Overview
Helen Chang is a seasoned commercial litigation attorney with decades of experience handling all aspects of civil litigation including law and motion, discovery, alternative dispute resolution, and trials.
Ms. Chang is a Professor Emerita from Golden Gate University School of Law, and prior to joining AALRR, was a tenured law professor at the university. She received the Robert Calhoun Award for Outstanding Professor in 2020, 2021, 2023 and 2024. She has published numerous articles and has taught a broad range of law subjects including criminal law, property law, family law, business torts, and wills and trusts.
Practice Areas
News & Publications
Events & Speaking Engagements
- War Crimes Against Women and The #MeToo Movement Panel, Organizer, April 2019
- World War II Crimes Panel, Moderator, 2020
- Twenty-Fifth Annual Fulbright Symposium on International Problems, “Adapting to a Rapidly Changing World”, Moderator, March 2015
- “California Putative Spouses”, Golden Gate University School of Law Family Alumni Group, Speaker, March 2014
- Estate Planning and Community Law Journal Seminar, Texas Tech University School of Law, Speaker, February 2010
- Alternatives to Incarceration, Golden Gate University School of Law, Moderator, November 2009
- Family Law Practice, Golden Gate University School of Law, Moderator, October 2009
- Golden Gate University School of Law Mid-Year Graduating Class, Commencement Speaker, December 2006
- “Current Issues Before the International Criminal Court” sponsored by the International Law Society, Panel Speaker, Fall 2006
- Trelase Dinner, University of Wyoming College of Law, Keynote Speaker, October 30, 2003
- Eleventh Regional Meeting of the American Society of International Law/Twelfth Annual Fulbright Symposium on International Legal Problems, “Progressive Development of International Law and Order Since the Events of 11 September 2001,” Rapporteur, March 28, 2002
- “The Cultural Defense in Criminal Law”, sponsored by the APALSA organization at Golden Gate University School of Law, Moderator, Spring 1992
- “Issues Facing Professional Korean-American Women Today”, Korean-American Women Students Association at UC Berkeley, Panel Speaker, Fall 1991
Publications
- “A Brief History of Anglo-Western Suicide: From Legal Wrong to Civil Right”, 46 S.U.L. Rev. 150 (2018-19).
- “California Putative Spouses: The Innocent, the Guilty, and the Law”, Volume 44.2, Southwestern Law Review (2015).
- Comment on Community Property, 33 Real Property Law Reporter 192 (November 2010).
- “Justice Carter’s Dissent in People v. Crooker: An Early Step Towards Miranda Warnings and the Expansion of the Fifth Amendment to Pre-Trial Confessions” in The Great Dissents of the “Lone Dissenter”, Carolina Academic Press (2010).
- “The Slip and Fall of the California Legislature in the Classification of Personal Injury Damages at Divorce and Death”, 1 Estate Planning and Community Property Law Journal 345 (2008-9).
- “My Father is a Woman, Oh No!: The Failure of the Courts to Uphold Individual Substantive Due Process Rights For Transgender Parents Under the Guise of the Best Interest of the Child,”43 Santa Clara Law Review 649 (2003).
- California Courts and Judges (2000).
Community Involvement
Community & Professional
- San Francisco Tennis Coalition Board, Member
- San Francisco Dept of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, Homeless Shelter Grievance Process, Arbitrator
- Court Appointed Special Advocate, Marin County Superior Court, 2007 – 2010
- Bar Association of San Francisco, Member, 2002
- State Bar of California Conference, Delegate, 2002
- ACLU, Board Member At Large, 1988 – 1990