Charles (Chip) Harrison

Chip is a business litigator with a wide-ranging practice focusing on criminal and civil white-collar investigations, aviation and real estate litigation, and trade secret law. With experience on some of the largest disputes in California history, Chip leverages his varied practice to protect individuals from threats to their liberty and companies from threats to their business success.   

Chip’s representative matters include:

White Collar Defense & Investigations

• Defending the CEO of a national real estate brokerage in parallel criminal and civil investigations related to one of the largest real estate disputes in San Diego history
• Representing a technology communications company against claims by the Federal Trade Commission that the company misrepresented the security features of its products, resulting in a consent order for the investigation and the company paying no monetary fine or penalty
• Representing an individual in a license revocation proceeding before the California Department of Real Estate

Aviation Litigation

• Representing an aftermarket aircraft manufacturer in litigation related to its portfolio of supplemental type certificates
• Representing a municipality in parallel state, federal and administrative proceedings regarding a first-of-its-kind conversion of an unregulated public-use airport into a regulated private-use airport

Trade Secret Litigation & Dispute Counseling

• Representing a major technology company in a series of lawsuits against former employees accused of exfiltrating confidential information, resulting in the company securing early injunctions against the defendants
• Developing and pursuing powerful affirmative counterclaims in an international arbitration arising from an agreement between a pharmaceutical company and a contract manufacturer
• Representing a legal-services startup in a trade secret arbitration against a former business partner
• Representing a drone manufacturer against claims by a non-practicing entity related to its acoustic navigation technology

General Litigation Matters

• Representing two major utility companies against claims from individuals and public entities related to California wildfires
• Representing a public life sciences company against allegations that it misrepresented the results of its clinical trials
• Advising an apparel manufacturer on claims against suppliers related to compliance with international safety standards

Prior to joining Cooley, Chip served as a law clerk to the Hon. Larry Alan Burns, Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, and as a Judicial Intern for the Counselor to John G. Roberts, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. 

Chip previously practiced at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP in Los Angeles, where he focused on mass tort and intellectual property litigation.  

Chip graduated from the University of Chicago Law School, where he served as an Articles Editor for the University of Chicago Law Review.