Silicon Valley Business Journal Names Fish & Richardson Principal Betty Chen Among 40 Under 40 in 2016

Betty Chen, an intellectual property litigator and principal at Fish & Richardson’s Silicon Valley office, was named to the Silicon Valley Business Journal’s 2016 40 Under 40 class—an annual feature that recognizes rising stars across the region’s leading industries.

According to the publication, this year’s 40 honorees have not only achieved a high-level of responsibility in their careers, but have also made vital investments in the future making differences on both individual and community levels.

The Business Journal highlighted Chen’s leadership role in addressing issues of unique importance to women across the legal profession. As co-lead of the firm’s Silicon Valley Women’s Initiative, Chen helps provide coworkers with tools and resources to achieve personal and professional success. As the firm’s global hiring principal, overseeing hiring for Fish’s 12 offices in the United States and Germany, she encourages workplace diversity and ensures the firm both hires and advances the industry’s leading talents regardless of age, race, religion, sexual orientation and disability, among other factors.

Chen is a driving force in intellectual property law serving not only as a fierce advocate for her clients in patent and commercial litigation cases, but also as a mentor and inspiration to diverse legal professionals transcending barriers to overcome achievement gaps.

“As a litigator as well as a child of immigrants, it is important to me to have a career that venerates and increases the public’s faith in our uniquely American jury trial system,” Chen says in the feature in reply to a question of what is her most important factor to having a satisfying career.

Chen has substantial trial experience defending and protecting patents of international technology giants such as Apple Inc. and Adobe Systems Incorporated. Her practice encompasses a myriad of technologies predominantly in the fields of computer software, computer hardware, medical devices, and consumer products. Chen also represents clients in trademark, copyright, licensing, trade secrets, contracts and employment disputes. She has both successfully tried and managed an array of intellectual property matters through all phases of litigation and across a variety of forums including federal and state courts, the International Trade Commission and arbitration.

When asked to give a quote or philosophy to define herself, Chen said, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people won’t forget how you made them feel.”