Biography
Jeff Tsai is a leading attorney in criminal and civil enforcement matters brought by state and federal regulators. He is the managing partner of DLA Piper LLP’s San Francisco office and the co-chair of the firm’s State Attorneys General practice.
He represents companies subject to investigative scrutiny by individual and multistate attorneys general and related federal regulators such as the Federal Trade Commission. Jeff’s matters have focused on issues ranging from consumer protection (unfair/deceptive trade practices) to antitrust to healthcare. His clients cover industries that have been the subject of recent state attorney general enforcement, including e-commerce, fintech, daily fantasy sports, travel/hospitality, and online higher education. Jeff also actively defends white-collar matters in investigations and trials, including representations involving trade secret theft and economic espionage, complex frauds, and public corruption.
Jeff has tried more than 20 federal trials, including the prosecution of former US Senator John Edwards for violations of federal campaign finance laws in connection with his 2008 primary campaign for president and another prosecution that became the subject of a non-fiction book and television documentary program. Jeff served as first-chair counsel in one of the few federal criminal trade secret prosecutions to proceed to trial in the United States.
Jeff was a special assistant attorney general of California and principal advisor to former Attorney General Kamala D. Harris on issues related to criminal justice, corporate accountability, and intellectual property enforcement. He also supervised high-profile enforcement actions involving California’s False Claims Act, Unfair Competition Law, environmental regulations, and campaign finance laws.
In the federal government, Jeff served as a federal prosecutor and senior policy official at a US Attorney’s Office, as well as at Main Justice in Washington.
