Thomas T. Chan

Thomas Chan, chairman and founder of Chan Law Group, has been a lawyer and mediator for more than twenty-five years. His practice focuses on: mediation, complex litigation, legal strategy, negotiation, and strategic business transactions, particularly involving intellectual property, technology, entertainment and international trade.

His precedent-setting work in intellectual property law, China trade, encryption software decontrol, and litigating against Microsoft (more than twenty cases in all) has been widely reported in all major news media around the world and in Bill Gates' biographies. He was lead counsel for the first Sino-US PC software joint venture which was reported on the front page of the Chinese People's Daily. He founded the Business Software Alliance. He has successfully represented the banker in a secured transaction funding the production of American Gun (2005) and represented the executive producer and production company in the successful production of The Mars Underground (2005).

Appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce and the U.S. Trade Representative to serve on the Industry Sector Advisory Committee, he advised the U.S. on trade policy in the Reagan and Bush administrations. He served on the board of directors of the Export Managers Association of California, advisory board of the U.S. Small Business Administration's Export Small Business Development Center and the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, and Torrance Memorial Medical Center Foundation. Currently, he serves on the board of NAMWOLF.

A frequent lecturer and commentator, Mr. Chan has been widely quoted in the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, and other national newspapers and magazines, and has made frequent guest appearances on television and radio broadcasts. He has been a speaker at Boalt Hall (UC Berkeley), UCLA School of Law and Anderson School of Management, Finnish Institute for International Trade, SPA, Comdex, MacWorld International Summit, and the Computer Law Association, and was the keynote speaker at the Department of Commerce's Annual Executive Conference. He has testified in U.S. Congressional and Administrative hearings on reducing trade barriers and protecting intellectual property.

Prior to founding Chan Law Group, Mr. Chan was in-house counsel with various corporations, including general counsel of Lee Data Corporation (one of the largest 10 publicly held corporations in Minnesota at that time.) Mr. Chan holds a Doctor of Law and Bachelor of Arts (magna cum laude) degree from the University of Wisconsin. During law school, he was a student intern with the Honorable Shirley Abrahamson, current Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. He was trained as a mediator at the renowed California Academy of Mediation Professional and serves on the ADR panels of the Los Angeles Superior Court and INTA.

Areas of Practice:

Complex Litigation

Legal Strategy

Negotiation

Strategic Business Transactions

Intellectual Property

Entertainment

International Trade

Mediation and Arbitration

Bar Admissions:

California 1987

Minnesota 1983

Wisconsin 1979

Education:

University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, J.D., (1979).

University of Wisconsin, Whitewater, Wisconsin, B.A., Psychology and Mathematics. Honors: Magna Cum Laude, (1973).

Classes, Seminars Taught:

Annual intellectual property update, SCCLA, 2000 – 2002

Speaker at Boalt Hall (UC Berkeley), UCLA School of Law and Anderson School of Management, Finnish Institute for International Trade, SPA, Comdex, MacWorld International Summit, and the Computer Law Association on international trade and intellectual property.

Professional Associations and Memberships:

Appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce and the U.S. Trade Representative to serve on the Industry Sector Advisory Committee. He advised the U.S. on trade policy in the Reagan and Bush administrations.

Past Board member of the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, Export Managers Association of California, Big Brothers and Sisters of Wausau, Wisconsin, South Bay Chinese Cultural Center (South Bay Chinese School).

Member and Board of Directors, Torrance Memorial Medical Center Foundation

Founder and past Chairman, CAUSE

Past Board of Governor, Chinese American Lawyers Association of Southern California

Member and Board of Directors, NAMWOLF

Founder and Past Board of Governor, Asian Pacific American Lawyers Association of Los Angeles

Keynote speaker, U.S. Department of Commerce’s Annual Executive Conference

Listed in Marquis Who’s Who in the World and Who’s Who in American Law

INTA Panel of Neutrals

Los Angeles County Superior Court Panel of Mediators and Arbitrators

Languages:

Mandarin

Cantonese

Shanghainese