Attorney
Yen is an experienced and versatile attorney whose practice focuses on esports, content creation, video games, and entertainment.
In his esports practice, Yen leads player and content creator contract negotiations that result in his team clients signing top talent in nearly every major esports title (including the LCS and VCT) and some of the biggest influencers in the industry. He also handles tournament participation agreements for major competitive ecosystems, such as the VCT and BLAST Premier leagues.
Yen helps his clients monetize the popularity and success of their organization, players, and influencers. He regularly prepares team sponsorship deals and activation agreements, and his efforts have generated more than $20 million in revenue to esports organizations and millions more paid out to influencers through their agencies. Further, Yen’s work on intellectual property license agreements and merchandise agreements have led to some of the most popular collaborations in esports and gaming.
Yen adapts quickly to his clients’ needs across many areas of the law. For example, he:
Regularly provides legal support to major productions and events, such as Misfits Gaming Group’s “Pixel Playground LIVE!” and “Name Your Price” game shows, the Nike Cup Clash, and Real Good Touring’s “The Gamer and the Mouth” event, by drafting talent agreements, venue agreements, production agreements, sponsorship agreements, and providing general legal advice.
Advises talent agencies on the California Talent Agency Act and prepares talent representation agreements for agencies.
Represents clients in asset purchases and sales, from due diligence to closing. Yen was recently part of the legal team that represented TSM in its sale of its League of Legends Championship Series franchise slot to Shopify Rebellion.
Maintains an active immigration law practice, having successfully obtained O-1A and O-1B visas for content creators and esports personalities, and P-1A and P-1S visas for esports players and support staff.
Regularly advises clients regarding employment-related matters.
Prepares terms of service and privacy policies for clients’ websites and applications.
Prepares and files trademark applications to protect clients’ intellectual property rights.
Before joining ESG Law, Yen spent almost a decade litigating complex cases at two of the most distinguished law firms in California—the trial boutique Keller/Anderle LLP and the appellate boutique Horvitz & Levy LLP. At those firms, Yen litigated billion-dollar disputes at the trial level, argued cases before the California Supreme Court, and represented clients in the United States Supreme Court. For example, he scored a critical appellate victory in the famous dispute between MGA Entertainment and Mattel over the Bratz dolls, helped convince a judge to dismiss a multi-billion-dollar real estate partnership dispute for a client on the eve of trial, and successfully argued on behalf of amici curiae before the California Supreme Court in the Southern California Gas Leak Cases. Before working at those firms, Yen clerked for the Honorable Joseph R. Goodwin in the Southern District of West Virginia.
Yen has written extensively on video games and esports law, and his writings have been published by the Pepperdine Law Review, the Journal of Intellectual Property Law, and the Washington University Journal of Law & Policy. He is member of the Esports Bar Association and a 2021 Fellow of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, an organization of more than 350 chief legal officers and law firm managing partners designed to help a more diverse generation of attorneys ascend to leadership positions.