Ms. Young was in the first class of women graduates of Yale College, where she majored in East Asian Studies and received a Bates Fellowship to study in Japan under Yasunari Kawabata, the first Japanese Nobel Prize Winner in Literature. At Harvard Law School, she was a member of the East Asian Legal Studies Program, and was a research assistant and advisor to the Admissions Committee.

Ms. Young concentrates her practice in corporate law and international business. She advises US companies, multinationals, and entrepreneurs on their investment activities throughout Asia, including complex cross-border transactions and sensitive legal and governmental strategies. She also assists clients in identifying potential Asian partners and resources. In addition, Ms. Young advises foreign businesses and individuals on their investments, operations and financing activities in the US. She represents clients in a wide range of disciplines, including joint ventures, partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, finance, trade, foreign ownership issues, regulatory matters, trademark and copyright, employment, tax, private placements, not-for-profits, real estate, manufacturing projects, licensing, high technology, telecommunications, retailing, commercial lending, restructuring, and general business negotiations. She has been in private practice for close to thirty years.

Ms. Young has been based in New York, Hong Kong and Tokyo and speaks Japanese, Mandarin Chinese and French. She is a trustee of the Aspen Institute and The American Assembly, member of the Board of Directors of Mizuho Trust & Banking Co. (USA) and vice chairman of the Committee of 100. Ms. Young is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Chairman's Forum of the Council on Foreign Relations; President's Council of the Asia Society and the US-China Business Council. Ms. Young was a special guest of the White House to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum and has served as an advisor to the US Department of Commerce.

Ms. Young is listed with Who's Who of American Women, Who's Who in American Law and Who's Who of Asian Americans. She has been named by Crain's, in their list of the "Top 100 Minority Executives" (one of only three corporate lawyers named), and by Avenue Asia magazine as one of the five most influential Asian-American corporate lawyers in the US. In 1989 she was named by Crain's as one of the "40 Outstanding Achievers Under 40," and received the "New York Doers" Award, and in 1992 she received, from New York Women's Agenda, a Star Award for outstanding corporate and civic achievements. Ms. Young is the 1994 Honoree of New York University School of Law's Journal on International Law and Politics. She frequently lectures on current law, business and foreign policy issues and has appeared on CNN, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, The Charlie Rose Show, PBS, ABC Nightline, Fuji TV, and China Television Network on these subjects. She has been featured in The New York Times, Fortune, Forbes, Business Week, Newsweek, The National Law Journal, Where They Are Now: The Story of Women of Harvard Law 1974 (Doubleday, 1986) and Working Women for the 21st Century (Williamson Publishing, 1991).

Prior to joining Kaye Scholer, Ms. Young was a partner and head of the Japan Corporate Practice at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy. Prior to joining Milbank, Ms. Young was the founding and resident managing partner of the New York office of Graham & James, a California law firm.

She is married to Thomas L. Shortall and the mother of two children.