David Tsai

Professor David Tsai is a Partner in the San Francisco office of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP and serves as Co-Head of Pillsbury’s Taiwan Practice. He is a first-chair trial lawyer whose practice focuses on intellectual property, patent, trade secret, trademark, and copyright litigation, as well as complex breach of contract and product defect matters in courts and international arbitration tribunals. In addition to intellectual property litigation, David advises clients on patent negotiations, licensing, M&A transactions, and overall intellectual property strategy. Prior to his legal career, he worked in product management at a biotechnology company and at Internet and software startups. During his graduate studies at Stanford University, where he focused on stem cell gene therapy, David co-led the development of Stanford’s first online problem sets.

Professor Tsai is a past President of the Silicon Valley Intellectual Property Law Association, the Harvard Club of San Francisco, and the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area, and serves as a Commissioner for the City and County of San Francisco.

• Trade secret law
• Patent law
• Copyright law
• Trademark law

• Intellectual property litigation and licensing
• Complex commercial litigation

• Santa Clara University, JD, 2006
• Stanford University, MS Biological Sciences, 1998
• Harvard College, AB Biochemical Sciences, 1997

• Partner, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, 2018-Present
• Partner, Vinson & Elkins LLP, 2015-2018
• Partner/Counsel, Perkins Coie LLP, 2011-2015

• Best Lawyers (published by BL Rankings LLC), Litigation – Intellectual Property, 2021–2026; Litigation – Patent, 2022–2026
• Northern California Super Lawyers list, Super Lawyers, 2013−2025
• AIDS Legal Referral Panel (ALRP) Clint Hockenberry Leadership Award, 2025
• Santa Clara University School of Law Inclusive Excellence Award, 2025
• Lawyers of Color’s “Nation’s Best” List, 2019 (Inaugural List) and 2022