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<td width=8 valign=top> </td> <td width=1 valign=top bgcolor=#996725> </td> <td width=11 valign=top> </td> <td width=770 valign=top>  <ins data-revive-zoneid="3" data-revive-id="74fc6fd638807399977eb1eeebe89de8"></ins> <script async src="//asianmedia.com/MS3/www/delivery/asyncjs.php"></script> <br> <table width=770 border=0 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr> <td width=404 valign=top> <p align=center> <font size=1 face=arial> <a href=/index.html> GOLDSEA</a> | <a href=https://asiams.net/index.html> ASIAMS.NET</a> | <a href=/Personalities/personalities.html> ASIAN AMERICAN PERSONALITIES</a> </font> </p> <p align=center> <a href=https://goldsea.com/Personalities/Inspiring/inspiring.html> <font size=3 face=Arial color=#996725> THE 130 MOST <font color=#ff0000>INSPIRING</font> ASIAN AMERICANS <br>OF <font color=#ff0000>ALL</font> TIME </font></a> </p> <h1> U.S. Attorney Debra Yang: <span class=red>Legally </span>Renowned </h1> <p class=page> PAGE 2 OF 4 </p> <p> <b>GS:</b> Paint a picture of your day at the office. <br> <b>DY:</b> Sometimes in the morning I'll be woken up at six for conference calls with Washington D.C. about certain cases, about certain issues. Then I will go to a meeting with the executive board of the Joint Terrorism Task Force and try to determine whether we're responding to leads in the right way and whether we can do better and make sure we're coordinated about what our response is going to be in the terrorism arena. I will then get in my car. I'm always on the cellphone -- big multi-tasker because I don't have enough time in the day -- and I'll be talking to either assistants in my office about cases or the chief of the criminal division, if they need decisions from me. <br> I carry a Blackberry on me. I am on that thing all the time. They told me that in the last eight months I had 5,000 hits on my Blackberry which means I'm utilizing all my time for work-related reasons. It allows me to have quick turnaround with all the lawyers in my office so they're not waiting on me for a response. I was on the phone the other day talking to the president of a small college about developing an Asian studies center because I'm very committed to the Asian community and to women's issues. I was trying to brainstorm because one of the things the Asian community doesn't have is an academic center where it generates numbers, does statistical analysis and enables us as a community to ask for other things -- funding, grant monies. Sometimes we need those kinds of things if we're going to ask for things or point things out statistically. If we want to have more Asians in corporate America, we need to have some showing as to whether or not Asians are there. If we have Asians partners in major law firms we need that statistical analysis. <br> I got in. I had a meeting with a chief prosecutor from Venice about ways in which we could collaborate -- problems they're having, problems we're having here, so the diplomatic role... <br><br> <b>GS:</b> Venice Italy, not Venice California? <br> <b>DY:</b> Right. I also happened to meet with a representative from another country. They wanted to pick my brain about different ways we've tried to combat terrorism here, any suggestions we have because in that particular country the Muslim community is relatively disenfranchised and I've been very active in trying to deal with race relations in the city and deal with civil rights as this administration has defined it. That's pretty much human trafficking and racial profiling. I actually chair the civil rights subcommittee for the Attorney General. That's the national chair. I also sit on the Attorney General's Advisory Committee which is a big deal because there are only about twelve U.S. Attorneys who advise the Attorney General on things we should be covering nationally. <br><br> <b>GS:</b> This is something to which you were appointed in 2003? <br> <b>DY:</b> Yes, that's right. And I also sit on President Bush's Corporate Fraud Task Force. That's with other cabinet members and takes up a lot of time as far as trying to figure out national policy. I just got appointed to a new one. The Attorney General has an Intellectual Property Task Force on how we're going to combat computer crime, copyright infringement and things in the cyber arena. So I spent some time on the phone talking to people in different studios about trying to set up a meeting about how to define the issue. Then I came back in and had meetings with people in my office because yesterday James J. Smith from the FBI pled guilty. That entails a number of things going on, so I had some substantive meetings with my staff about that. Then I had some meetings with my staff about a few other cases [on which] they needed some decisions or had to run something by me. Then I spent about an hour of quiet time. I have been working on trying to increase the number of environmental prosecutions. <br><br> <b>GS:</b> What time of the day does that take us to? <br> <b>DY:</b> Three, three-thirty. So I had been trying to work with other U.S. Attorneys' Offices to try to increase the number of vessel pollution cases that go on up and down the west coast... <br><br> <b>GS:</b> Like the Exxon Valdez? <br> <b>DY:</b> That's right, dumping junk into our oceans. ...trying to increase those prosecutions in the environmental arena. I spent a long time working on the document, I spent some time reading that, and I had to do some reading of other documents that I needed to pass on before we send them back to Washington D.C. Then I spent about 40 minutes going through my in box. I spent another 40 minutes returning about 15 calls from other U.S. Attorneys and city councilmen trying to get me to participate in doing some race forums. Hammering out some issues on different kinds of terrorism cases that we're going to investigate. And then I ran to a board meeting because I sit on a board of trustees for a small school. Then I watched my daughter's volleyball game. <br><br> <b>GS:</b> How old is this daughter? <br> <b>DY:</b> I don't want to say. I don't give out information about my children. Then I ran home and made dinner. <br><br> <b>GS:</b> What time does that take us to? <br> <b>DY:</b> That must have been about seven. Made dinner, helped finish homework, packed lunches for the next day, cleaned the house, did the dishes, got the kids into bed by eight-thirty, quarter-'til-nine, read books with them, had them all asleep by about nine-thirty. That was the last one. Then I took out some work and read for about two hours. That is my normal day. <br><br> <b>GS:</b> Then you collapsed? <br> <b>DY:</b> Last night I didn't go to bed until two o'clock in the morning and I was up by six. <br><br> <b>GS:</b> Is that normal, getting four hours of sleep? <br> <b>DY:</b> It's not infrequent, I have to say. <br><br> <b>GS:</b> In your day there's a division between the ceremonial slash policy functions versus the more substantive dealing with your staff. How would you divide your day between those two universes? <br> <b>DY:</b> I would say about quarter of my day is spent interfacing with my staff. Another quarter of my day is spent on whatever my pet projects are. Anther quarter of my day is spent dealing with any issues dealing with Washington D.C. policy or any of the committees I sit on. And the other quarter of the day are my public functions. <br><br> <b>GS:</b> How nitty gritty do you get in dealing with your staff? What level of input are they looking for? What level do you get down to? <br> <b>DY:</b> Anything. I don't get involved in the smaller cases, usually just the bigger cases. <br><br> <b>GS:</b> Are they decisions like "Do we file this or not?" <br> <b>DY:</b> File this, I want to serve subpoenas on these people, I'm giving you a heads up, is that okay? We're going to do this, we're going to target these individuals, is that okay? <br><br> <b>GS:</b> You're talking about major corporations or maybe terrorist organizations or that type of thing? <br> <b>DY:</b> Major public corruption figures, major espionage cases. <br><br> <b>GS:</b> Where there could be a media or public reaction? <br> <b>DY:</b> That's exactly right. Anything that's high profile in nature, either by how it would be received in the public, how it would be received in the Department of Justice or is cutting edge enough that I need to stay on top of it. <br><br> <b>GS:</b> Do you find the substantive queries to be more nitty-gritty than you would like or do you encourage them? <br> <b>DY:</b> I actually miss the nitty-gritty on a personal level as a lawyer, but there's just not enough room in my day for that. So only the important things trickle up. There are times when I have a personal interest in something and I will get much more involved in the nitty-gritty of it such as environmental cases, such as the corporate fraud cases. Right now, the intellectual property cases. Healthcare fraud. But there's a limit to what I can do. <br><br> <b>GS:</b> In terms of the joy in your day, how does your job now differ from the seven years you spent as an assistant U.S. attorney? <br> <b>DY:</b> You know what, I love this job! I only see the best cases in the office. I have tremendous lawyers I work with. They're brilliant, so what I see is brilliant product. I like what I do. I like the sense that my job is to dispense justice. It's not to be unfair, it's to do the just thing. It's a very noble way to live your life, and I enjoy that. <br><br> <b>GS:</b> Do you miss anything about your days as an assistant U.S. attorney? <br> <b>DY:</b> I miss trying cases. I was a judge before I came here. <br><br> <b>GS:</b> We were trying to get a sense of how you compare your life now with when you were here as an assistant U.S. attorney. <br> <b>DY:</b> I think I had less control over my life before. <br><br> <b>GS:</b> So you don't see any drawbacks to being the top dog? <br> <b>DY:</b> No, but I will tell you that it's a very stressful job. It's one of tremendous responsbility. There are very difficult decisions I have to make sometimes. <br><br> <b>GS:</b> Does your term coincide with the term of the President? <br> <b>DY:</b> That's right. It's a presidential appointment with confirmation by the Senate so I serve at the behest of the President. <br><br> <b>GS:</b> So if George Bush doesn't get reelected you stand a chance of being replaced? <br> <b>DY:</b> I <i>will</i> be replaced. It's never been any different. <p align=center> <font size=1 face=arial color=#ff0000> CONTINUED BELOW </font> </p> <hr size=1 color=#aa7530> <table width=auto align=center cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td width=100% align=center>  <ins data-revive-zoneid="250" data-revive-id="fe42daf737bb1b0d1aaecba8499318f1"></ins> <script async src="//amgs5.com/AS/www/delivery/asyncjs.php"></script> </td></tr></table> <hr size=1 color=#aa7530> <p> <br> <b>GS:</b> How does your being an Asian Amerian woman color the way the public and your own staff relate to you? <br> <b>DY:</b> I don't know what other people's perceptions are of me. I know that in general it's a good thing to have an Asian in law enforcement in a high-profile position. It gives people in the Asian community a sense, "There's one of us doing that. I can do that too." My children can do that." It's another door that's been opened. I think it's good for people who are not Asian in the population to see an Asian American who is a very good American, is very much a patriot and is articulate, learned and good at what they do. I think that's a good thing for the public to see. <br><br> <b>GS:</b> You see no drawback in terms of the way the public relates to you? <br> <b>DY:</b> It's a very tough burden I have because expectations can be high. There's never been an Asian woman in this position. There's only been two Asian men and they held it for very brief periods of time. So I feel the responsibility of being a good representative of the community on my shoulders. <br><br> <b>GS:</b> What impact does the rapid growth of the Asian population in the L.A. area have on the DOJ's caseload in the Central District? <br> <b>DY:</b> There are some. What I've seen is an increase in the human trafficking cases that are referred to us. I've seen alien smuggling cases where they're the victims. They're also the perpetrators. Asians are moving more into mainstream America so I'm seeing more of them as defendants too. <br><br> <b>GS:</b> Are you seeing them as defendants in these corporate fraud and securities fraud cases? <br> <b>DY:</b> I also see them as defendants in the gang cases. And Asians have assimilated, they've become a part of the general business population. <a href=yangdebra3.html>PAGE 3</a> </p> <p class=page> <a href=yangdebra.html>Page 1</a> | <a href=yangdebra2.html>2</a> | <a href=yangdebra3.html>3</a> | <a href=yangdebra4.html>4</a> </p> <br><br> <center> <font face=arial size=2 color=#aa7530> <a href=/Personalities/Inspiring/inspiring.html> Back To Main Page </a> </font> </center> </td> <td width=8 valign=top> </td> <td width=1 valign=top bgcolor=#996725> </td> <td width=8 valign=top> </td> <td width=345 valign=top> <img src=/Graphics/pixel345.gif width=345 height=1> <table width=320 border=0 cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 bgcolor=#ffffee><tr> <td width=160 valign=top>  </td> <td width=160 valign=top>  </td> </tr> <tr> <td width=160 valign=top>  </td> <td width=160 valign=top>  </td></tr> </table> <br> <br>  <table width=306 border=0 cellpadding=3 cellspacing=0><tr> <td valign=top> <img src=debra2.jpg width=320 height=361 align=right alt="Debra Yang"> <p class=caption> <span class=ap> </span> </p> </td></tr></table> <br>  <ins data-revive-zoneid="250" data-revive-id="fe42daf737bb1b0d1aaecba8499318f1"></ins> <script async src="//amgs5.com/AS/www/delivery/asyncjs.php"></script> <br>  <table width=250 bgcolor=#ffffee border=0 cellpadding=5 cellspacing=0><tr> <td align=top> <p class=pull> “It's a very tough burden I have because expectations can be high. 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