Mr. Gao is an associate in the Litigation Department of the San Francisco office of Morrison & Foerster LLP. His practice focuses on commercial litigation and international arbitration.

Prior to law school, Mr. Gao was a counselor at the Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County where he assisted indigent clients to resolve their disputes with healthcare providers and healthcare assistance program administrators.

Mr. Gao earned his B.A. in International Affairs, cum laude, from University of Colorado at Boulder in 1999 and his J.D. from Columbia Law School in 2006, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and a Staff Editor for the Columbia Human Rights Law Review.

While in law school, Mr. Gao externed for the Honorable Deborah A. Batts of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and interned at the American Civil Liberties Union.

Mr. Gao is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.

Representative Matters

• Assisted in the successful defense of a GPS manufacturer in an arbitration brought by a Japanese competitor involving claims of solicitation of employees in Moscow, Russia, breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of a licensing agreement.
• Currently assisting in the representation of a German software company in an ICC arbitration in Switzerland arising from licensing and joint development contracts related to the Linux operating system.
• Currently assisting in the representation of a telecommunications equipment manufacturer in a federal securities class action.