Attorney’s Dogged Dedication

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When attorney Karen Johnson says she’s been a lifelong fan of dachshunds, she means lifelong.

“My first word wasn’t mom or dad, it was Trixie, the name of our family’s dachshund,” she said. “She was my best friend from the time I was born.”

Given the connection, it’s not surprising that Johnson now spends much of her free time working on behalf of Dachshund Rescue of Los Angeles, the third rescue organization in Southern California she’s worked with over the past 10 years.

In that time, Johnson, a partner at Walsworth downtown, said she’s fostered more than 30 pups and helped find homes for countless others. She helps put on weekly adoption events and coordinates with other members of the rescue organization to pull dachshunds out of high-kill shelters from San Diego to Fresno.

“I’ve always thought it’s important to give something back,” she said.

Johnson said her first dog rescue actually happened while she was a student at Southwestern Law School. Coming out of class, she saw a dog in the middle of Wilshire Boulevard and dodged a bus to pull it to safety. Johnson sat on the school’s front steps and asked everyone coming out of the building if they could take the dog until someone finally did. That first act has snowballed into something of an obsession.

“I can’t pass up a rescue opportunity now,” she said.

Johnson has three dachshunds of her own – along with a border collie and a menagerie of other animals. She said one of the biggest challenges with rescuing dogs is they often have emotional problems and even when an adoptive family is fully vetted it sometimes doesn’t work out and the animals find their way back to her. Of the half-dozen dachshunds she’s fostered this year, a few have had behavioral issues.

Johnson said these issues are rarely anything love, kindness, and lots of treats can’t fix.

Tax Returns

Growing up in the San Fernando Valley as the son of South Korean immigrants without high school degrees, Andy Park, tax partner at Ernst & Young, knew the importance of having a mentor.

His older cousin Ted helped him stay focused on school when he was younger.

“He didn’t go to college,” said Park. “He encouraged me not to select the path he went down.”

Park, 34, was reminded of this lesson recently when he led a group of high schoolers from Santee Education Complex in South Los Angeles in an exercise pitching a business idea during EY Connect Day, the firm’s annual community service day.

“What most impressed me was how receptive and coachable the students were,” he said.

The students were tasked with creating a product out of supplies such as construction paper, toys, and straws, and coming up with a business plan. Park’s group thought of a monthly surprise gift subscription service called “Surprise You.”

Park shared the public speaking training he’d gotten at EY.

“I focused on the importance of being confident, maintaining eye contact, and keeping your weight on both feet,” he said.

The experience made him want to continue doing such work. He plans to join EY’s program helping Santee students with college applications.

“To me it was very inspiring,” he said. “It reminded me of the importance of giving back.”

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