Marcus Cheung 

Marcus Cheung is a Founding Partner of Cheung & Lauterborn P.C. Prior to founding his current firm, Marcus was an associate attorney at a boutique Midtown Manhattan firm focusing on plaintiffs’ side personal injury matters for a decade. Marcus served clients who spoke mostly Mandarin or Cantonese and assisted the Chinese speaking diaspora in navigating their legal needs. 

Connect with Marcus on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcuscheung/  

Committee of 100: What inspired you to work in your professional field? 

Marcus: I have always wanted to utilize my linguistic capabilities to serve those who are, like my parents, new to the United States and needed assistance, in their native language, navigating the complexities of the legal landscape in New York State. 

Committee of 100: What are some of the challenges you have encountered to become a leader in your respective field? Are Chinese Americans well-represented in your field, and what do you think are the reasons they are/aren’t well-represented?  

Marcus: Things are challenging because there are very few attorneys who are fluent Mandarin and Cantonese in the plaintiffs’ side personal injury realm. The Chinese speaking diaspora does not have many options when it comes to plaintiffs’ side personal injury attorneys who speak their languages fluently.  

Committee of 100: What do you believe needs to be done so that more Chinese Americans feel empowered to follow and achieve their dreams? 

Marcus: There needs to be more people comfortable being multilingual in the workplace, but that may further the “perpetual foreigner” stereotype, rendering us less “trustworthy” in the eyes of those who speak only English.

Committee of 100: If applicable, how can your NGL community support you and your work? Do you have any recent or upcoming projects you’d like to highlight?  

Marcus: As support for my work and that of many NGLs, more activities that allow for cross-pollination with C100 members, NGLs, and others in multiple professional disciplines would help raise profiles. 

Committee of 100: For those who just recently graduated college or are early in their careers, what advice would you give to them? 

Marcus: Work on your strengths. Those who tell you to follow your dreams are probably already rich and made their millions in tax law or some other dry area. Work on something you are good at and you can monetize. Nothing worthwhile is easy; everything takes lots of hard work.