Managing Consultant, Legal Center of Expertise
Ashley Chi is a key member of the Legal Centre of Expertise in both Korn Ferry’s Professional Search and Executive Search practices. Ms. Chi has experience working with a wide range of clients across industries with an emphasis on life sciences, healthcare and technology.
Ms. Chi specializes in partnering with corporate clients in recruiting legal executives in public and private companies, and attorneys and business professionals at law firms across U.S. and Canada. She has led searches for general counsels, deputy general counsels, associate general counsels, senior counsels and corporate counsels at companies of all sizes. She has also led mandates for attorneys and business professionals at boutique and global law firms. Ms. Chi is a relationship-driven search partner with a commitment to improving representation in legal leadership. Whether she is supporting candidates and coaching them on advancing their careers, or supporting clients to capture and retain strong talent, she is always thinking about the right fit for everyone involved.
Recently, she received certifications for Korn Ferry’s Leadership Solution and Leadership Architect Solutions.
Prior to joining Korn Ferry, Ms. Chi practiced as a patent litigator for 10 years at several top global law firms in both New York and Chicago. Given her technical background, her practice focused on pharmaceutical and medical device matters. She also spent time as an in-house attorney tasked with building and monetizing the company’s intellectual property (IP) portfolio with an emphasis on AI and machine learning.
Prior to becoming an attorney, Ms. Chi served as a management consultant for a New York City-based consulting firm founded by ex-McKinsey partners with expertise in process and efficiency improvement and outsourcing projects supporting financial services clients.
Ms. Chi is a native Mandarin speaker. She brings with her perspectives as an immigrant, first-generation attorney and a naturalized citizen of both Canada and the US.
Professionally, Ms. Chi is an active member of the National Association for Women Lawyers (NAWL), Chiefs of IP (ChIPs) and National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA).
Ms. Chi holds a Bachelor of Science in Biological Engineering with a Minor in Engineering Management from Cornell University and a Juris Doctor for Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. She was admitted to the New York and Illinois bars in 2012.
