DAV Insider: Tung Chan, General Counsel
As we draw ever closer to our Token Sale on June 11th, we’re extremely excited to highlight our newest member of the DAV Foundation. Tung Chan has joined DAV as our General Counsel and is coming to us directly from being General Counsel of the Ethereum Foundation. She also served as the Securities Commissioner for the State of Hawaii for over 8 years. Take a look below to get to know her better.
What’s your role at the DAV Foundation?
I am the general counsel for the DAV Foundation. I work with the team on issues that come up internally and provide legal analysis and guidance.
What does your average workday look like?
My average work day starts around 7:30 am. Because of the many time zones across which our team and our various outside counsel work, I usually work through the late afternoon, and then fire up the laptop in the evening to start supporting Switzerland, Tel Aviv and other locations.
The solo part of the day usually includes a lot of research, analysis and drafting, and the more interactive parts of my day include meetings with outside counsel and advisers and interactions with the internal team on ongoing matters.
What do you feel are your greatest challenges in your role?
The greatest work challenge for me is probably the same for most lawyers in an innovative and visionary start up. The law moves in a measured progression, which by nature means it’s always a few steps behind industries that push fast into the future. This is a natural tension but it certainly does create challenges for the business lawyers. The challenge is to help the business rapidly grow while staying within laws that may not have caught up with the technology and innovation.
Tell us a funny, quirky or strange story from work.
It’s not a story from work but rather a story that has informed the way I work. Many years ago, I had the opportunity to white water raft down the Zambezi river in Zimbabwe. For some unknown reason, my friend asked the guide if we could ride the last few rapids hanging onto the outside of the raft. The guide immediately responded, “Yeah, you can.” So we climbed out of the raft and hung onto the sides and rode the last few rapids that way and afterwards, the guide pulled us out of the river back onto the boat and said, “Wow, that was really dangerous especially with the nursing hippos around.” I turned to him and said, “What do you mean? You said we could.” “Yeah, you CAN. But you’d have to be crazy.” In the end, I don’t regret the ride but it has stayed with me that when you give a risk assessment, you have to be clear to distinguish what is “possible” and what is “recommended.”
Who’s your favorite superhero or fictional character, and why?
I really like the Incredibles. It’s the classic hero story integrated into the daily family grind — they’re super heroes, they fail, they have a family, the whole family fails and then they all save the world. And we all learn something important — no capes!
What gets you excited about DAV?
The idea of autonomous vehicles having their own “social network” so they can connect to each other to find their own charging stations or to relay a package over different terrain is like the Jetsons but within reach on the blockchain. The idea is instantly captivating.
