Fish & Richardson Principal Betty Chen Named Among National Asian Pacific Bar Association's Best Lawyers Under 40

Fish & Richardson principal Betty Chen, an intellectual property litigator based in the firm's Silicon Valley office, was selected by the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association to receive the 2017 Best Lawyers Under 40 Award (BU40 Award).

Chen, age 32, joins 17 other leading professionals in the Asian Pacific American legal community, who have achieved excellence in law, academia, business, civic and charitable affairs, the judiciary and politics.

At 29, Chen became the youngest attorney to make principal at Fish. Chen now serves as the firm's Global Hiring Principal, managing hiring for the firm's 12 office across the United States and in Munich, Germany. The first minority female attorney to hold this position, Chen plays a leading role in ensuring Fish's commitment to inclusion and diversity is reflected in the way the firm hires and advances talent.

Chen, a powerful force in intellectual property law, defends and protects a multitude of technologies in the computer software and hardware, medical device and consumer product fields for global clients like Apple, Microsoft and Adobe Systems Incorporated. She represents clients in trademark, copyright, trade secrets and employment disputes before federal and state courts and the International Trade Commission.

When selecting BU40 Award honorees, the NAPABA looked for professionals, all under the age of 40, who had exhibited a strong commitment to Asian Pacific American civic and community affairs.

Chen serves on the Board of Directors and spearheads fundraising efforts for the Asian Law Alliance, a not-for-profit organization providing free legal aid to Asian and Pacific Islanders who cannot afford legal fees, have a restricted understanding of the American legal system and face discrimination. She is also an active member of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Silicon Valley.

In addition to her demanding caseload, Chen takes on pro bono cases for Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), a nonprofit dedicated to representing unaccompanied immigrant and refugee children. With KIND, Chen helps children often abused and neglected through asylum and deportation proceedings.

A determined advocate for all her clients, Chen also works tirelessly to address issues of unique importance to women and minorities in the legal profession. The mother of three young children, she uses her personal experiences and leadership roles at Fish to provide coworkers with the tools and resources they need to achieve success in both their personal and professional lives.

Chen accomplishes this by serving as co-chair of the firm's Silicon Valley Women's Initiative and as a member of the Diversity Initiative the former which works to keep Fish at the forefront of progressive practices, especially regarding parental leave, and the latter to aid in the recruitment and retention of a diverse workforce. She, too, leads participant selection for Fish's 1L Diversity Fellowship Program providing mentorship and scholarships to predominately minority and women first-year law students, and helps select On Ramp Fellowship applicants made up of women attorneys reentering the workforce.

She was also selected as the firm's 2016 Leadership Council on Legal Diversity Fellow.The national organization works to build an open and diverse legal profession. As a fellow, Chen participated in a one-year program aimed to produce strong leaders who will foster diversity in their workplace and industry.

Chen's stellar record, leadership roles and volunteerism have garnered her many honors.

In 2017 alone, Chen was named among the nation's "Women Worth Watching in STEM" by the Profiles in Diversity Journal and selected as one of the Silicon Valley Business Journal's "Women of Influence."

Chen's BU40 Award will be presented on Nov. 2 during the NAPABA Convention in Washington, D.C.