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GOLDSEA | TOP ASIAN AMERICAN PROFESSIONALS

MORGAN CHU

Profession: Lawyer
Birthplace: New York, New York
Position: Partner, Irell & Manella, Los Angeles

he most surprising fact about Morgan Chu is that he dropped out of high school. The circumstances of this development are unknown to us, but he apparently recovered quickly enough to receive degrees from UC Berkeley (B.A., M.A., Ph. D.), Yale University (M.S.L.) and his magna cum laude J.D. from Harvard Law.
     After one year as a judicial clerk for the Honorable Charles Merill, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, San Francisco, Chu joined Irell & Manella as an associate in 1977 and became a partner in 1982.
     In 1994 he was named one of the 100 most influential lawyers in the United States by The National Law Journal, who described him as a "litigation innovator." The following year he was named one of the top 10 trial lawyers in the country, again by the National Law Journal. His biggest lawyering exploit to date came in 2002 when he won a $500 million verdict against Genentech on behalf of client City of Hope National Medical Center.
     He is married to Helen Chu, who he met at an L.A. Chinatown meeting to organize English classes for new Chinese immigrants. They have no children. In his spare time, he enjoys "running long distances slowly, butchering golf courses, falling down ski slopes, swallowing water while swimming and traveling."
     Advice for the world at large? "Working hard is very important, but remember to smell the flowers along the way. Doodle, dream, and always keep a sense of humor. And wear a bow tie. It's easier to lean down to smell the flowers."