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Christopher Sun

Partner

Chris Sun maintains a broad practice representing major corporations in matters ranging from complex commercial litigation, class action defense, and intellectual property disputes. He has substantial experience managing all aspects of the litigation process and regularly appears in court, argues motions, and takes depositions to obtain favorable results for his clients. Most recently, Chris helped win a complete defense verdict in a rare class action trial threatening over $150 million in damages. At trial, Chris was responsible for conducting both the direct examination of one of the defendant’s key witnesses and a portion of the closing argument.

In representing his clients, Chris draws from his significant experience examining complex economic relationships, planning corporate organizational structures, and preparing sophisticated financial models. Before beginning his legal career, he spent four years at Deloitte Tax LLP as a Global Transfer Pricing Manager. In that role, he assisted Fortune 500 companies in evaluating prices charged between related business entities for the provision of goods, services, and intellectual property rights. 

Chris also has an active pro bono practice with a focus on criminal justice matters. He is currently collaborating with the ACLU in a First Amendment challenge to California’s death penalty.

Prior to joining the firm, Chris clerked for the Honorable Jill Pryor of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and for the United States Attorney’s Office in San Francisco. He graduated from Harvard Law School, where he served as Executive Director of the Prison Legal Assistance Project, an organization dedicated to representing Massachusetts prisoners in their parole and disciplinary hearings. While in law school, Chris also competed in Harvard’s prestigious Ames Moot Court Competition, where he finished as a semi-finalist.

Chris Sun maintains a broad practice representing major corporations in matters ranging from complex commercial litigation, class action defense, and intellectual property disputes. He has substantial experience managing all aspects of the litigation process and regularly appears in court, argues motions, and takes depositions to obtain favorable results for his clients. Most recently, Chris helped win a complete defense verdict in a rare class action trial threatening over $150 million in damages. At trial, Chris was responsible for conducting both the direct examination of one of the defendant’s key witnesses and a portion of the closing argument.

In representing his clients, Chris draws from his significant experience examining complex economic relationships, planning corporate organizational structures, and preparing sophisticated financial models. Before beginning his legal career, he spent four years at Deloitte Tax LLP as a Global Transfer Pricing Manager. In that role, he assisted Fortune 500 companies in evaluating prices charged between related business entities for the provision of goods, services, and intellectual property rights. 

Chris also has an active pro bono practice with a focus on criminal justice matters. He is currently collaborating with the ACLU in a First Amendment challenge to California’s death penalty.

Prior to joining the firm, Chris clerked for the Honorable Jill Pryor of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and for the United States Attorney’s Office in San Francisco. He graduated from Harvard Law School, where he served as Executive Director of the Prison Legal Assistance Project, an organization dedicated to representing Massachusetts prisoners in their parole and disciplinary hearings. While in law school, Chris also competed in Harvard’s prestigious Ames Moot Court Competition, where he finished as a semi-finalist.

KVP Attorneys Recognized in 2025 Editions of The Best Lawyers in America® and the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America.

08/15/2024

The 2025 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® and the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America featured 25 KVP attorneys. Read more

Google Settles AI-Chip Suit That Had Sought $1.6 Billion

01/24/2024

Law360 has reported that Google LLC, represented by Keker, Van Nest & Peters, and Singular Computing LLC have settled a patent lawsuit over computer chip designs that improve efficiency for artificial intelligence and cloud computing. The joint motion to settle the case comes two weeks into a federal jury trial in Massachusetts and as both parties were set to deliver closing arguments. Read more

Keker, Van Nest & Peters Announces New Partners and Of Counsel

01/17/2023

Keker, Van Nest & Peters is pleased to announce that the firm has elevated associates Bailey Heaps, Katie Lynn Joyce, and Chris Sun to Partners, and Kristin Hucek and Ian Kanig to Of Counsel, effective January 1, 2023. Read more

Shanghai Moonton Defeats Riot Games Copyright Lawsuit

11/09/2022

Representing Shanghai Moonton Technology Co., Ltd., Keker, Van Nest & Peters lawyers secured the dismissal of a copyright lawsuit filed by Riot Games, Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Read more

'Storage Wars' Star David Hester Just Lost His Court Battle With Public Storage

May 29, 2020

In an opinion Friday, California’s Fourth District Court of Appeal found that the reality TV personality now “finds himself at war with defendant Public Storage,” but that Hester lost this most recent breach of contract battle with the global self-storage company. Read more

A Tale of 2 Trials: How These Defense Teams Notched Rare Class Action Verdicts

March 01, 2019

Keker, Van Nest & Peters scored a defense verdict in California this month in the rarest of trials: class actions. Read more

Public Storage Class Kicks Off $100M Trial Over Insurance

January 28, 2019

Public Storage bamboozled storage space renters into believing they were required to buy company provided insurance in order to rent units, customers testified Monday at the start of a class action bench trial in California seeking $100 million in restitution from the national storage giant. Read more

Federal judge rules suit to force California to make all portions of executions public may proceed

August 17, 2018

A federal judge on Friday rejected an attempt by the state of California to dismiss much of a lawsuit that seeks to make public all portions of executions. Read more

Judge refuses to dismiss lawsuit on California executions

August 17, 2018

A federal judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit by news organizations seeking to let media and public witnesses view more of the process of executions in California, which could resume soon. Read more

LA Times, other CA news media sue state to make entire execution process transparent, but critics say it will prevent executions

April 12, 2018

The LA Times and two San Francisco-based non-profit news organizations are suing to keep executions from resuming in CA. The Times, NPR-member station KQED and the San Francisco Progressive Media Center want guaranteed full access to executions before they resume. Read more

Keker and the ACLU of Northern California Call on State to Allow Full Press Access to Executions

April 11, 2018

Keker, Van Nest & Peters and The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Northern California filed suit against the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation challenging its execution viewing procedure. Read more