DLA Piper is pleased to announce that Cedric Chao, a San Francisco-based litigation and arbitration partner, was named among the "2019 California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year" by the Daily Journal.

The annual CLAY awards recognize lawyers in the state who have made a significant impact on public policy, the law, the profession, or a particular practice area.

Chao was recognized for his thought leadership and longstanding efforts, along with Daniel Kolkey of Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher LLP, to bring international arbitration to California. These efforts include making California a more hospitable jurisdiction for foreign and out-of-state lawyers through California Senate Bill No. 766. The bill, which took effect January 1, amended the Code of Civil Procedure to "eliminate any local protectionist bias that could subject foreign lawyers to accusations of the unauthorized practice of law," thereby improving the legal climate for international commercial arbitration.

Chao is a US member of the ICC Arbitration Commission, serves on the American Arbitration Association/ICDR Council, and is one of 31 advisors to the American Law Institute project to draft the Restatement of the US Law of International Commercial and Investment Arbitration. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute and a Fellow of Litigation Counsel of America, an invitation-only trial lawyer honorary society.

He has represented clients, as first chair, in five business disputes where the amount in controversy exceeded US$1 billion, and in multiple others where the amount in controversy was in the hundreds of millions of dollars. His clients have spanned many industries, fields of practice and countries. He advocates before US courts and international arbitration tribunals, and has sat as presiding, sole and wing arbitrator in cross-border disputes.