KEELE - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Fellow of the Litigation Counsel
• Managing Partner of Thomas Whitelaw & Tyler 's San Francisco

Chris Keele is a litigation and trial lawyer with over 30 years of experience handling and managing cases of all types and size. Chris is a courtroom veteran, having tried numerous cases to verdict for both public and private clients. He has handled cases and counseled clients in many substantive areas, including business and contract disputes, shareholder claims, professional liability and fraud, real estate, insurance, labor & employment, product liability, chemical exposure, and environmental matters. Chris is the former managing partner of Thomas Whitelaw & Tyler's San Francisco office, which he started in 2007. Before Thomas Whitelaw, Chris was managing partner of the California offices of Stoel Rives LLP. He practiced at Stoel and its California predecessor, Washburn Briscoe & McCarthy, beginning in 1993. Prior to that, he practiced at Morrison & Foerster in Palo Alto and Wildman Harrold in Chicago. Chris began his legal career as an intern in the felony and capital crimes divisions of the Marion County prosecutor's office in Indianapolis. Chris has represented and counseled a wide variety of business and industry. His clients have included commercial property owners and developers, industrial equipment manufacturers, major financial institutions, state agencies, municipal governments, industrial chemical formulators and distributors, hospitals and health care providers, airlines, railroads, professional consulting and engineering firms, a transportation company, a special education provider, a silicon wafer manufacturer, a life sciences technology company, a maker of industrial automation software and manufacturing systems, a manufacturer of electrical control devices, an international power company and energy marketer, a fast food company, an Internet retailer of digital advertising products, and an agricultural cooperative. Chris is a 1984 graduate of Indiana University School of Law in Bloomington, where he was Executive Editor of the Indiana Law Journal. He earned his A.B. with honors from Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana. Chris is a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, a trial lawyer honorary society. He is a frequent lecturer on trial strategies, courtroom advocacy, and risk management. Chris Keele is a trial lawyer with over 30 years of experience handling and managing litigation of all types, size and complexity. In addition to enjoying great success in the courtroom, Chris has counseled clients in all aspects of risk mitigation and litigation management, working closely with senior executives to develop business-oriented strategie s.