Helen S. Cheng

Practice Areas

Helen is a partner in the private client and tax team at Withers and is the Office Managing Director of the San Diego office.

She is a trusts and estates attorney who focuses on exempt organizations and international tax planning for inbound and outbound transactions. She assists clients in all aspects of estate planning, estate and trust administration and charitable planning.

Helen brings a diversity of experience to her clients. After graduating from Stanford Law School, she practiced international corporate tax law in China and California where she worked with multinational corporations, such as Oracle, Intel and Seagate, on sophisticated international tax planning techniques. Helen is also certified as a specialist in estate planning, trust, and probate law by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization.

Previously, Helen worked at the San Diego Zoo to create its licensing and technology transfer program. She was directly responsible for the creation of the San Diego Zoo Global Centre for Bioinspiration and worked with companies such as Procter & Gamble, WD-40, Nike and Qualcomm to develop technologies inspired by nature.

Helen has been on faculty at the UC Irvine School of Law, where she has taught Charitable Planning and Tax Exempt Organizations. She is on the planning committee for the Western Conference on Tax Exempt Organizations, and currently serves as chair of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners San Diego Branch (STEP SD) and on the STEP USA board of directors. She also serves as general counsel for the International Community Foundation.

Helen is recognized as a Leader of Influence in Law by San Diego Business Journal for 2024. She is also recognized as a recommended lawyer in The Legal 500 US 2024 and 2025 guides in the area of Not-for-Profit Tax and as a Best Lawyers "One to Watch" for 2022, 2023 and 2024.