Tom Lavelle spent 36 years working as an in-house attorney for High Tech companies, including 15 years as General Counsel for large tech companies.  These companies included Intel Corporation for 16 years, C-suite general counsel positions at NeXT Computer, where he worked with and for Steve Jobs, and at Xilinx and Rambus.  Over his career he handled or managed all areas of high tech law, from corporate and securities, to tech licensing and patent litigation.  In 2014, Tom came back to Santa Clara Law and starting teaching in the Entrepreneurs’ Law Clinic.  From 2016 until 2018, he served as Managing Director of Santa Clara Law’s High Tech Law Institute.  The intellectual property and high tech law program at Santa Clara has been rated in the top ten nationally for many years, and  for the past two years Santa Clara Law has been ranked #4 by US News and World Report.