Team Photos & Biographies

Trung D. Tu
Associate
(503) 412-3543 direct
Contact Trung

Trung is a litigation and appellate attorney with experience in commercial, business, corporate and real estate law, legal malpractice defense and repair, employment law and simple estate planning. Trung represents a wide range of clients, including corporations, small businesses, banks, insurance companies, non-profit organizations, individuals and other attorneys in all aspects of litigation in both state and federal courts. Prior to joining McEwen Gisvold as an associate in 2003, Trung was a senior staff attorney with the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  Trung is conversant in Vietnamese.

Representative Transactions
Regularly represents a nationwide grocery store chain when it is sued for false arrest or for other claims related to security and anti-shoplifting measures. Such claims against the grocery store range anywhere from $50,000 to $150,000.

Assists clients with the formation of small and emerging businesses.

Represents an insured in its appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The insurer had denied coverage and refused to pay the insured's defense costs in an underlying lawsuit in which the insured was sued.

Represented an attorney who was sued by his former client for legal malpractice, breach of fiduciary duty and financial abuse.  After a jury trial, Trung obtained a defense verdict on behalf of his client.

Represents a minority member of an LLC, who was expelled from the LLC by the majority member. The minority member's claims against the majority member and the LLC, which include claims for breach of fiduciary duty, usurpation of corporate opportunities and breach of contract, are worth in excess of $7.2 million.

Represented an owner of a beauty salon who was alleged by her landlord and former client of negligently coloring her hair and causing damage to her hair and scalp. On behalf of the owner, Trung counter-sued the landlord for breach of the lease and defamation.  Trung won the case on behalf of the owner after a 3-day jury trial, and obtained a defense verdict and attorneys' fees allowed, both in excess of $107,000, for his client.

Represented shareholders of a closely held corporation that owns and operates a restaurant.  The relationship between Trung's clients and the other shareholders broke down.   Trung successfully negotiated a very favorable buy-out of his clients' interests in the corporation.

Represented an attorney who was sued by his former client for allegedly giving the client negligent legal advice in regards to his commercial lease, which resulted in the client losing the option to renew the lease.

Represented an attorney who represented a client in the probate of the client's mother's estate. The attorney allegedly gave the client negligent legal advice during the probate, which resulted in the client's loss of his wrongful death and slayer statute claims.

Represented a large institutional lender in several eminent domain condemnation cases in the state courts of California. Trung was able to protect the lender's security interest in the properties that were being condemned.

Represented homeowners in a dispute with their general contractor, who had negligently and defectively installed EIFS to their home. Trung tried the case in AAA arbitration and won a judgment in excess of over $157,000 for the homeowners.

Education
Northwestern School of Law of Lewis & Clark College, Juris Doctor (2000)
University of Notre Dame, Bachelor of Arts (1995)

Admitted to Practice
Oregon State Courts
California State Courts
United States District Court, District of Oregon
United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit

Awards and Honors

Northwestern School of Law of Lewis & Clark College has named Trung as the recipient of their 2008 Rising Star Award.  The Rising Star Award is conferred upon a person who graduated from the law school within the last ten years, who has used his or her law degree to achieve a positive mark on the legal profession, and whose contributions to the legal profession and the community have brought honor and distinction to the law school.  Trung will be the first recipient of this new annual award, and will be honored at the law school's annual Distinguished Honors dinner in October 2008.

Trung was named one of the Portland Business Journal's Forty Under 40 for 2007 - an award that recognizes 40 leading Portland business people who are under the age of 40.  Trung and the other award recipients were selected based upon their professional accomplishment, community involvement and professional recognition.

In 2003, Trung received the Distinguished Service Award for having rendered distinguished service as a staff attorney for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

In 2000, Trung was commended by the International Academy of Trial Lawyers for his distinguished achievement in the art and science of advocacy.

In 2000, Trung was selected as a member of Northwestern School of Law of Lewis & Clark College's Cornelius Honor Society, on the basis of his superior scholarship, leadership and contributions to the law school community.

Professional & Community Activities

Trung is a member of the Oregon State Bar's Appellate Practice, Labor & Employment, Litigation and Employment, and Diversity Law Sections; the State Bar of California; the Multnomah Bar Association; the Federal Bar Association's Labor and Employment Law, Federal Litigation, Young Lawyers, and Federal Career Service and Judiciary Sections.

In 2003, Trung was appointed by the Oregon State Bar's Board of Governors to serve on the OSB's Affirmative Action Committee, of which he is currently the chairperson.  In 2005, he was elected by the attorneys in Multnomah County to serve a three-year term on the OSB's House of Delegates, which is one of the governing bodies of the Oregon State Bar.  Additionally, he is a member of the Owen M. Panner American Inn of Court, Phi Delta Phi Legal Fraternity, Notre Dame Law Association, Lewis & Clark's Cornelius Honor Society, American Constitution Society for Law and Policy, Oregon Minority Lawyers' Association, Oregon Women's Lawyers, and Oregon Gay and Lesbian Law Association.  Trung currently serves on the Multnomah Bar Association's Professionalism Committee.

Trung deeply invests himself in his community and alma mater. He coached the Jefferson High School Mock Trial Team and mentors racial and sexual minority law students. He also provides pro bono legal services to the Q Center as its general counsel. He is a founding member of the Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon Political Action Committee and served on the Board of Directors. He is an active member of the Portland Area Business Association and the Asian American Business Alliance.  He was a member of the Multnomah Bar Association's YLS Service to the Public Committee, of which he co-chaired the Dropout Prevention Program and the Dress for Success Clothes Drive. He is a member of the Notre Dame Club of Portland, and formerly a member of the Notre Dame Asian Studies Advisory Board, and the Notre Dame Alumni Association's Board of Directors. He was a founding director and past-Chairperson of the Asian Pacific Alumni of Notre Dame's Board of Directors. He is also a past member of the Board of Directors of Notre Dame Club of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Trung was an Associate Editor of the International Legal Perspectives Law Journal and was a contributing author to Letter of the Law. Trung also co-authored the 2005 Supplement to the "Truth in Lending Act," a chapter in Consumer Law in Oregon, published by the Oregon State Bar.