Chris Young devotes himself to his client’s success, ushering them through confounding and often overwhelming situations where personal freedom, reputations, and significant damages are often at stake. Whether handling white collar, intellectual property, professional liability, class action or commercial litigation, he works alongside his clients to achieve their short and long-term goals.
During his clerkship at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Mr. Young gained first-hand knowledge of the judicial perspective. Under the guidance of Judge Susan Illston, he worked on the multidistrict price-fixing class action In re: TFT-LCD (Flat Panel) Antitrust Litigation.
Mr. Young also uses his legal expertise to address critical civil rights issues. For instance, he served as one of the lead trial attorneys in a class action lawsuit challenging the constitutional integrity of the California High School Exit Exam. Mr. Young developed his appreciation for the law’s impact on individual rights and freedoms when working in politics. Prior to attending law school, he served as a legislative aid to a senator and the Senate Education Committee as a California State Senate Fellow. After law school, he was asked to join Barack Obama's Presidential Campaign as a Northern California deputy finance director, and later worked in the White House under the Special Counsel to the President and then in the U.S. Department of Justice as associate director of Intergovernmental Affairs. Mr. Young also served as senior advisor and counsel to Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson.
While attending the UC Berkeley School of Law, he co-founded Law Student Outreach, a traveling clinic that furnished legal referral services to underserved East Bay Area communities. He also served on the law school Admissions Committee.
Cases of Note
United States v. Matthew Davies: We are defending medical marijuana businessman Matthew Davies. Despite operating a business which meticulously follows California state law, the federal government has indicted Mr. Davies on charges of cultivating marijuana and is seeking a minimum sentence of five years in federal prison.
Software Co. v. Software Co.: We defended a red-hot Silicon Valley software company that provides information analysis to the intelligence, defense, and law enforcement communities from trade secret and copyright charges. Our client's competitor brought the charges in the Eastern District of Virginia. We settled the case in early 2011 after five and a half torrid months of rocket docket litigation.
Chevron v. Stephen Donziger: We are lead counsel for Steven Donziger—U.S. legal adviser to the group of Ecuadorian citizens who successfully won an $18 billion dollar judgment from Chevron over environmental damage in their country; the largest single pollution judgment ever imposed. In an effort to avoid paying the enormous judgment, Chevron filed a racketeering case against Mr. Donziger in the Southern District of New York.
Mortgage Fraud Cases: We represent a national lender in various state and federal court litigations regarding mortgage fraud-related claims, both as plaintiff and as defendant. We have obtained numerous favorable rulings for the lender regarding cutting-edge, mortgage fraud-related issues, including favorable rulings on the scope of federal lending statutes such as RESPA, TILA, and federal preemption of state causes of action.
Legal Externships
Hon. Marsha S. Berzon
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Hon. Joyce Kennard
California Supreme Court
Professional Affiliations
Board of directors, Public Advocates
Commissioner, Oakland Ethics Commission
Awards and Honors
Phi Beta Kappa
Valedictorian, San Diego State University School of Philosophy