Keker & Van Nest LLP is pleased to announce the firm has elevated Quyen Ta, Ajay Krishnan and Eric MacMichael to partner.

“We are excited about these gifted attorneys joining our partnership. Quyen Ta, Ajay Krishnan and Eric McMichael embody Keker & Van Nest’s tradition of exceptional litigators who use their talents to benefit our clients as well as our community,” said Firm Managing Partner Christopher Kearney.   

Quyen Ta focuses on complex civil litigation involving securities, intellectual property, and legal malpractice. She has played a significant role on four major trials. Ta, winner of the Minority Bar Coalition Unity Award, also dedicates her time to numerous community and bar organizations. She is a board member of the Asian Law Caucus, the Vietnamese American Bar Association of Northern California, and the Bar Association of San Francisco.  After graduating summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from UCLA, she attended UC Berkeley School of Law where she served as community service chair for the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association and was awarded the Vietnamese American Bar Association community service award. She then served as policy counsel at the National Partnership for Women & Families under the auspices of the Georgetown Women's Law and Public Policy Fellowship Program.

Ajay Krishnan focuses on complex commercial disputes and intellectual property litigation. He has tried several cases to verdict, including three as first chair. Krishnan also has a substantial pro bono practice, which includes a current lawsuit challenging California's use of an unnecessary paralytic agent in the state’s lethal injection protocol as a violation of the public's First Amendment right to witness executions. Prior to Keker & Van Nest, Krishnan was an attorney at the ACLU of Northern California; he currently serves on its board. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, and magna cum laude from Rice University with a degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering. 

Eric MacMichael represents businesses and individuals in white collar criminal matters and complex civil litigation.  He has tried cases and argued motions in state and federal court, and litigated cases involving securities fraud, insider trading, tax evasion, bid rigging, computer pirating, as well as a variety of complex civil litigation matters.  His clients include a prominent Silicon Valley venture capitalist accused of securities fraud, an executive accused of criminal stock options backdating, as well as Caramad Conley - a pro bono client wrongfully imprisoned for murder and whose conviction MacMichael recently helped to overturn.  He is active in the ABA, currently serving as a chair of the Section of Litigation's International Criminal Litigation subcommittee.  He graduated magna cum laude from the University of California at San Diego and received his J.D. from UC Berkeley School of Law where he was elected to the Order of the Coif.