The National Press Club welcomed 300 lawyers, judges, and politicians for the 21st annual Asian Pacific American Bar Association Educational Fund benefit dinner. The nonprofit gives public interest fellowships and grants to young lawyers. We spotted the recently-appointed US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit Judge Sri Srinivasan, second from left, surrounded by O'Melveny associate, AEF board member, and former Kagan clerk Rakesh Kilaru, DOJ's Caroline Lopez and Julian Yap, and DC Superior Court Judge Craig Iscoe. Later on, ABC reporter Kathy Park hosted the dinner and California Supreme Court Associate Justice Goodwin Liu gave the keynote.

We also snapped Judge Gerald Bruce Lee of the Rocket Docket and US District Judge Royce Lamberth taking a break from browsing the silent auction options. (We spotted some great Nats and Orioles tickets up for grabs.) Judge Lee was one of the founders of APABA's Virginia chapter. He proudly mentioned that the first Asian-American judge in Virginia's history was elected to the bench last year—Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge John Tran, an APABA-VA past president—and emphasized that he's the first, but won't be the only.