Partner
Attorney Sonia Chan Lee has over 25 years of legal experience in the United States and Asia. Ms. Lee was a Dean's List student graduating cum laude with a B.A. in International Relations & Oriental Studies (Japanese Studies) from the University of Pennsylvania (1991). She earned her J.D. degree from Georgetown University Law Center (1996) where she was an award-winning member of the Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics. She is admitted to practice law in California and New York, as well as in Hong Kong as a solicitor. Ms. Lee has lived and practiced law in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Tokyo and Hong Kong.
Prior to joining Thompson Von Tungeln, Ms. Lee has practiced law in both international and domestic law firms and served as in-house counsel in multinational companies and a global bank. In addition to trust and estate law, Ms. Lee has legal experience in the fields of corporate, finance, banking, risk management, not-for-profit law, antitrust, data privacy and securities law.
Ms. Lee is a board member of Grace Resources, a ministry prayerfully striving to eliminate hunger and poverty in the Antelope Valley. Ms. Lee served as a member of the Board of Governors for over 10 years and was the Chair of the Governance Committee of Branksome Hall Asia, an international all-girls school in South Korea that is currently ranked the top 1% of all International Baccalaureate® (IB) schools globally. She also served as Co-Chair and as Board Director for Generations Christian Education, an international Christian education organization operating four schools in Hong Kong, and as a member of the Executive Committee and Co-Chair of the Staffing Committee of The Child Development Centre, an early learning and intervention center serving children with individual learning needs in Hong Kong for over 10 years.
Areas of Practice
- Estate Planning
- Probate
- Trusts
- Wills
- Trust Administration
- Conservatorships
- Guardianships
- Elder Law
- Medi-Cal Planning
- Charitable Planning
Honors & Awards
- The St. Thomas More Award for outstanding student work for legal ethics (from Georgetown University Law Center)
Bar Admissions
- California
- New York
- Hong Kong (as a solicitor)
Education
- Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, DC, 1996 - J.D.
- Law Review: The Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics
- University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 1991 – B.A. (Cum Laude) International Relations & Oriental Studies (Japanese Studies)
Professional Associations and Memberships
- State Bar of California – Member
- State Bar of New York – Member
- The Law Society of Hong Kong – Solicitor
- International Association of Privacy Professionals – Certified Information Privacy Professional/Asia