KABA is delighted to feature a distinguished panel of locally based Korean American female attorneys at its 2024 Women's Leadership Forum:

Bonita B. Hwang Cho, Partner, Law Offices of Cheng, Cho & Yee; KABA Past President (Panelist)

Bonita B. Hwang Cho is a partner at the Law Offices of Cheng, Cho & Yee, where she specializes in immigration and nationality law. She received her J.D. degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law and her B.S. degree in Business Administration at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. Ms. Cho is a past president of the Korean American Bar Association and is also a member and past co-chair for the Asylum Committee, EOIR Committee, and Conference Planning Committee of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. She has also previously chaired the Immigration Law Committee for the Young Lawyers Division of the Chicago Bar Association and co-chaired the Solo/Small Firm Committee of the National Asian and Pacific American Bar
Association. Ms. Cho is currently a board member of the Asian American Law Foundation and is a member of the Board of Directors at Cornerstone Counseling Center of Chicago.

Caroline Kwon, Assistant State's Attorney, Cook County Assistant State's Attorney's Office; KABA Past President (Panelist)

Caroline Kwon is a first chair Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney in the Juvenile Justice Bureau/Child Protection Division and has been since April 2019.  Prior to that, she was a supervisor at the Cook County Public Guardian’s Office.  Ms. Kwon received her J.D. from John Marshall Law School and her undergraduate degree in political science from Loyola University Chicago.  She has dedicated her career to public service and is looking forward to retirement in a couple of years.  Ms. Kwon is a former president of the Korean American Bar Association. Ms. Kwon lives in the Chicago suburbs with her husband and young daughter.

Huiri Kim, CEO, HemaChrome, LLC (Panelist)

Huiri Kim commenced her career 20+ years ago in New York City "Big Law".  She soon transitioned in-house and with hard work and serendipitous opportunity, she returned to Chicago and eventually landed the coveted role of General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer, joining the male dominated C-Suite of a division of a Fortune 200 company.  Realizing that her favorite part of the job was business counseling, Ms. Kim took a leap of faith and left this role to seek other opportunities.  She earned her MBA and networked her way to the role of CEO and GC of a digital health start-up.  Ms. Kim's new entrepreneurial path often feels daunting and self-doubt is a constant frenemy. However, the potential of her company to save lives and having (mostly) overcome her fear of failure inspires her to keep pushing forward.