About Henry
Henry Cheng earned his undergraduate degree in politics, with a minor in physics, from the University of California, Santa Cruz. He went on to receive his J.D. from the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco and completed an LL.M. in Taxation at New York University School of Law. Those credentials set the stage for a career that spans transactional work, litigation, and academic instruction.
Cheng began his legal career soon after law school. He worked as an associate at White & Case, where he was exposed to cross-border and domestic transactional matters. Early in his career he also served as Senior Analyst and Counsel at Public Radio Capital, a role that combined legal review with organizational and financial analysis. In 2012 he clerked for the Honorable David Laro of the United States Tax Court, a position that gave him direct experience with tax litigation and judicial decisionmaking.
After his clerkship Cheng continued to build a practice that bridges tax and intellectual property concerns. He gained admission to practice in California and before the Ninth Circuit, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, and the United States Tax Court. He is also registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. That mix of admissions reflects training in both tax law and matters that implicate patent and trademark procedures.
In 2015 Cheng took on a role as an adjunct professor of law at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. In the classroom he taught subjects that drew on his tax training and courtroom experience. The academic appointment ran alongside his continuing work in private practice and government-facing roles.
In 2023 Cheng joined DLA Piper as a partner. The move followed years of handling complex tax questions, counseling on regulatory issues, and engaging with intellectual property procedures. He brings an approach shaped by time in large law firms, a federal clerkship, and an academic setting. Colleagues describe his work as methodical and fact-driven; clients seek him out for technical matters that require careful analysis.
Cheng remains active in professional circles and maintains memberships that began in 2009. He practices tax and intellectual property law at DLA Piper.
