Jeffrey Tsai > DLA Piper LLP (US) > San Francisco, United States > Lawyer Profile

DLA Piper LLP (US)
555 MISSION STREET, SUITE 2400
SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105-2933
CALIFORNIA
United States

Work Department

Litigation, Arbitration and Investigations; State Attorneys General; White Collar and Corporate Crime

Position

Partner; Managing Partner, San Francisco Office; Co-Chair, State AG Group

Career

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.

As co-chair of DLA Piper’s State Attorneys General practice, Jeff is nationally recognized by Chambers and Partners. He represents companies subject to investigative scrutiny by individual and multistate attorneys general and related federal regulators such as the Federal Trade Commission. Jeff’s matters have focused on issues ranging from consumer protection (unfair/deceptive trade practices) to antitrust to healthcare. His clients cover industries that have been the subject of recent state attorney general enforcement, including e-commerce, fintech, daily fantasy sports, travel/hospitality, and online higher education.

Jeff also actively defends white-collar matters in investigations and trials, including representations involving trade secret theft and economic espionage, complex frauds, and public corruption. He has tried more than 20 federal trials, including 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 was 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.

Memberships

Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law, University of Texas at Austin, Senior Fellow (Former)

Education

J.D., Georgetown University; B.A., University of Texas at Austin

Lawyer Rankings

United States > Government > State attorneys general

(Next Generation Partners)

Jeffrey Tsai – DLA Piper LLP (US)

Leveraging a wide network of relationships with state attorneys general across the country, DLA Piper LLP (US) is equally at home managing ongoing relations between clients and state AG offices as defending investigations and engaging in litigation. The team has played a significant role in pressing issues of active concern to state regulators, including consumer protection, PFAS, children’s online privacy, and cryptocurrency. With offices on both coasts, the practice is co-chaired by Jeffrey Tsai in San Francisco, who specializes in investigations and enforcement actions at both the individual and multistate level, and Scott Wilson in New York, who is frequently retained by Fortune 100 companies and other major corporations in investigations and white collar criminal matters. In Washington DC, of counsel Carlton Davis sits at the intersection of state AG and government relations, fielding a wealth of experience in investigations from his tenure as assistant attorney general of Virginia. Antitrust and competition expert Vic Domen, who previously served in the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office as senior antitrust counsel, joined the firm in January 2024 from Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP.