Chancellor W. Tseng Senior Counsel (510) 451-3300 ctseng@donahue.com Download vCard LinkedIn

Chancellor W. Tseng

Senior Counsel

(510) 451-3300

ctseng@donahue.com

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Chance is a Senior Counsel in the Litigation Practice Group. Chance regularly represents businesses and individuals in complex civil disputes. His practice focuses on developing strategy-driven solutions to contentious matters, from early case assessment through final resolution. He understands the importance of avoiding pitfalls by preserving critical evidence and maintaining a strong negotiating leverage.

Chance has represented a wide variety of individual and corporate clients in federal, state, appellate courts, and before JAMS/American Arbitration Association (AAA). He helps his clients successfully navigate all facets of civil litigation, including pre-litigation analysis of key legal and factual issues; discovery and experts; trial; pre/post-trial motions; and settlement negotiations and mediations.

Chance’s litigation practice includes representing clients in matters involving:

• Business and corporate disputes
• Intellectual property-related disputes
• Emerging company and technology-adjacent litigation
• Real estate and construction defects
• Products liability
• Commercial banking

Representative Matters

• First chaired and won Plaintiff’s construction breach of contract bench trial in state court. Cho v. Paramount Construction (Alameda County Superior Court)
• Second chaired and won a complete defense verdict in a multi-day commercial credit and banking arbitration. Jimenez v. SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union (American Arbitration Association, 01-22-0002-4991)
• Obtained Plaintiff’s summary judgment in a bank fraud and asset recovery case. Citibank, N.A. v. Linxpay (Superior Court of California, Contra Costa County, MSC18- 01587)
• Successfully protected an international Fortune 500 corporation’s trade secrets from disclosure in a high-stakes products liability action. T.S., et al. v Toyota Motor Corporation, et al. (Superior Court of California, Los Angeles County, BC615438)
• Dismissed a seven-figure federal complaint through forum non conveniens. Umeda, et al. v. Tesla Inc. (United States District Court, Northern District of California, 5:20-cv- 02926)
• Protected unauthorized disclosure of confidential client information, affirmed on appeal. Hudson v. Hudson (Superior Court of California, Santa Clara County, 21CV386623; California Court of Appeal, Sixth Appellate District, H049893)
• Reversed on appeal an order denying compelling of employment arbitration based on availability of discovery. Vo v. Technology Credit Union (2025) 108 Cal.App.5th 632
• Recouped over a million dollars in attorneys’ fees for his clients

Prior to joining Donahue Fitzgerald LLP, Chance gained a deep understanding of the legal business and the importance of personal client service when he operated his solo law firm.  Chance also served as an associate attorney at Joseph, Cohen & Del Vecchio, a boutique law firm focusing on commercial and banking cases.  He was a member of the General and Real Estate Litigation Department and Intellectual Property practice group at Hopkins & Carley (now Lathrop GPM), a major regional law firm in San Jose and Silicon Valley, where he focused on complex commercial, real estate, banking, and intellectual property litigation.

Chance was also an associate attorney at Bowman and Brooke LLP, a national law firm where he defended high-exposure products liability actions for international Fortune 500 manufacturers, with particular emphasis on autonomous vehicle litigation. Chance started his legal career as a law clerk then associate attorney at Wolfe & Wyman LLP, a multi-state regional firm litigating and defending a broad range of insurance defense cases ranging from general liability, premises liability, products liability, and construction defect cases.

During law school, Chance served as a federal judicial extern to the Honorable Laurel Beeler, U.S. Magistrate Judge of the Northern District of California, and the Honorable Troy L. Nunley, U.S. District Judge of the Eastern District of California.  He also served as a research assistant to Professor Rose Cuison-Villazor (now at Rutgers Law School) and Professor Peter Lee at King Hall.  Chance also worked in the corporate law department of BlackBerry Corporation, a major international producer of smart devices, cybersecurity and Internet of Things software.

In addition to practicing law, Chance is a licensed California Real Estate Broker. A Bay Area native and violinist, Chance can speak conversational Mandarin, and is learning Spanish and Japanese. During his free time, he enjoys camping, backpacking, running half marathons, motorcycling, cooking, attending live music, and traveling.