ALRP to Honor David Tsai with Clint Hockenberry Leadership Award
August 11, 2025
ALRP is excited to share that we will honor attorney David Tsai with the Clint Hockenberry Leadership Award at our 42nd Annual Reception on October 23, 2025. The Hockenberry Award is named for ALRP’s first Executive Director and is given to individuals whose work reflects a lifetime of service to the HIV/AIDS community.
For over two decades, David Tsai, now a Partner at Pillsbury, has been a leader in the Asian American and LGBTQ legal communities. He was the first gay president of the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area (AABA-Bay Area) and a Co-Chair of Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom (BALIF), the Bay Area’s LGBTQI bar association.
Throughout his legal career, David has devoted himself to pro bono work on behalf of the HIV and LGBTQ community. He has successfully represented dozens of LGBTQ and HIV+ clients in asylum matters and led the drafting of amicus briefs filed in the California same-sex marriage/Prop 8 cases that were signed by more than 100 organizations. In addition to his legal work, David has also supported the HIV community through his participation in AIDS/LifeCycle and his volunteerism with Project Open Hand, the California AIDS Hotline, and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. David first connected with ALRP in 2007, and over the years has served as a Panel attorney, Board member, donor, and advisor.
David currently serves on the boards of Equality California, Pride Wide, California Rural Legal Assistance, and Asian Law Alliance. In addition to his leadership at AABA-Bay Area and BALIF, he was previously a Co-Chair of the Minority Bar Coalition of the San Francisco Bay Area, a President of the Harvard Club of San Francisco, and a Board member at Lambda Legal, UC Riverside, the Bar Association of San Francisco, and the Santa Clara County Bar Association. He currently also serves as a Commissioner of the San Francisco Ethics Commission.
For his work in civil rights, David has been recognized by the California State Legislature and the National LGBT Bar Association. A mentor to younger Asian American and LGBTQ attorneys, David recently launched a scholarship fund with the BALIF Foundation to enable underrepresented law students to take on public interest work advancing LGBTQ equality.