Derek graduated from UC Davis in 2002, UC Hastings in May 2008 and passed the July 2008 California Bar exam. After graduation from law school, Derek received a Graduate Research Fellowship from UC Hastings, focusing on California probate law.

During law school, Derek worked for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the General Counsel in San Francisco, dealing with administrative, bankruptcy and Indian law. He also worked as a Research Assistant to Professor D. Kelly Weisberg in the areas of California and comparative family and probate law.

During the fall semester of 2007, Derek received an externship with the Honorable Peter Busch and the Honorable Patrick Mahoney in the Law and Motion Department of the San Francisco Superior Court, where he worked with all kinds of prediscovery motions. 

Derek is a moderately successful poker player, and he was the founder and president of the UC Hastings Poker Club. He also a big fan of the Oakland A's, running in Mt. Diablo State Park and reading science fiction.