By Andrew Cohen
It doesn’t take long for recent Berkeley Law grads to climb the ranks and make a meaningful impact early in their wide-ranging careers. We will periodically highlight standout alums 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.
Lizzie Dinh ’19 admits that her professional achievements sprang from an unlikely source: playing video games as a kid with her brothers.
“That got me interested in the mechanics behind popular games and the decisions that led to their implementation,” she says. “Practicing in intellectual property law gives me an avenue to explore these interests and delve into new technologies with each case.”
Now an associate at Kwun Bhansali Lazarus in San Francisco, Dinh has parlayed that fascination into a fast-rising career. Already named a Rising Star by Super Lawyers, she focuses largely on patent litigation.
Dinh relishes digging deep into how the accused products work, the history of prior art in the industry, why developers made their design decisions, and how those decisions shape the products’ functionalities. She also enjoys hearing from the engineers and developers themselves regarding why those decisions were made and how they were implemented.
“These discussions often reveal surprising motivations behind certain design choices,” she says. “And they all help you shape the story behind the technology and why it’s worth defending.”
Riding in the fast-change lane
Given the rapid pace of technological change, new advancements often don’t fit perfectly into established legal frameworks — Dinh cites the current enthrallment by generative AI as a clear example. She notes that there are currently over a dozen lawsuits alleging, among other things, copyright and privacy violations based on the alleged use of the plaintiffs’ works or information in training generative AI models.
“The scale with which gen AI models can ingest data and produce content is beyond what I think the judges and legislators that first created the frameworks for assessing copyright infringement could have ever conceived,” she says. “I look forward to watching how courts deal with this unprecedented technology and how it impacts not only the AI and legal industries, but more generally how we treat developing technologies.”
Working at a boutique firm with just five other attorneys, Dinh gets tremendous opportunities to develop and take charge of a case that would almost surely go to a more seasoned attorney at a larger firm. That hands-on approach is well suited for someone who builds light boxes — and constructed her own gaming personal computer (PC).
“The PC building isn’t that complicated, actually. I’ve assembled furniture that was more complicated,” she says. “Far more time went into researching what parts I wanted in it, what graphics card to use, and setting up the PC.
“I’ve always enjoyed tinkering with different electronics and wanted a more powerful machine to play graphics-intensive video games on. Building a PC yourself is more cost-effective and fun than buying a pre-built one. It also allows a level of customization that you can’t get with pre-built PCs.”
Versatility rewarded
Dinh handles intellectual property matters ranging from enforcement campaigns to trademark and copyright infringement disputes. She has also successfully represented clients in business litigation that includes partnership disputes, breach of contract and fraud disputes, unfair competition cases, and antitrust matters.
A former marketing intern at Sony and Disney, Dinh was involved in numerous activities outside the classroom during law school. She was executive editor of the California Law Review and development editor of the Asian American Law Journal, a LexisNexis ambassador and Barbri representative, and active with the Asian Pacific American Law Student Association.
“I found my time at East Bay Community Law Center’s Consumer Justice Clinic the most meaningful out-of-the-classroom experience because we were able to interface with individuals in the community and hopefully provide them some much-needed help,” she says.
These days, learning about the underlying mechanics of technologies that shape our everyday lives allows Dinh to shine for her clients.
“As a practitioner, it’s crucial to keep abreast of the latest technologies in the industries your clients specialize in — and how courts deal with them — while acknowledging that the laws that govern these technologies shift as the technologies change,” she says. “That kind of work can be very challenging, but it’s also very rewarding.”