2026 Officers
President
Chris Stecher is a partner at FBT Gibbons LLP, San Francisco office. For over two decades, Chris has focused his practice on business litigation. He currently specializes in employment, securities, and general business litigation. He is licensed to practice in California and Washington. In addition, Chris has handled employment matters arising in Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin.
Chris represents employers in all aspects of litigation in federal and state trial and appellate courts, as well as in arbitration and before state agencies. Chris has represented clients in wrongful termination, harassment, retaliation, discrimination, compensation, breach of contract, and unfair competition cases, as well as wage and hour class actions, collective actions, and representative actions. Chris also handles litigation between businesses, including disputes regarding restrictive covenants, trade secrets, defamation, employee raiding, unfair competition, breach of contract, and other business torts.
Chris has experience in all phases of litigation, from pre-suit investigation and resolution through trial. He has argued before the California Court of Appeal and briefed matters before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Apart from his litigation practice, Chris regularly advises clients in areas such as employee discipline, employee compensation and benefits, non-compete laws, wage and hour issues, leaves of absence, record retention, and compliance with other local, state, and federal laws. https://fbtgibbons.com/
President-Elect
Susan Knight serves as Senior Counsel, Ethics Programs, for the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E). She works closely with the external monitors, including the Operational Observer who reports to the Governor’s Office, and serves as a liaison to federal and state law enforcement and provides advice on cybersecurity matters. Before joining PG&E, Ms. Knight spent over two decades as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of California. During her time there, she worked in the San Jose Branch Office focusing on prosecuting computer hacking and intellectual property offenses. Ms. Knight graduated with honors from Western New England University School of Law and received her B.A. in English from Chapman University.
Secretary/Treasurer
A partner in Davis Polk’s IP Litigation group, Micah represents major corporations in must-win cases. He litigates patent, trade-secret, antitrust and other matters for clients including Cisco, Comcast, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Novo Nordisk, Plaid, Taiwan Semiconductor, the United States Golf Association and Verisk Analytics. Micah is a seasoned trial lawyer with a deep understanding of technology and a proven track record of success.
Among other industry recognition, Micah has been recognized by Chambers USA and was named to the Daily Journal’s “Top 40 Under 40” list in 2020. Clients describe him in Chambers as “a very deep and creative thinker who comes up with solutions you would never have thought of” and “really a superstar of the future.”
Micah serves as the co-hiring partner of our Northern California office. He maintains an active pro bono practice with a focus on civil rights, criminal justice and immigration matters.
VP- San Francisco
Michael F. Ram is a consumer class action lawyer with 40 years of experience. He graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1982. In 1992 he was a co-recipient of the Trial Lawyer of the Year Award given by Trial Lawyers for Public Justice for National Association of Radiation Survivors v. Walters No. 83-c-1861 (N.D. Cal.)
From 1993 through 1997, Mr. Ram was with Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann and Bernstein where he represented plaintiffs in several major class actions, including:
Cox v. Shell, Civ. No 18,844 (Obion County Chancery Court, Tenn.) national class of six million owners of property with defective polybutylene plumbing systems and In re Louisiana-Pacific Inner-Seal Litigation, No. 95-cv-879 (D. Oregon) (co-lead counsel) national class of homeowners with defective siding.
In 1997, Mr. Ram founded Levy, Ram & Olson. He was co-lead counsel in many consumer class actions including a national class of half a million owners of dangerous glass pane gas fireplaces in Keilholtz et al. v. Superior Fireplace Company, No. 08-cv-00836 (N.D. Cal. 2008). He was co-lead counsel in Chamberlan v. Ford Motor Company, No. 03-cv-2628 (N.D. Cal.), a class action involving defective intake manifolds that generated four published opinions, including one by the Ninth Circuit, 402 F.3d at 950, and settled one court day before the class trial.
He heads the consumer products and automotive litigation department. He is co-lead counsel in numerous consumer class actions, including Gold v. Lumber Liquidators, N.D. Cal. No. 14-cv-05373-RS, a certified multistate class action involving bamboo floors, as well as Fowler v. Wells Fargo, N.D. Cal. No.3:17-cv-02092-HSG, a class action involving interest charges that settled for $30 million, and Lowell v Lyft, ED NY 7:17-cv-06251-PMH-AEK, a certified class of wheelchair users with ADA claims. He recently co-tried the class case and is awaiting a decision. He is currently serving as lead trial counsel in Kellman v. Spokeo, Inc., N.D. Cal. No. 3:21-cv-08976-WHO, a certified class action; as well as serving on the Plaintiffs’ Expert Discovery Committee In re Kia Hyundai Vehicle Theft Marketing, Sales Practices, and Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 3052. He recently obtained a certified class as co-lead counsel in King v. National General, N.D. Cal. No. 4:15-cv-00313-DMR. As co-lead counsel in a recent $20 million class settlement in Smith v. Apple, Inc., N.D. Cal. No. 4:21-cv-09527-HSG and a settlement in excess of $1.5 billion while serving on the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee and co-chairing the Law and Briefing Committee In re Philips Recalled CPAP, Bi-Level Pap, And Mechanical Ventilator Products Litigation, MDL No. 3014, Mr. Ram helped garner the firm a nomination as a finalist for the National Law Journal’s Elite Trial Lawyers awards in Class Action. He is currently serving as Vice-President of San Francisco for the Federal Bar Association, Northern District of California Chapter.
VP – Oakland
Jonathan Lee is Senior Counsel at The Milanfar Law Firm, where he represents plaintiffs in personal injury and civil rights cases. He previously served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney from April 2005 until November 2025. He served in a variety of roles in the USAO, including Civil Deputy Chief, Deputy Chief of the Strike Force Violent Crime section, Senior Litigation Counsel, and Victim Rights Coordinator. His experience includes civil litigation in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, at the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office, and in private practice at Hancock, Rothert & Bunshoft. Jonathan serves as a volunteer mediator on the Court’s ADR panel and has been an adjunct law teacher at three area law schools for several years. He is Co-Chair of the Contra Costa Port Chicago Task Force, Director of the Friends of Port Chicago, and Director of the Northern District Historical Society. Jonathan is a member of the FBA’s Executive Committee and is Vice President – Oakland.
VP- San Jose
A staunch advocate for his clients, Ravi has a proven track record of successfully representing high tech companies in high-stakes litigation. Ravi focuses his practice on patent and licensing disputes and efficiently and effectively oversees major litigation portfolios, delivering results on time and on budget.
Ravi has expertise in a variety of technologies, including cloud computing, natural language processing, video decoding, e-commerce, and software and hardware design. He pairs this knowledge with clear and concise prose to effectively communicate technical issues.
Committed to providing his clients with effective and efficient dispute resolution strategies, Ravi has experience with all aspects of litigation, including summary judgment, trial and appeal. He has successfully defended clients in jurisdictions throughout the country, including the Northern District of California, Eastern and Western Districts of Texas, District of Delaware, and Federal Circuit Courts of Appeals, and has also represented clients in Section 337 investigations instituted by the U.S. International Trade Commission.
Ravi’s active pro bono practice is a testament to his commitment to serving others. He has received recognition for his contributions to the case Pineida v. Lee, et al., and for his work on behalf of victims of domestic abuse.
Ravi served as a law clerk of the Honorable Jon S. Tigar of the Northern District of California as well as an extern for the Honorable Judge Charles R. Breyer of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and as a legal intern for Cisco Systems.
VP – San Jose
Allen advises on litigation matters, with an emphasis on patent litigation and a focus on representing technology companies. His industry experience as a software developer and his computer science degrees give him a unique insight and ability to understand his clients’ key technologies, intellectual property, and related business concerns. This background allows him to simplify complex concepts into digestible explanations and prepare effective case strategies.
Allen has significant experience litigating complex intellectual property disputes, including representing clients in proceedings before district courts throughout the United States, the Federal Circuit, the International Trade Commission, and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. He has achieved favorable results for clients at all phases including pre-suit settlement, early dispositive motion practice, trial, and appeal. The disputes he has handled relate to fields such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, networking, mobile devices, location-based services, Internet search, semiconductors, and smart home devices. He has also counseled companies on pre-litigation issues, patent portfolio management, and other IP matters, including as secondee to the in-house legal team of a leading multinational company.
Before becoming an attorney, Allen was a software developer, first with Oracle, and later with Compiere, an open-source enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) platform provider.
Allen received his J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. During law school, Allen was an extern to the Honorable Lucy H. Koh of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. He received his Masters of Engineering in computer science, with a focus on machine learning for data visualization based on multidimensional scaling, and his B.S., magna cum laude, in computer science, both from Cornell University.
VP – Government
Marissa Harris is an Assistant United States Attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California. Ms. Harris joined the office in 2015 and prosecutes a wide variety of federal criminal matters, including human trafficking, sexual abuse, child exploitation, and civil rights offenses. She also serves as the Human Trafficking Coordinator for the district, leading training, outreach, and public engagement initiatives focused on human trafficking and exploitation crimes. Prior to joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Ms. Harris was a litigation associate at Morrison & Foerster in Washington, D.C. and worked pro bono on seminal women’s rights matters, including Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, June Medical Services, LLC v. Russo, and Doe v. Wood County Board of Education. She also served as a Special Assistant District Attorney in the Kings County District Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn. Ms. Harris graduated from Georgetown University Law Center in 2009 and New York University in 2005. In 2022, she received a Younger Federal Lawyer Award from the Federal Bar Association.