Cedric C. Chao

After leading BigLaw teams for years in high stakes and precedent setting cases before US courts and international arbitration tribunals, in 2019, Cedric Chao launched Chao ADR, PC, sitting as an arbitrator and mediator in international and domestic commercial disputes and advising clients on cross-border matters. He was a partner for 29 years at the 1,000-lawyer firm Morrison & Foerster. In addition to his US courtroom practice, in 1996, Mr. Chao founded and led for 17 years thereafter the firm's international litigation and arbitration practice. In 2013, he moved to the 4,500-lawyer firm DLA Piper, serving for six years as its US Head of the Global International Arbitration practice. Mr. Chao has advocated all over the world, including five cases where the disputed amount exceeded $1 billion and multiple others in the hundreds of millions of dollars. In addition to his trial advocacy, he argued 20 appellate cases in the US courts, including once to the US Supreme Court and once to an 11-member en banc panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Mr. Chao sat as second chair in five additional US Court of Appeals matters and in a second US Supreme Court case."

Educational & Employment History • BA, Stanford University • J.D., Harvard Law School • 2019 to present: Principal, Chao ADR, PC • 2013 to 2019: Partner, and U.S. Head of Global International Arbitration Practice, DLA Piper • 1983 to 2013: Partner, and Head of International Litigation and Arbitration Practice, Morrison & Foerster • 1982 to 1983: Litigation Associate, Morrison & Foerster • 1978 to 1981: Assistant U.S. Attorney, Dept. of Justice (Criminal) • 1977 to 1978: Law Clerk, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California

In 2018, The Daily Journal named Mr. Chao to its "Top 100 California Lawyers" list. In 2019, he received The Daily Journal's prestigious "California Lawyer of the Year" award for international arbitration. The publication Best Lawyers in America named Mr. Chao the "2018 San Francisco Arbitration Lawyer of the Year," and two years later, the "2020 San Francisco Mediation Lawyer of the Year." Best Lawyers gives this award to a single lawyer in a practice area and geographic region. Global Arbitration Review and Who's Who Legal (WWL): Arbitration rank him as a US "Thought Leader" in arbitration. Mr. Chao is a Fellow of the invitation-only organizations Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (London), College of Commercial Arbitrators, Litigation Counsel of America, and American Law Institute. He is the former Chair of the Litigation Section of the State Bar of California, and the former Co-Chair of the International Litigation Committee of the ABA Litigation Section. Mr. Chao is the former Chair of the US Magistrate Judge Screening Committee of the Northern District of California, and the former Ninth Circuit member on the ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary.