers serving the Asian American community throughout Orange County.

Tammy is a well-respected civic and community leader who has served as Chair of the Language Access Committee for the Orange County Registrar of Voters, Orange County Complete Count Committee for the 2020 Census, and on the Steering Committee for the Irvine Global Village Festival.


Eugene Kim, Esq.

Eugene Kim currently serves as a Fractional General Counsel, specializing in contract negotiation, corporate governance, intellectual property, and financial structuring, primarily for startups across diverse industries. His deep expertise significantly advances the legal and business frameworks within these organizations.

As Chief Legal Officer at Levvels, Eugene founded the legal department for this Web3 joint venture between Dunamu, operator of Upbit—South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange—and HYBE, a global entertainment leader known for managing the musical group BTS. In this role, he adeptly navigated the complex legal and regulatory landscape of blockchain technology, particularly at its intersection with entertainment law.

At NAVER WEBTOON, Eugene initially served as the company’s first General Counsel, establishing the legal department and spearheading the company’s strategic legal and IP initiatives, including securing major partnerships with global media platforms. Later, as Head of Strategy and Business Development, he launched the company’s inaugural merchandise program, which significantly drove revenue growth and expanded WEBTOON's market presence. His influential work at WEBTOON was highlighted in Modern Counsel magazine in 2020.

Prior to these roles, Eugene started his corporate legal career at Ingram Micro, a Fortune 100 company specializing in technology and supply chain services. There, he was part of the team that managed the $6 billion acquisition by HNA Group.

Eugene's contributions to the legal field were recognized with the Trailblazer Award from the Orange County Korean American Bar Association in 2022.

He earned his J.D. from Osgoode Hall Law School, an M.A. in Asian Languages and Cultures from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a B.A., magna cum laude, from Biola University. Eugene is licensed to practice in both California and Ontario, Canada.


The Honorable Richard Lee
Superior Court of California, County of Orange

Honorable Richard Lee is a judge with the Orange County Superior Court where he currently presides over unlimited civil matters.

Judge Lee has previously presided over criminal matters, juvenile matters, and appellate matters. He has also served as a Supervising Judge and is a faculty lecturer to California judges on a variety of topics, including ethics and new judge orientation. Upon his appointment by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Judge Lee became the first Korean-American judge to serve in Orange County. Prior to becoming a judge, Judge Lee was a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for approximately 10 years. Judge Lee also worked as a litigator at Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP, and he clerked for two Superior Court judges in Los Angeles. Judge Lee earned his undergraduate degree in Human Biology with Departmental Honors from Stanford University and his law degree from the University of Southern California Law School.


The Honorable Joseph Kang
Superior Court of California, County of Orange

Honorable Joseph Kang is currently an Orange County Superior Court Judge, serving on the Juvenile Dependency Panel at the Lamoreaux Justice Center. He was appointed to the bench by Governor Gavin Newsom on February 17, 2023, and sworn in on March 13, 2023.  Prior to Judge Kang’s appointment, he was a Deputy Public Defender IV with the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office, assigned to felony trials, and was with the Office for over 23 years. 

Judge Kang’s family immigrated to the State of Hawaii from South Korea in 1976.  After high school, he moved to California and later graduated from UCLA with a BA degree in Political Science and received his law degree from Southwestern Law School. 

Judge Kang’s pastime and hobbies include spending time with his family, listening to jazz and other music albums, and practicing Kendo with his son. 


The Honorable June Jee An
Superior Court of California, County of Orange

Honorable June Jee An is a Judge with the Orange County Superior Court.  Prior to her appointment, Judge An served as the Deputy General Counsel for the Orange County Superior Court, managing all fifty-six (56) research attorneys employed by the Court, spanning several different areas of law.  Judge An has almost twenty (20) years of experience in civil, family, probate and juvenile law.  After graduating from law school in 2003, Judge An worked for a small complex class action law firm before becoming a law clerk with the Los Angeles Superior Court in 2005.  In 2014, Judge An moved to the Orange County Superior Court as a probate attorney before promoting to the position of Deputy General Counsel in May 2016.  In June 2022, Judge An was elected by the judges of Orange County Superior Court to serve as a commissioner.  Judge An is currently assigned to the probate panel at the Costa Mesa Justice Complex.

Judge An earned her Juris Doctorate from Loyola Law School and her B.A. from UCLA with a major in Sociology and a minor in Asian American Studies.


Jeffrey Wachs
Principal Counsel, Business & Legal Affairs, Original Films at Netflix

A graduate of UCI Law’s inaugural class, Jeffrey Wachs currently serves as a principal counsel of business and legal affairs for Netflix's Original Films group. Prior to that, he was vice president of business and legal affairs at Lakeshore Entertainment. He also practiced as an entertainment and media associate at Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP and a litigation associate at O’Melveny & Myers LLP. Before entering law school, Wachs worked in the entertainment industry as a screenwriter and as an agent trainee at the William Morris Agency. 

Jeffrey lives in the hills of the San Fernando Valley with his wife Hannah, their three daughters, and a not particularly smart but very charming dog.