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Darren S. Teshima

Partner

San Francisco +1 415 591 7094

  • About
  • Representative Matters
  • Credentials
  • About

    Darren Teshima helps corporate policyholders resolve their most complex insurance coverage disputes by providing both creative business solutions and strategic representation in litigation. Chambers USA has clients praising Darren as “incredibly efficient, responsive and practical” adding, “For any insurance coverage questions, he is my first call.” In addition to Chambers, Darren has been recognized by Best Lawyers, Lawdragon, Legal 500, and is a fellow of the American College of Coverage Counsel.

    He serves as a true partner to technology and financial services clients, working closely with in-house risk management and legal departments to guide them through their cutting-edge issues, including complex claims under D&O, E&O, cyber, and reps & warranties insurance policies.

    When litigation is necessary, Darren helps clients assert their rights. He has successfully litigated high stakes insurance coverage and other commercial disputes, including significant wins obtaining D&O and cyber insurance. Darren has a proven track record of obtaining favorable results for clients at trial. His successes include leading a trial team asserting a professional negligence claim against an insurance claims administrator, where the case settled eight days into a jury trial after the client rested its case. Darren has received “shout out” recognitions by AmLaw Litigation Daily for his representation of BBAM and for his representation of Getaround.

    Darren serves as a General Counsel of the firm. He also is deeply committed to pro bono work and community involvement. He has handled administrative trials and hearings on behalf of asylum seekers and represented vulnerable communities in civil rights lawsuits. For his efforts, Legal Services for Children honored him with the Pro Bono Advocate Award twice. Darren currently serves on the board of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area (LCCRSF). He previously served five years as the Chair of the Board of the Asian Law Caucus and served on the boards of Legal Services for Children and the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area (AABA).

    Areas of Expertise

  • Practices and Industries
  • Representative Matters
    • BBAM, a leading airline leasing company, in a coverage lawsuit against its insurers for failure to cover loss of aircraft following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
    • A leading airline leasing company, in a coverage lawsuit against its insurers for failure to cover loss of aircraft following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
    • Public university in a coverage lawsuit against its cyber insurers seeking coverage for a 2014 data breach and related class actions. 
    • Getaround, an app-based peer-to-peer vehicle rental marketplace, in a professional negligence lawsuit against its third-party administrator for auto liability claims. After winning a bifurcated bench trial on a key legal issue, Darren led the trial team in a jury trial in San Francisco Superior Court. After Getaround rested its case in chief, Getaround and its TPA, Broadspire, settled the case.
    • Premera Blue Cross in disputes with several of its insurers regarding coverage for class actions and multiple regulatory proceedings arising out of a 2014 data breach that affected more than 11 million Premera customers. Among the disputes was a declaratory relief action brought by Premera’s commercial general liability (CGL) insurer, Atlantic Specialty Insurance Company. Darren convinced the Court to deny the insurer’s motion for summary judgment seeking to establish that it did not owe a duty to defend because the insurer contended that a data breach does not constitute a “publication” under a CGL policy—a hotly contested issue across the country and one of first impression under Washington state law.
    • Tanium, a cybersecurity and systems-management company, in an insurance coverage lawsuit brought by Zurich American Insurance Company seeking to recoup amounts previously paid toward an underlying settlement.
    • Global manufacturer in a coverage arbitration against the insurer who issued a Representations & Warranties insurance policy in connection with an acquisition.
    • IEC, a for-profit education company, in a lawsuit brought by the company’s educators’ professional liability insurer, seeking to recover hundreds of thousands of dollars paid to defend, and $12.5 million paid to settle, an underlying class action. On the eve of trial, the case resolved on very favorable terms for the client.
    • Braden Partners in a lawsuit against its D&O insurer who refused to provide a defense to an underlying False Claims Act investigation. Darren won summary judgment establishing the insurer’s duty to advance defense costs for the underlying claim.
    • Leading dental insurance provider in a dispute with its D&O insurer and E&O insurer about the applicable coverage for underlying claims about alleged managed care wrongful acts. The parties ultimately reached a negotiated resolution on favorable terms for our client.
    • Leading disruptive financial services company in obtaining coverage under its D&O and cyber policies for underlying class actions and regulatory investigations arising out of a network outage affecting millions of customers.

    Areas of Expertise

  • Credentials
    Education
    • Georgetown University Law Center, J.D., 2005
        • The Georgetown Law Journal, Articles Editor
    • Amherst College, B.A., 2000
        • summa cum laude
    Bar Admissions
    • California
    • U.S. Supreme Court
    • U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
    • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
    • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
    • U.S. District Court, Northern District of California
    • U.S. District Court, Central District of California
    • U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California
    • U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas
    • U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas
    Judicial Clerkship
    • Hon. David O. Carter, U.S. District Court, Central District of California
    Pro Bono
    • Representing transgender state employees who were denied medically necessary gender-affirming care by the State of Tennessee.
    • Representing immigrants who were unlawfully held in Texas jails for weeks after their release date as part of Texas’s Operation Lone Star.
    • Represented several unaccompanied minor children from Central America seeking asylum.
    • Represented the Habeas Corpus Resource Center (HCRC) in a lawsuit challenging expedited review of habeas corpus petitions from death sentenced inmates.
    • Filed amicus brief on behalf of California school districts challenging executive order threatening to withhold federal funding from so-called sanctuary cities.
    • Represented a female inmate who was a victim of domestic violence and serving a life sentence, win parole after 34 years in prison. Darren represented the client for over 8 years, filing habeas petitions on her behalf and representing her at three parole board hearings.
    Accolades
    • Chambers USA, California - Insurance: Policyholder (2020-2024)
    • Lawdragon, Leading Litigators in America (2025)
    • The Legal 500 US, Insurance: Advice to Policyholders, (2019-2022)
    • Legal Services for Children honored Darren with the Pro Bono Advocate Award twice.
    • National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), “Best Under 40” (2015)
    • Super Lawyers Northern California (2018-2020)
    • Law360 Insurance Editorial Advisory Board Member (2018)
    • Law360, “Rising Star” (2017)
    • Asian Pacific American Bar Association Educational Fund inaugural Robert T. Matsui Annual Writing Competition Winner (2006) “A ‘Hardy Handshake Sort of Guy:' The Model Minority and Implicit Bias About Asian Americans in Chin v. Runnels,” 11 Asian Pac. Am. L. J. 122 (2006)
    Memberships and Affiliations
    • American College of Coverage Counsel, Fellow
    • American Bar Foundation, Life Fellow
    • Asian Law Caucus, Former Board Chair
    • Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, Board Member
    • Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, Fellow
    • National Asian Pacific American Bar Association
    • The State Bar of California, Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation (JNE), Commissioner
    • Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area, Former Board Member and Judiciary Committee Member
    • Bar Association of San Francisco, Former Judiciary Committee Member
    • Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, Former Advisory Board Member
    • Legal Services for Children, Former Board Member
    Previous Experience
    • In 2012, Darren spent three months on loan to the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office as an Assistant District Attorney, where he first-chaired four criminal jury trials to verdict.
    • United Nations Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Office of the Prosecutor, Trial of Slobodan Milosevic, The Hague, Extern (Summer 2002)

    Areas of Expertise

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