Elias S. Kim

Elias is an experienced litigator and strategic counselor. As an associate in Cooley’s issues and appeals practice, he represents clients in the high-pressure world of litigation and focuses on appellate and US Supreme Court matters. Before he joined the firm, Elias served as counsel to the general counsel for the US Department of Commerce, where he advised the secretary and other senior officials on legal aspects of major policy processes. He previously served as a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the Solicitor General at the US Department of Justice. There, he assisted with briefing and argument preparation for more than a dozen cases before the Supreme Court and successfully briefed and argued a case in the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

Elias is well-versed in legal issues that impact advanced and emerging technologies. At the Department of Commerce, he was the primary staff-level attorney for all efforts related to artificial intelligence security. He also led the development of environmental permitting strategies for the department’s investments in semiconductor manufacturing. Elias has also served as an adjunct staff member at the RAND Corporation’s Technology and Security Policy Center. He has extensive experience in other areas of law that are essential to the technology sector. These include patent, copyright and antitrust law.

Elias clerked for Judge Lucy Koh of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Judge Richard Taranto of the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he served as an articles selection editor on the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review and senior editor on the Harvard National Security Journal. Before law school, he attended Vassar College where he majored in physics and political science and played for the men’s varsity soccer team.