Jeffrey Tsai

Partner

Managing Partner, San Francisco office

Co-Chair, State Attorneys General Practice group

He knows the law, but more importantly, he knows how to work with opposing counsel and the state attorneys general offices.

client quote from Chambers USA 2021

Emailjeff.tsai@us.dlapiper.com

Call+1 415 615 6055

Los Angeles San Francisco

About

Jeff Tsai is a leading attorney in criminal and civil enforcement matters brought by state and federal regulators. He is the managing partner of the firm's San Francisco office and the co-chair of the firm’s State Attorneys General practice.

State Attorneys General

Jeff is one of only four lawyers across the nation recognized in the State Attorneys General field by both the Chambers and Legal 500 research firms. He represents companies subject to investigative scrutiny by individual and multistate attorneys general and related federal regulators such as the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission. Jeff's matters and clients relate to industries that have been the subject of recent state attorney general enforcement on issues ranging from e-commerce retail to the environment.

Criminal White-Collar and Complex Civil Litigation

Jeff also actively defends white-collar criminal matters in investigations and trials, including representations involving trade secret theft and economic espionage, complex frauds, and public corruption. Recognized by Chambers in the field of a white-collar and government investigations, he has tried more than 20 federal and state trials (criminal and civil). One of his notable trials includes the prosecution of former US Senator John Edwards for violations of federal campaign finance laws in connection with his 2008 primary campaign for president and another prosecution that became the subject of a non-fiction book and television documentary program. Jeff served as first-chair counsel in one of the few federal criminal trade secret prosecutions to proceed to trial in the United States.

Jeff has a significant complex civil litigation practice, which is often the result of government and regulatory matters that spur private litigation (or vice versa). He serves as lead counsel in federal and state class actions (including multi-district litigation) and other complex commercial disputes, and his experience ranges from privacy and data security to disparagement/defamation.

Government Service

Jeff was previously a special assistant attorney general of California and principal advisor to former Attorney General Kamala D. Harris on issues related to criminal justice, corporate accountability, and intellectual property enforcement. He also supervised high-profile enforcement actions involving California's False Claims Act, Unfair Competition Law, environmental regulations, and campaign finance laws.

In the federal government, Jeff served as a federal prosecutor and senior policy official at a US Attorney's Office, as well as at Main Justice in Washington.

Jeff is frequently called upon for legal commentary and analysis, and he has been featured on news networks such as CNN and MSNBC.

Areas of FocusLitigation, Arbitration and Investigations State Attorneys General White Collar and Corporate Crime

Bar admissionsCaliforniaDistrict of Columbia

EXPERIENCE

State Attorneys General

Lead trial counsel for a Southern California department store chain in a civil consumer protection lawsuit brought by the California Attorney General’s Office, which resulted in a defense verdict on the principal claim under the California Unfair Competition Law and the Unruh Act’s credit sales provisions.
Lead counsel for an international company in a civil consumer protection lawsuit brought by the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office related to naturally-occurring heavy metals in certain foods.
Represented multiple technology companies across various sectors in confidential consumer protection investigations and prosecutions by state attorneys general (and/or the Federal Trade Commission) related to the environment, medical devices, telecommunications, retail, mobile payments, travel/hospitality, online higher education, and entertainment.
As special assistant attorney general, negotiated California's US$210 million settlement of the state’s False Claims Act and Unfair Competition Law litigation against a leading investment rating agency in a global resolution totaling more than US$1 billion.

White-Collar

Lead trial counsel for a former California major metropolitan mayor in a high-profile bribery case filed by the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California.
Lead trial counsel for a renewable energy company prosecuted for criminal economic espionage and conspiracy by the US Attorney's Office for the Western District of Wisconsin and the Justice Department’s Computer Crimes and Intellectual Property Section.
Lead counsel for a seafood importation company in a grand jury investigation of potential violations of federal importation laws. The US Attorney’s Office leading the investigation closed the matter without the filing of any charges.
As a federal prosecutor, tried a former US senator and presidential candidate on charges of federal campaign finance violations in the Middle District of North Carolina.
As a federal prosecutor, obtained a trial conviction for a quadruple-homicide and hijacking conspiracy in international water. The case became the subject of the book Murder on the High Seas: The True Story of the Joe Cool's Tragic Final Voyage.
As a special assistant attorney general, negotiated a landmark agreement in Mexico City between five US state attorneys general and Mexico's federal government on anti-money laundering enforcement and intelligence sharing.

Complex Civil Litigation

Lead appellate counsel for Starz Entertainment before the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Jones v. Starz Entertainment, LLC, 129 F.4th 1176 (9th Cir. Feb. 28, 2025), which successfully affirmed the district court’s rejection of the petitioner’s use of the Federal Arbitration Act to override an arbitration provider’s consolidation decision in a mass arbitration proceeding.
Lead counsel for Progress Software Corporation in In re MOVEit Customer Data Security Breach Litigation, Case No. 23-md-3083 (D. Mass.), a data-breach multi-district litigation of over 300 class action lawsuits and over 400 named plaintiffs involving the on-premises file-transfer MOVEit Transfer software program.

Government Service

Special Assistant Attorney General, Executive Office of California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris
Assistant US Attorney, Southern District of Florida
Trial Attorney, Public Integrity Section (Criminal Division), US Justice Department
Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division, US Justice Department

Awards

Education

J.D., Georgetown University

B.A., University of Texas at Austin

Bylines

Seminars

"Impeachment – Now What?," American Constitution Society – Bay Area, November 25, 2019
"California Privacy Law 2019: The Regulator Perspective," Practising Law Institute, September 26, 2019
"The GDPR, the California Consumer Privacy Act and a Possible Federal Privacy Act," Federal Bar Association, April 25, 2019
"The Presidency, the Special Counsel, and the Rule of Law," American Constitution Society – Bay Area, March 20, 2019
"State AG Enforcement Trends," 32nd Annual National Institute on White-Collar Crime, American Bar Association, February 28 – March 2, 2018
"Navigating the State AG Waters," 31st Annual Corporate Counsel Conference, National Bar Association, February 15 – 17, 2018
"By Tweet or by Law: Predicting the Government’s Enforcement Priorities in the Age of Trump," National Asian Pacific American Bar Association Annual Convention, November 2 – 4, 2017
"The Golden Rule: The California Experiment and the Role of State AGs in Fostering American Innovation," Conference of Western Attorneys General Annual Meeting, July 31 – August 2, 2017
"The Mexico Security Challenge and Its Impact on the United States," Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law, The University of Texas at Austin, October 20, 2016
"Corruption's New Arena: International Sports in a Post-FIFA World," American Bar Association Annual Meeting, August 4 – 7, 2016
"State AG Enforcement: What Your Company Needs to Know," 2016 Legal & Regulatory Conference, Personal Care Products Panel, May 4, 2016
"Understanding the Yates Memo: The Justice Department's Renewed Focus on Individuals in Combatting Corporate Crime," Continuing Legal Education Panel, Bar Association of San Francisco, January 14, 2016
"The 'Gumbo' of Civil Fraud Enforcement: The False Claims Act, FIRREA, and a New Era in Federal and State Governments’ Enforcement Against Fraud," National Asian Pacific American Bar Association Annual Convention, November 4-8, 2015
"Brand Protection in the Internet Age: Combatting Cybersecurity Threats to IP," International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition Fall Conference, October 21 – 23, 2015
"Keynote Address, "The State of Human Trafficking in California and Los Angeles," 2015 Global Human Trafficking Conference, Slavery No More, February 2015
"Corporate Social Responsibility: Why 'Doing the Right Thing' is Now a Legal Imperative," Conference on Supply Chain Integrity and Corporate Social Responsibility, University of Chicago Law School Corporate Lab, September 2014
"New Priorities for State and Local Law Enforcement," Conference on Shifting Law Enforcement Goals to Reduce Mass Incarceration, Brennan Center for Justice (New York University School of Law), September 2014
"Preventing and Addressing Trafficking in Persons in Global Supply Chains," United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights (Geneva, Switzerland), December 2013

Media Mentions

Clerk Experience

Judge Vanessa D. Gilmore, United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas

Civic and charitable

Planning Commission, Tiburon, California
Chinese Historical Society of America, Board of Directors
University of Texas at Austin, Development Board

Memberships And Affiliations

Georgetown University Law Center, Board of Visitors
American Bar Association, Criminal Justice magazine, Editorial Board
American Bar Foundation, Fellow
Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law, University of Texas at Austin, Senior Fellow (Former)
California State Bar, Judicial Nominees Evaluation Commission (Former)