Sonya Tien

Sonya is admitted to practice in North Carolina, California, and New York; she has built a performance-based law practice committed to client service and satisfaction. Sonya received her law degree from Columbia Law School, where she was recognized as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, and her business degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Kenan-Flagler Business School, where she earned seventeen scholarships.

Before founding Tien Law Firm, Sonya practiced law at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, LLP, an international law firm in New York, where her practice included complex litigation, mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, commercial real estate, and white collar defense and global investigations. Sonya co-authored Fried Frank’s monthly White Collar Criminal Defense and Securities Enforcement Memorandum.

Sonya served as a judicial intern for The Honorable George H. Lowe, United States Magistrate Judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York, where she gained experience with constitutional law, employment law, healthcare law, insurance regulation, product liability law,  tax law, federal civil and criminal procedure, commercial litigation, and civil and criminal jury trials.

Sonya has been a member of plaintiff and defense litigation teams and transactional teams, and has provided legal services to Goldman Sachs, CBRE, Catalent Pharma Solutions, JPMorgan Chase, Credit Suisse, Tishman Speyer, Permira, and Barclays Capital. Sonya has successfully helped clients navigate the SEC, FDA, DOJ, and TTAB for federal investigations and litigation matters involving healthcare, securities, and intellectual property.

Sonya’s work has been published by the Wall Street Lawyer and Practising Law Institute, and her team’s litigation victory in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York received widespread international media attention. She has a strong track record of obtaining results for her client and she is skilled in the art of deals, negotiation, complex litigation, and dispute resolution. Sonya has been recognized by Super Lawyers as a Rising Star for the past three years, and she has received Avvo’s highest attorney rating for the past nine years.

Representative matters include:

• Serving as Plaintiffs’ trial lawyer in catastrophic injury litigation in the United States District Court (E.D.N.C.).
• Obtained pre-litigation wrongful death settlement against State Farm.
• Obtained eve of trial settlement as Plaintiffs’ trial attorney in serious injury litigation in Wake County Superior Court against State Farm.
• Serving as commercial real estate acquisition attorney for Grenelle Holdings, LLC and Viva, LLC.
• Serving as M&A attorney for Painted Plus, LLC buyout.
• Represent companies and artists in trademark registration and litigation.
• Representing an actor in an entertainment deal.
• Serving on the litigation team for JPMorgan Chase in a landmark hostile takeover M&A litigation in the Delaware Chancery Court.
• Serving on the litigation team for a pharmaceutical company’s M&A commercial dispute.
• Serving on the defense litigation team for Goldman Sachs and Barclays Capital for a securities class action litigation in United States District Court (S.D.N.Y.).
• Serving on the defense litigation team for Credit Suisse regarding mortgage-backed securities litigation.
• Serving on the white-collar defense team for Goldman Sachs regarding a federal investigation.
• Serving on the trial team for CBRE and Tishman Speyer for commercial real estate litigation in the Supreme Court of New York.
• Serving on the litigation team for a pharma suit against the FDA and DHHS in United States District Court (E.D.N.Y.).