(San Francisco, Calif.) – Keker, Van Nest & Peters is pleased to announce the promotions of Victor Chiu, Deeva Shah, and Christine Zaleski to partner and Niall Frizzell and Candice Nguyen to of counsel, effective Jan. 1, 2026.
“Our newest partners and of counsel exemplify what we value most at Keker: trial-ready judgment, rigorous advocacy, and a deep commitment to our clients, our culture, and the rule of law,” Managing Partner Laurie Carr Mims said. “Victor, Deeva, Christine, Niall, and Candice have made an extraordinary impact in tackling novel and high-stakes disputes, mentoring junior lawyers, and dedicating themselves to pro bono and public service. We’re proud to recognize their achievements and are excited to see them take on greater leadership roles on their case teams and within the firm.”
Victor T. Chiu helps clients navigate novel legal issues at the intersection of intellectual property, software development, and advanced hardware systems. His practice centers on high-stakes copyright, contract, unfair competition, and technology-related litigation, including matters involving integrated-circuit design and verification and generative AI training systems.
Victor is part of a team representing OpenAI in a series of landmark copyright cases that will help define the contours of fair use in the context of generative artificial intelligence. He defended electronic design automation company Real Intent in a San Jose federal jury trial against copyright and contract claims brought by Synopsys relating to integrated circuit design software, securing a sweeping fair use victory on the copyright claims at summary judgment. Victor’s pro bono work includes obtaining the vacatur of a murder conviction and securing his client’s release following decades of incarceration.
Before joining Keker, Victor served as a judicial law clerk to Judge Patty Shwartz of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and to Judge Wendy Beetlestone of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He earned his law degree from Yale Law School and his undergraduate degree summa cum laude from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Deeva V. Shah represents technology companies and professionals in high-stakes commercial disputes, with a focus on intellectual property, complex contract litigation, and professional liability defense. She is known for disciplined and pragmatic case management, early risk assessment, and translating highly technical issues into clear litigation strategy.
Deeva recently helped defend Google at trial in a patent infringement case involving custom AI hardware used to train and deploy large-scale generative AI models and continues to defend Google in multiple patent actions targeting core search and infrastructure technologies. She also represents innovative AI companies in cutting-edge copyright litigation, narrowing claims through motion practice and helping shape the developing legal framework governing generative AI. As a co-founder of Law Clerks for Workplace Accountability, Deeva has testified before Congress and advised courts on improving workplace conduct policies. In 2022, she received the Jack Berman Award from the California Lawyers Association for her contributions to judicial workplace reform.
Before joining Keker, Deeva served as a judicial law clerk to Judge Raymond C. Fisher of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Judge Stephen V. Wilson of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. She earned her law degree cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School and her undergraduate degree with high distinction from the University of Virginia.
Christine Zaleski represents clients in complex commercial disputes, with a focus on defending technology companies in intellectual property matters. Her practice spans high-stakes contract, unfair competition, copyright, false advertising, and trade libel cases, as well as the defense of professional malpractice and fraud claims.
Christine has defended clients facing significant reputational and financial exposure, including law firms and executives accused of malpractice and related torts. She successfully defended a prominent law firm against malpractice claims brought by investors in a company that was revealed to be a Ponzi scheme. She also defended a client in a criminal investigation that resolved favorably before any charges were filed. She represents biotechnology clients in disputes arising from complex collaboration and licensing agreements.
Prior to joining Keker, Christine served as a judicial law clerk to Judge Christopher F. Droney of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. She earned her law degree cum laude from Harvard Law School and her undergraduate degree magna cum laude from Brown University.
Niall Frizzell represents clients in complex commercial disputes across a wide range of industries and areas of law, including intellectual property, antitrust, contract, administrative law, arbitration, consumer protection, privacy, and constitutional litigation. He regularly litigates high-stakes financial, regulatory, and public-policy matters and is often engaged for his ability to master complex and novel subjects.
Niall has represented technology companies in copyright, unfair competition, and privacy matters, including defending LinkedIn in a putative class action asserting claims under the Video Privacy Protection Act. He also has significant arbitration experience arising out of sophisticated licensing agreements. He represented Instacart in a copyright action against a competing grocery-delivery platform, securing a comprehensive permanent injunction. He represented a Chinese video game developer in defending against copyright and trademark claims, successfully obtaining dismissal on forum non conveniens grounds. Niall serves on the firm’s Pro Bono Committee and was on a team that brought a groundbreaking consumer-protection class action that secured an injunction barring a bail bond company from collecting more than $30 million in unlawful debt. The case resulted in a published Court of Appeal opinion expanding California consumer protections to the bail bond industry.
Before joining Keker, Niall served as a judicial clerk to Judge Marsha S. Berzon of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Judge Vince Chhabria of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. He earned his law degree from UC Davis School of Law and also holds a master’s degree from Columbia University and an undergraduate degree from McGill University.
Candice Mai Khanh Nguyen represents clients that range from early-stage companies to Fortune 500 corporations in complex disputes. Her practice includes intellectual property, contract, and commercial litigation at the trial and appellate levels, as well as arbitration proceedings involving sophisticated technologies and high financial stakes.
Candice has played central roles in defending technology and life-sciences companies in high-stakes litigation. She helped secure a stipulation of non-infringement and dismissal with prejudice for Comcast in a patent case involving voice-recognition technology. She also helped Electronic Arts defeat an emergency injunction and secure dismissal of a lawsuit challenging the client’s group name, image, and likeness licensing agreements. Candice maintains an active pro bono practice in which she has challenged racially discriminatory voting laws and represented asylum seekers. She served as a 2021 Pathfinder with the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity and serves on the Board of Directors of the Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network (DVAN), and GenUnity, a civic engagement non-profit.
Before joining Keker, Candice served as a judicial clerk to Judge Allyson K. Duncan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and Judge Richard F. Boulware II of the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada. She earned her law degree from Columbia Law School and her undergraduate degree from Swarthmore College.
About Keker, Van Nest & Peters
For more than 45 years, Keker, Van Nest & Peters has litigated complex, high-stakes civil and criminal cases throughout the nation. The firm takes the cases where companies, products, and careers are riding on the result. Our clients are high-profile individuals, as well as some of the world’s most successful companies, including Dexcom, Genentech, Google, Instacart, Lyft, Major League Baseball, Meta, Netflix OpenAI, and Qualcomm. The firm’s areas of expertise include intellectual property, professional liability, class actions, general contract and commercial litigation, antitrust, white collar, and appellate.