By Andrew Cohen
It doesn’t take long for UC Berkeley Law grads to climb the ranks and make a meaningful impact early in their wide-ranging careers. We periodically highlight recent alumni who are shining across various practice areas in profiles that amplify what drew them to their current work, what they enjoy most about it, and their path to success.
It makes sense that Zachary Nguyen ’17 would find a professional haven at DoorDash, the popular on-demand delivery and pickup platform that connects customers with local restaurants, grocery stores, and food retailers.
Bridging different worlds is second nature for someone from a Southern California immigrant community who grew up in a studio apartment and then navigated college 3,000 miles away at Wesleyan University in Connecticut — a school whose cultural and socioeconomic norms seemed even farther away.
After graduating, Nguyen spent two years thriving as a consultant with Charles River Associates in Boston. He provided economic, financial, and strategic insights for law and accounting firms, corporations, and government agencies, worked on deals featured in the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, and helped testifying experts prepare their analysis in litigation.
Inspired to build connections, help people feel they belong, and seize leadership opportunities, Nguyen flourished in law school.
“As for why Berkeley Law, it was because of Admitted Student Weekend and meeting current and other prospective students,” he recalls. “I just immediately felt a sense of community and how truly special Berkeley was — and still is.”
Diving in for one bite at a time
Channeling that appreciation in action, Nguyen turned into a veritable blur: He was a teaching assistant for the First-Year Skills Program, served on the Board of Advocates for the Appellate Advocacy team, got elected editor-in-chief of the California Law Review (CLR), co-chaired the First Generation Professionals group, and was academic chair for the Asian Pacific American Law Student Association.
“Part of what drove me to be so involved was a civic sense of giving back to the community,” he says. “I was lucky enough to receive so much guidance and mentorship when I was a prospective student, and then again as a 1L, that it was almost impossible not to be engaged in the same community.”
At a recent National Asian Pacific American Bar Association conference in Denver, someone Nguyen eight years earlier gave advice to during the CLR write-on (the competitive process through which students earn a spot on a student-run law journal or law review) told him how valuable his insights were.
A problem solver at heart, Nguyen calls that the flip side of being a lifelong learner. He embodies this approach as senior counsel at DoorDash, where he gives practical and solution-oriented legal advice to myriad business teams and executives on a wide range of issues.
“We are fortunate to be in a profession where we get to work on new matters, cases, and projects all the time, and it’s never boring,” Nguyen says. “But for us to be a good counsel and advocate, we have to understand what our client is hoping to achieve, what we need to learn to help our client achieve that, and then how to effectuate that ultimate goal. For me, it’s always about learning and then problem-solving for my client.”
Following two federal judicial clerkships (first at the United States District Court for the Central District of California and then on the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit) and two years as an associate in BigLaw after law school, he made the leap to go in-house and found his way to DoorDash in 2022.
Expanding the buffet
The company has experienced tremendous growth over that time, more than doubling its annual revenue in 2024 ($10.72 billion) compared to just three years earlier. Nguyen helped propel this growth by initiating and strengthening vital strategic partnerships in the restaurant, grocery, and retail industries.
“That means having to draft and negotiate agreements, problem-solve to help launch new business initiatives, and be a dependable thought partner,” he says. “My biggest challenges are having to prioritize various competing legal requests that come my way each week, but I’m also fortunate to have a team and leaders that are there to support me and our business.”
Nguyen finds extra motivation in advancing DoorDash’s goal of growing and empowering local economies, and attributes part of its success to a unified focus on connecting local merchants with consumers in their communities.
Working closely with the company’s business partners, he also values its collaborative work environment, which he says is critical to fostering a strong team and internal partnerships.
“No one person is ever left alone to figure out something,” he says. “In any project, chances are high that I have to engage with several cross-functional teams — such as product, regulatory, litigation, privacy, finance, tax, and accounting — to ensure that we are doing the right thing for DoorDash and other stakeholders.”
That dynamic also gives him pivotal insights into DoorDash’s business operation, and a deeper appreciation for what the leadership team aims to accomplish.
“When I was at a law firm, I felt that the work was much more confined to a single matter, project, or deal, and I often had to research and put together a first draft of something on my own for the client,” he says. “It is not the same being in-house at DoorDash, and I personally like working collaboratively much more.”