Ashley Chi is a key member of the Legal COE in Korn Ferry’s 

Professional Search and Executive Search practices. Ms. Chi 

has experience working with a wide range of clients across 

industries including in technology, life sciences, industrial and consumer products, financial services, and non-profit/higher education.

Ms. Chi specializes in partnering with corporate clients and law firms in recruiting legal practitioners and executives at all levels, for businesses of all sizes. In particular, Ms. Chi has expertise is in supporting CEOs, executive management teams, and Board of Directors in both public and private companies with revenues from $200M-$2B to hire their first in-house General Counsel. Given her background, she has led many GC searches in highly regulated industries such as life sciences, financial services, and in emerging technologies.

Ms. Chi is a relationship-driven search partner with a commitment to improving representation in legal leadership. Whether she is supporting candidates and coaching them on advancing their careers, or supporting clients to capture and retain strong talent, she is always thinking about the right fit for everyone involved. Recently, she received certifications for Korn Ferry’s Leadership Solution and Leadership Architect solutions. Ms. Chi is also trained as a leadership and development coach and a certified Presence-Based Coach, an ICF-certified program.

Prior to joining Korn Ferry, Ms. Chi practiced as a patent litigation attorney for 10 years at several top global law firms in both New York and Chicago. Given her bioengineering degree, her practice focused on pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device matters. She also spent time as an in-house attorney tasked with building and monetizing the company’s intellectual property (IP) portfolio with an emphasis on AI and machine learning.

Prior to becoming an attorney, Ms. Chi served as a management consultant for a New York City-based consulting firm founded by ex-McKinsey partners with expertise in process and efficiency improvement and outsourcing projects supporting financial services and consumer products clients.

Ms. Chi is a native Mandarin speaker. She brings with her perspectives as an immigrant, first-generation attorney and a naturalized citizen of both Canada and the US. Professionally, Ms. Chi is an active member of the National Association for Women Lawyers (NAWL), Chiefs of IP (ChIPs) and National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA). 

Ms. Chi holds a Bachelor of Science in Biological Engineering with a Minor in Engineering Management from Cornell University and a Juris Doctor for Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. She was admitted to the New York and Illinois bars in 2012.