Entrepreneurs’ Law Clinic – Mentors
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Erik Birkeneder
650.320.7763
ebirkeneder@nixonpeabody.com
I am an associate in the Intellectual Property group where I assist clients in identifying, protecting and enforcing their intellectual property.
I focus my practice on intellectual property disputes, including patent and trademark litigation. I also assist clients with the development and management of patent portfolios, appeals and technology licenses and agreements.
I also have experience developing IP strategies for early stage technology companies. This includes the implementation of a formal IP protection process that prioritizes the company’s highest value IP assets.
Prior to joining Nixon Peabody, I was an associate with a leading intellectual property law firm in Southern California for over five years.
Maya Blumenfeld
648 Menlo Ave., Suite 6
Menlo Park, CA 94025
C | 650.269.4704
maya@blumenfeldlegal.com
Maya Blumenfeld is principal at Blumenfeld Legal and Counsel-in-Residence at the Designer Fund. Maya provides legal services to growing technology companies, angel and venture investors. Her practice focuses on day-to-day commercial and corporate legal matters, as well as fundraising and investments. Prior to starting her own practice, Maya was an in-house counsel at VeriFone Systems, Inc., where she oversaw commercial deals in the payments industry space. Before joining VeriFone, Maya spent five years at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, P.C. and Goodwin Procter, LLP advising both private and public technology companies, as well as investors and venture funds. Maya began her career as a judicial clerk in the Israeli Supreme Court. After obtaining a Masters Degree (LLM) in corporate law at NYU, she worked in the New York offices of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP advising Fortune 500 companies on mergers and acquisitions, debt restructurings and private equity financings.
List of topics:
Investment: venture financing agreements; bridge notes; company formation; investment documents; mergers & acquisitions; emerging companies; stock and option agreements; capitalization; advisor agreements; offer letters.
Technology Transactions: commercial agreements; software licenses (inbound and outbound, SaaS/subscription licenses, enterprise licenses); OEM, partner and reseller agreements; support and service level agreements; consulting and services agreements; NDAs.
Subroto Bose
Email: sbose@altera.com
Phone: 408.544.7734
Subroto Bose is Senior Director, Global Patent Strategy and IP Operations at Dolby Laboratories. His responsibilities include managing Dolby’s worldwide patent and trademark operations. In addition, he advises on patent issues in corporate transactions, acquisitions, open source issues, and issues related to standard setting organizations and standards essential patents. His prior experience includes working at a number of law firms, where he represented both plaintiffs and defendants before the International Trade Commission (ITC) and federal district courts. Subroto’s prior experience also includes developing and implementing IP strategies, developing and managing patent portfolios, analyzing large patent portfolios, and providing advice regarding monetization and intellectual property development strategies.
Renee DuBord Brown
Knowles Electronics
331 Fairchild Drive
Mountain View, CA 94043
Phone: 650-254-2681
Renee.Brown@knowles.com
Renee DuBord Brown currently serves as Associate General Counsel, Intellectual Property for Knowles Electronics, a market leader and global supplier of performance audio, intelligent audio, and specialty components in the mobile communications, consumer electronics, hearing health, military/space and other industrial end markets. She previously worked at Motorola Mobility as Senior IP Counsel and Tessera Intellectual Property Corp. as Senior Vice President of Litigation.
Prior to going in-house, Renee was a partner in private practice at Day Casebeer Madrid & Batchelder LLP and Howrey, LLP.
Renee’s practice focuses on all aspects of intellectual property counseling, portfolio management, licensing and litigation. She has strong expertise in patent prosecution and patent reexamination. Her litigation experience includes patent, IP-related antitrust litigation, trademarks/copyrights, false advertising and trade secrets. Her broad commercial licensing experience includes patent licensing, technology and software licensing, and OSS and standards issues.
Renee is a former clerk for the Honorable Raymond C. Clevenger, III on the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. She has a J.D. from Stanford Law School, and a B.S./M.S. in Nuclear Engineering from M.I.T. She is admitted to the California bar, and is registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Jason Cheng is Senior Corporate Counsel at Ambarella, Inc., a leading developer of video compression and image processing solutions. His practice at Ambarella focuses on intellectual property and commercial contracts and licenses. Prior to Ambarella, Jason held in-house legal positions at different Bay Area semiconductor companies, and started his legal career in law firm practice as a patent litigator. Jason is a proud graduate of Santa Clara University School of Law, class of 2004.
Stephen (Steve) Clinton
Tel: 408.341.3050
Fax: 408.703.5450
Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, LLP
10050 North Wolfe Road, Suite 260
Cupertino, CA 95014
www.wcsr.com
Stephen Clinton represents a broad range of companies from privately held startup companies to publicly traded corporations.
Stephen has extensive experience in all aspects of corporate transactions and assists clients with the negotiation and consummation of mergers, stock sales, asset acquisitions and other reorganizations. He regularly assists with cross-border transactions.
He advises public clients in the preparation of reporting documents and registration statements filed with the SEC under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as well as other SEC compliance matters.
Stephen represents clients in equity financings, convertible debt offerings and venture capital transactions. His practice also consists of representing emerging growth companies in all aspects of business and corporate transactions, including entity formation, entity governance and business planning issues.
REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS
- Represented Senodia Technologies, Inc., a China-based semiconductor company, in connection with the sale of its Series B Preferred shares
- Represented Circuit Board Manufacturing Company, a manufacturer of printed circuit boards, in the sale of the company to a private equity group
- Represented SAAS company, iCharts, Inc., in connection with the sale of Series A Preferred Stock
- Represented Cayman Island company in the formation of a venture capital fund to invest in Chinese companies
- Represented the Band of Angels acorn fund in connection with its investment in an online software gaming company
- Represented Band of Angels Investment in connection with the investment in Digital Embryo, a developer of video games for the mobile device
- Represented Band of Angels Investment in the investment in Onco Health, Inc.
- Represented a portable solar power products company in connection with the sale of Series A Preferred Units
- Represented a technology coupon company in connection with the sale of Series A and Series B Preferred Stock
- Represented a commercial real estate company in connection with the formation of a new fund to invest in mortgage back securities
- Represented DoctorCom, Inc. in connection with a bridge financing
- Represented a media company in connection with a purchase of a company
Quentin Cooper, Esq.
QWCooper
2995 Woodside Road
Suite 350
Woodside, CA 94062
Quentin Cooper graduated from Santa Clara Law School in 1997 and Business School in 1998. Quentin has been in private practice since 2006 after working in-house at various software companies including Siebel and Oracle. He provides general counsel mostly to technology companies with a focus on technology transactions and related intellectual property issues.
List of topics: Technology transactions, general counsel for start-ups
Bryan Failing
bryan@cortexlaw.com
Bryan Failing is a patent attorney at Cortex Law Group. His practice focuses on counseling operating companies and investors in a wide range of industries on patent-related issues.
Bryan represents operating companies of all sizes based in the U.S. and in other countries. He assists companies with U.S. and foreign patent portfolio development, patent portfolio management, and patent portfolio monetization. He also prepares patent opinions and provides related counseling.
Bryan advises investors with respect to various patent-related issues. His novel approaches to due diligence and freedom-to- operate analysis are utilized to assist both U.S. and foreign investors. And he routinely speaks with investors on a variety of topics to help improve portfolio company mentorship and increase return on investment.
Recognizing the importance of patent quality and its continual decline over the past decade, Bryan helped design and code Patent Quality Analyzer (PQA) – the only patent analytics tool which can be used for free and without sign up to analyze the quality of U.S. patents and patent application publications. PQA and other proprietary software tools developed by Cortex Law Group are used to help clients improve the quality of their patent portfolios and reduce costs associated with patent portfolio development, management, monetization, and enforcement.
Mary Fuller
Mary Fuller is a Senior Clinical Fellow in Santa Clara University School of Law’s Entrepreneurs’ Law Clinic and Entrepreneurs’ Legal Advising Clinic, where students provide pro-bono legal services to hig-tech startups. She is also the founder and principal at Fuller Tech Law in Silicon Valley. With decades of experience as an engineer, patent attorney, general counsel and corporate advisor, Mary provides intellectual property and fractional general counsel services for growth-minded technology companies.
Mary graduated from Northern Arizona University with a BSE in electrical engineering. After working at Hewlett-Packard as an engineer, she earned her JD, graduating cum laude from the University of Notre Dame Law School.
Mary began her career in Silicon Valley as a patent attorney at law firms, including Pennie & Edmonds, Carr & Ferrell, and Bingham McCutchen. Later she joined Santa Clara-based Marvell Semiconductor, Inc. as a senior patent litigation attorney, rising to become Director and Managing Counsel for Litigation. She then served as Managing Director and Associate General Counsel at Maxim Integrated Products as the company’s top IP attorney. She later became General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Adaptive Spectrum and Signal Alignment (“ASSIA”), and after that served as vice president, chief policy officer and head of legal at Kudelski Intellectual Property and Innovation.
Mary served as president of the San Francisco Bay Area IP Inn of Court 2010-2012, and has been a member since 1998. She has been active in Upward (previously Hipower), The Club Silicon Valley, and was Watermark’s Emerging Leader Award in 2015, and was recognized as one of Silicon Valley Business Journal’s 100 Women of Influence in 2020.
In addition to leading Fuller Tech Law and teaching at Santa Clara University, speaks regularly on topics such as intellectual property, patent licensing strategies, artificial intelligence, litigation management and contract law. She is a frequent presenter at the Practicing Law Institute.
Marina C. Gruber
1400 Page Mill Road
Palo Alto, CA 94304
Direct: 604.843.7587
marina.gruber@morganlewis.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marinagruber/
Marina C. Gruber defends employers in single-plaintiff, multi-plaintiff, and class action employment litigation, and before administrative agencies and in arbitration. Marina represents employers on all aspects of employment law, including discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination, and wage and hour claims. She advises on prevailing wage compliance under state and federal law, employee termination risk assessment, wage and hour compliance, leaves of absence, and disability accommodation. Marina also represents employers in traditional labor relations matters, including before the National Labor Relations Board and in arbitration.
Named, Rising Star – Northern California, Super Lawyers, 2013 and 2017.
Alan Gutterman
E-Mail: agutterman@alangutterman.com
Phone: 510.684.4421
Alan S. Gutterman is the develop and author of a widely-recognized portfolio of timely and practical legal and business information for attorneys, other professionals and executives in the form of books, online content, webinars, videos, podcasts, newsletters and programs and also offers legal and training services to businesses of all sizes around the world (see www.alangutterman.com). Mr. Gutterman has over three decades of experience as a partner and senior counsel with internationally recognized law firms counseling small and large business enterprises in the areas of general corporate and securities matters, venture capital, mergers and acquisitions, international law and transactions, strategic business alliances, technology transfers and intellectual property, and has also held senior management positions with several technology-based businesses including service as the chief legal officer of a leading international distributor of IT products headquartered in Silicon Valley and as the chief operating officer of an emerging broadband media company.
Mr. Gutterman has served in a number of capacities with various national and state bar associations and has been an adjunct faculty member at several colleges and universities teaching classes on a diverse range of topics including corporate finance, venture capital and corporate law. In addition, Mr. Gutterman has published numerous books and articles on a diverse range of legal and business topics, including the popular Thomson Reuters/Westlaw publications Business Transactions Solution (available on Westlaw and as West Forms-ProDoc Business Transactions Solution Library); California Transactions Forms; Going Global: A Guide to Building an International Business; Corporate Counsel’s Guide to Strategic Alliances; Corporate Counsel’s Guide to Technology Management and Transactions; the Business Counselor’s Guides to Organizational Management, Comparative Management Studies and Management in Emerging and Developing Countries; Handbook of Law Firm Management (2d Ed); Legal Compliance Checkups: Business Clients and the Business Counselor’s Law and Compliance Practice Manual. He also writes and publishes the Business Counselor Blog (www.businesscounselorblog.com), is a faculty member of the West Legal Ed Center’s Beyond the Bar training initiative for new business attorneys and seasoned attorneys transitioning to an expanded business law practice and is a regular contributor to various blogs and other online publications distributed by Thomson Reuters/Westlaw.
Mr. Gutterman is also the founder and director of the Growth-Oriented Entrepreneurship Project (www.growthentrepreneurship.org), which is engaged in research, publication and training activities relating to organizational design and management, comparative management studies, global practices relating to management of emerging companies and management in emerging and developing countries. He received his A.B., M.B.A., and J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley, a D.B.A. from Golden Gate University, and a Ph. D. from the University of Cambridge.
Mr. Gutterman can be contacted directly at agutterman@alangutterman.com.
Jeffrey B. Hare APC
A Professional Corporation
501 Stockton Avenue
San Jose, CA 95126
jeff@jeffreyhare.com
www.jeffreyhare.com
408.279.3555
Jeffrey B. Hare is a San Jose attorney who specializes in real estate law and transactions. Mr. Hare provides outcome-oriented legal services to his clients in such areas as entity formation, lease agreements and loan documents, land use law, zoning, and municipal law. Mr. Hare also provides mediation services with a focus on these areas. Mr. Hare represents real estate investors, and is familiar with issues involved in using self-directed IRAs for financing investment transactions. In addition, Mr. Hare is a Lecturer in Law at Santa Clara University School of Law. For more information about Mr. Hare’s practice, as well as some articles related to real estate issues, please visit his website at www.jeffreyhare.com.
Bill Harmon is a partner at Shook, Hardy & Bacon. His practice focuses on intellectual property and cyber security litigation and counseling. He frequently counsels clients on IP related transactions. Before joining Shook in December 2014, Bill served as Assistant General Counsel in Microsoft’s Patent Litigation Group where he oversaw patent infringement cases involving Microsoft’s software, devices and cloud services in Federal Court and the International Trade Commission. Bill previously served as Assistant General Counsel for Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit, leading a worldwide team of lawyers and technical forensic investigators to combat online child exploitation and financial crime. Before leading the Digital Crimes Unit, Bill was the General Manager for Microsoft’s Global Standards Team, responsible for establishing technical standards specifications and related intellectual property terms. Bill also led patent conflict and licensing investigations as Assistant General Counsel in Microsoft’s Intellectual Property and Licensing Group.
Prior to joining Microsoft in 2003, Bill worked as a private practice attorney in San Francisco for eight years. He graduated from Santa Clara University School of Law in 1995 and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Santa Clara University. Bill spent 4 years as an adjunct law professor at Seattle University teaching IP Licensing Law.
James T. Huie
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, P.C.
650 Page Mill Road
Palo Alto, CA 94304
650.565.3981 (direct)
650.493.6811 (fax)
jhuie@wsgr.com
James Huie is an associate in the life sciences practice at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where he focuses on corporate and securities law. James represents startup companies and venture capitalists primarily in various technology industries. James is an alumni of the Santa Clara University School of Law (JD 2005) and University of California, Berkeley (BA 2002 in molecular cell biology).
List of topics:
Corporate and LLC formations and incorporations, debt and equity financings, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance.
Claire Kalia is President of Kalia Law P.C., a Silicon Valley law practice that provides legal counsel to startups and entrepreneurs. Claire started Kalia Law P.C. in 2010 to meet the needs of startups for high-quality and efficient legal services. Prior to founding Kalia Law P.C., Claire was an associate in the Emerging Companies group at Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliffe in Menlo Park, where she assisted prominent Silicon Valley-based technology companies with acquisitions, mergers and corporate matters.
At Kalia Law P.C., Claire assists her clients with a broad range of intellectual property, employment and corporate matters. Topics that Claire advises on include: entity formation, trademarks, IP and licensing matters, investment and securities issues, buying and selling businesses, equity plans and executive compensation, raising funds, buy-sell and stockholders' agreements, employment and independent contractor agreements, and regulatory matters. Claire's clients range from individual Bay Area entrepreneurs to mature international companies. While many of Claire's clients are in the technology space, she also assists clients in other industries including health care, real estate, hospitality, education and the non-profit sector.
Claire holds an undergraduate degree from the University of California at Santa Barbara and a J.D. from UCLA School of Law, and during law school she was also a visiting student at Boalt Hall School of Law. In addition to her legal work, Claire is a Board member at the Santa Clara St. Thomas More Society, a member of the Cupertino-De Anza Lions Club and volunteers at the Elmwood Correctional Facility for Women in Milpitas.
Seffi Kaminitz, the founder of Kaminitz Law, P.C., has represented technology companies and investors in a wide range of corporate and commercial matters for over fifteen years. Working closely with serial entrepreneurs and investors for, both at a large law firm and as in house counsel at a VC firm, Seffi has developed a unique perspective on strategic business matters that mixes a legal perspective, business considerations, and technology. Before founding Kaminitz Law, Seffi was a senior member at a large law firm where he led complex technology licensing deals, Venture Capital financing, and M&A transactions, representing companies such as AOL and Motorola and negotiating transactions with major VC funds such as Sequoia Capital. Seffi is admitted to practice law in California, New York, and Israel.
Janice Kirk
Email: jkirk@logitech.com
Phone: 510.713.5137
Janice Kirk is Associate General Counsel, Sales & Operations of Logitech Inc. Logitech is a designer and manufacturer of personal peripherals that help people enjoy a better experience with the digital world. At Logitech, Janice is responsible for the legal support to Logitech’s Americas Sales & Marketing, WW OEM, and Supply Chain teams, and the product groups that develop digital home and made-for-business products. She is also involved with compliance matters, including establishing policies and procedures and training employees, and has served as a team lead for various cross-functional projects. Previously, Janice served in various positions at Ingram Micro, the world’s largest wholesale technology distributor, where she handled a wide-range of legal issues, focusing on commercial for the distributor.
List of Topics:
Technology development transactions, licensing agreements, OEM and manufacturing agreements, distribution and resale agreements, warehousing and supply chain agreements, confidentiality agreements, compliance training.
Tom Lavelle
Email: tlavelle4950@gmail.com
Phone: 408.313.5927
Tom Lavelle was GC at Rambus from late 2006 until early 2013, focusing on all legal issues including IP litigation, patent licensing and a stock options backdating problem. Prior to that, he was GC at Xilinx, a semiconductor company, also focusing on all legal issues of a publicly-traded high tech company. Tom also spent 16 years in Intel’s legal department, and briefly served as GC to NeXT Computer, working for Steve Jobs. Santa Clara Law grad, and B.A. from UCLA.
List of topics:
Corporate and securities, financing and investment transactions, IP transactions from non-disclosure agreements to patent licensing, IP strategy, sales agreements, antitrust, software licensing, employment and compensation issues, litigation of all sorts.
John K. Liu
Counsel
Lowenstein Sandler LLP
390 Lytton Avenue
Palo Alto, CA 94301
T: 650.433.5648
F: 650.433.5649
jliu@lowenstein.com
www.lowenstein.com
NEW YORK PALO ALTO ROSELAND
vCard
LinkedIn
John provides a broad range of services to emerging companies and venture capital funds in the technology area. He has represented private companies and venture capital funds in hundreds of diverse transactions, including venture capital financings, debt financings, complex restructurings, technology M&As, spin-off transactions, joint ventures, technology transfer transactions and IPOs.
John has developed particular expertise counseling start-up companies through all phases of their existence, from their formation and issues arising in their day-to-day operations to their ultimate exit through an IPO or merger. In his position as company counsel for many of his clients, John advises them on IP protection matters, licensing, distribution agreements, development agreements, research agreements, trademark filings and the transfers of IP assets.
John serves as U.S. corporate counsel to numerous U.S. and offshore start-up and emerging growth companies. He also has experience representing clients in transactions involving foreign jurisdictions such as the Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China.
Julie Mar-Spinola
408.677.6321
jmarspinola@gmail.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jmarspinola/
List of Topics/Specialties:
- Developing and implementing policies and procedures concerning in-house patent activities
- Intellectual Property (IP) Portfolio management and valuations
- IP monetization: licensing, acquisition, and divestiture
- Mediator on IP related issues
- Navigating Section 337 ITC exclusion orders through US Customs
- Negotiating complex IP transactions
- New product & new technology assessments and “landscaping”
- Patent validations/invalidations
- Patent litigation
- Patent Reexaminations
Jim Markwith
Phone: 206.714.6003
jim@markwithlaw.com
Jim is the Principal and Founder of Markwith Law, an IP Law Firm serving a range of industries, including computer software, Healthcare IT, data analytics, and other emerging technologies. His practice focuses on IT, IP licensing, technology transactions, open source software, standards setting organizations, and M&A.
Jim also serves as General Counsel to the CommonWell Health Alliance, an industry alliance promoting a national electronic healthcare record infrastructure in the U.S.
Jim is an Adjunct Professor at the Law School Graduate Program in Intellectual Property (LLM) at the University of Washington, where he teaches the Economic Analysis of IP, and he is a Mentor for Techwauk (www.techwauk.com), a Chicago area incubator and accelerator, providing healthcare startups with mentors, investors, housing and workspace to facilitate innovation and growth.
Prior to private practice he served as Senior Vice President and Chief IP Counsel for Allscripts Healthcare, and held senior in-house legal positions with GE Healthcare IT, Microsoft and Adobe Systems. At Microsoft he was a member of the Venture Integration team, where he managed the IP due diligence for over 40 acquisitions, and he was Microsoft’s lead Open Source Counsel.
Jim received his Juris Doctor degree from the Santa Clara University School of Law, and has a B.S. in Finance from the California State University at Long Beach.
Meredith McKenzie
408.936.1303
mmckenzie@juniper.net
Meredith McKenzie joined Juniper Networks in 2012 as Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, IP. She has over 18 years of Intellectual Property experience, with 15 years in-house. At Juniper Meredith manages the group responsible for all aspects of Juniper’s Intellectual Property, including patents, litigation, licensing, privacy, open source, standards, M&A IP due diligence, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets. Prior to joining Juniper, she spent over 5 years at Symantec Corporation as the Senior Director of Intellectual Property and 5 years at Cypress Semiconductor as the Director of Litigation, Licensing and IP.
Meredith’s previous experiences include working as an embedded microprocessor design engineer at Intel before enrolling in law school. While attending law school in the evenings, Meredith worked full-time in Intel’s legal department preparing patent applications and performing patent analyses. Meredith then joined Arnold, White and Durkee (later merging with Howrey LLC) and for three years litigated patents in the United States, Europe and Asia, as well as in the International Trade Commission.Meredith then joined Enuvis, a start-up company in the area of GPS location technology, as the Director of IP and Sr. Corporate Counsel, where she was the sole attorney, performing duties including patent portfolio development and strategy, license negotiations, and employment and other agreements.
Meredith holds a BSEE from Massachusetts Institute of Technology., and a J.D. from Santa Clara University School of Law, Magna Cum Laude, with an emphasis in Intellectual Property.
List of topics:
- Substantive law: IP (patents, trademarks, copyrights, open source), litigation, inbound and outbound licensing, privacy, standards. I have also worked in a variety of other areas, including employment, corporate (limited) etc.
- Management related: Managing and management of remote teams (both domestic and international)
- Leading through influence
- Organizations – Law-firm, In-house (start-up, mid-size & large)
Michael T. Moore
michael.tim.moore@gmail.com
Michael Moore holds the position of Director of Product Legal Support at Pure Storage in Mountain View. His responsibilities include patents and intellectual property strategy, open-source software, and product transactional support. He is a seasoned IP attorney with over a decade of patent law and intellectual property experience, building on a solid technology foundation of digital logic design and software engineering.
Prior to this, Michael worked at Rambus from 2011 through early 2016, where he held the position of Vice President, Intellectual Property and Deputy General Counsel. At Rambus he was responsible for developing and licensing complex IP portfolios both in the US and globally, and for product-related IP support. He has also worked in-house at Symantec as an attorney, and he started his attorney career as an associate at the law firm of Morgan, Lewis and Bockius involved in patent prosecution and trade secret litigation.
Mr. Moore holds a JD and MBA from Santa Clara University, and BSEE (B.Eng) from the University of Limerick, Ireland. He speaks at PLI, ACC, and other events and has published in Law360, ACC Docket, Corporate Counsel, Intellectual Asset Management, and other legal journals. He holds 10 US issued patents from his engineering work, and numerous technology publications in electronics trade journals.
List of Topics:
Substantive patent law, Patent portfolio asset development, US and Global IP Strategies, M&A and Divestiture diligence and transactions, Inbound and outbound patent-related licensing, Local and remote IP harvesting techniques, Effective interactions with local and remote business unit clients
Mindy Morton is a partner with Procopio LLP. Mindy’s practice focuses on internet and intellectual property litigation. She helps companies resolve trade secret, trademark, copyright, computer fraud and non-compete agreement litigation. She litigates cutting-edge cases at the intersection of technology and free speech issues and defends internet companies against claims based on third party content. Mindy works closely with clients to resolve disputes quickly and efficiently when litigation is not in their strategic interests. When early resolution is not possible, she is a zealous and professional advocate with jury trial experience. Mindy was named a 2016 Silicon Valley Woman of Influence. Mindy earned a degree in political science from the University of California, Berkeley, and her J.D. from Yale Law School. When she’s not defending internet and intellectual property cases or trying out new technology, she is encouraging her daughter to grow into a strong, smart and compassionate person, singing, or attending football games at Cal. Go Bears!
Topics: trade secrets, copyright, trademark, litigation, defamation, CDA § 230
Angela Murch
650.251.1105
amurch@foley.com
Angela is the Associate Vice President of Intellectual Property at InCube Labs, LLC, and brings to this position more than fifteen years of experience in engineering and nine years of experience in the legal profession. In the legal field, Angela has experience in patent prosecution and litigation across various technologies, in addition to experience with M&A, contracts, and other topics. Prior to entering law, Angela was a hardware engineer and project lead for electronic control units in the automotive industry, and while in the space industry, was responsible for various analog and digital electronics of the space shuttle solid rocket booster. Angela earned her law degree, cum laude, at Wayne State University Law School where she served on the Wayne Law Review, was a Dean’s Scholar and Lombard Fellow, and was elected by faculty to the Order of the Coif. Angela holds a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Michigan State University. She is a licensed attorney in the state of California, is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and is on the board of the Silicon Valley Intellectual Property Law Association (SVIPLA).
Chris Novak
Chris works as a registered in-house counsel in the semiconductor industry in Silicon Valley for fifteen years. Prior to that, Chris worked ten years in the engineering field in aerospace structural and fuel systems and in automotive electrical charging and storage. Chris has a BSME, an MSEE, and a JD.
Dan Ovanezian is an IP attorney and a Partner in Lowenstein Sandler’s Tech Group. He counsels companies in patent prosecution, trademarks, software copyrights, licensing, opinion letters, due diligence reviews accompanying mergers and acquisitions, IP portfolio evaluations, and pre-trial services related to patent infringement litigation. He manages the entire patent life cycle, including mining and identifying patentable inventions, leading and advising patent committees, conducting training seminars in IP matters, and prosecuting patent applications with the U.S. Patent Office.
Dan holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a J.D. from Santa Clara University School of Law (1998). Dan has broad-based technology experience, including the design and fabrication of integrated circuit devices (e.g., processors, ASICs, programmable controllers, memories, image sensors and capacitance sensors), power management devices, disk drives, medical devices and systems, fiber optics, multi-carrier communication systems, solar power, software and networking. He counsels start-ups in their development of IP portfolios through IPOs and other exit strategies. Dan also helps companies establish patent committees and perform IP landscaping.
Dan effectively communicates complex technologies and legal issues to provide clients with risk management solutions and value propositions at various engineering and management levels. He works with clients—with and without inside patent counsel—to marshal internal company resources from various organizations (technical, business, and corporate legal) and to lead virtual teams in successfully advancing companies’ IP strategies. He also negotiates with business and legal leaders of third parties for closure on IP issues.
Dan is a guest lecturer at Santa Clara University School of Law on Patents and other Intellectual Property areas.
Dan is the author of numerous articles on intellectual property issues including: “Collaborative Partnership Leads to Better Patents,” Intellectual Property Today; “Using Old Tech to Get New Tech Patents,” Association of Corporate Counsel; “Getting Patents Quicker Without Breaking the Bank,” Corporate Counsel; “An Update On USPTO’s Patent Pro Bono Initiative,” Law360; “Uncle Sam Wants You! A Call to Pro Bono Service for Patent Practitioners,” New Matter, The Intellectual Property Law Section of the State Bar of California; “Ethical Conflicts For The Patent Practitioner,” New Matter; and “Internet Search Engine Copying: Fair Use Defense to Copyright Infringement,” Santa Clara Computer and High Technology Law Journal.
Jay Parkhill
Parkhill Venture Counsel
Tel. 415.963.4114
Fax 415.963.4186
Twitter @park3
Skype: jparkhill
I work principally with two types of companies:
Early stage startups, where I help the founders to create new businesses, allocate equity among founders and document fundraising transactions from the angel and VC communities; and
Growth-stage and mature companies, where I work with busy legal departments on licensing, sales, development, marketing and other revenue-driving transactions.
My clients run the gamut from IT and web fields to restaurants, consumer products, service industries and many other types of companies.
Hendrik Pretorius
(408) 754-7350
Hendrik@lipsonpretorius.com
www.lipsonpretorius.com
As a partner at Lipson & Pretorius LLP, Hendrik Pretorius, an immigrant himself, is focused on assisting foreign-born startup entrepreneurs, established U.S. businesses, and foreign investors alike by developing and implementing immigration strategies aimed at allowing his clients to reach their goals without immigration impediments.
Hendrik has successfully worked with many start-up ventures and investors who are now in the U.S. operating their businesses and has given various presentations at local Bay Area incubator and accelerator programs.
Hendrik was born in South Africa, and grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Mexico City, Mexico before moving to the U.S. in 2000 and experiencing the entire immigration process first hand.
Anthony W. Raymundo
Counsel
Lowenstein Sandler LLP
650.433.5572
araymundo@lowenstein.com
Anthony Raymundo relishes analyzing complex or novel issues and sharing with clients – many of whom are starting their first company or undertaking a first fund-raising – what he’s learned from working with other start-ups. Whether he’s working on a venture financing, a corporate merger or an angel investment, Anthony’s collaborative approach helps his clients better understand how to manage their businesses and reach their goals. Anthony is adept at navigating the technical issues of deals and crafting practical solutions that fit clients’ business needs.
Prior to joining Lowenstein Sandler, Anthony was an associate at a San Francisco-based law firm, where he represented a diverse client base ranging from start-ups to large public and private corporations in all aspects of general corporate counseling and complex corporate transactions, with particular focus on mergers and acquisitions, private equity financings and securities compliance.
Away from the office, Anthony can be found snapping photos of everything from San Francisco’s lovely vistas to his two cute kids, behind the wheel of his car at the race track, or in the fall, rooting for the Texas A&M Aggies and the Stanford Cardinals.
Robert Ricca
Head of Business Development
Glu Mobile Inc.
500 Howard Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, CA 94070
phone: (650) 847-7159
rob.ricca@glu.com
Rob Ricca is Head of Business Development of Glu Mobile Inc., a leading developer and publisher of mobile games and other software applications. Rob sources and negotiates business transactions, including mergers & acquisitions, venture financings, IP license agreements and other strategic agreements.
Prior to joining Glu, Rob spent time with both Fenwick & West LLP in San Francisco and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Palo Alto where he represented public and private companies in securities offerings, M&A, venture capital financings, and public company disclosure and corporate governance matters. Prior to attending law school, he earned his M.B.A. part-time while working in marketing for a division of News Corporation in New York City.
List of topics:
- Corporate Governance
- Debt Financing
- License Agreements
- Mergers and Acquisitions
- Public Company Disclosures
- Public Offerings and Capital Markets
- Start-ups
- Venture Financings
Olga Rodstein
Olga currently serves as Head of Legal at Electric Imp, Inc., a pioneering “Internet of Things” technology company with offices in Los Altos, CA and Cambridge, U.K.. In her role, Olga oversees a broad range of legal matters including sales-related transactions, intellectual property, marketing, human resources and general compliance. Olga has worked for technology companies for the larger part of her career, first as a litigator here in Silicon Valley and in New York representing companies in intellectual property and commercial matters, and then as a senior in-house counsel at global technology companies. She has also counseled local entrepreneurs and artists through the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Pro Bono program and California Lawyers for the Arts.
Her full bio may be found here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rodstein
Topics include: technology transactions/licensing; copyrights; trademarks; trade secrets; litigation; employment law; broad range of general counseling services.
Alan Seem
Partner
Jones Day
1755 Embarcadero Road
Palo Alto, CA 94303
aseem@jonesday.com
Office: 650.687.4190, Cell: 650.391.3709
Alan Seem is a corporate partner in the Silicon Valley office of Jones Day. His primary areas of focus are SEC-registered and Rule 144A/Regulation S securities offerings, mergers and acquisitions, venture capital and private equity investments and going-private transactions. Alan also regularly advises companies and their boards of directors regarding corporate governance matters, including SEC/stock exchange compliance and disclosure-related matters. He is also a frequent speaker on a variety of corporate law-related subjects. Prior to joining Jones Day, Alan was the head of Shearman & Sterling’s Asia Capital Markets Group and the Beijing Office Managing Partner, having worked 16 years in the Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai offices. He remains active in the China practice of Jones Day. Alan speaks and reads Mandarin Chinese fluently and is a member of the bar in New York and California.
List of topics: company structuring and formation, equity and debt financing, corporate governance, commercial contracts, non-disclosure agreements and general sounding board for corporate strategy and initiatives
Jenny Lynn Sheridan
jennylynnsheridan@gmail.com
650.618.4244
linkedin.com/pub/jenny-lynn-sheridan/3/684/aba
Jenny Sheridan is the founder of General Counsel Consultants, which provides outside general counsel services to technology companies. She has over a decade of experience advising high technology companies in Silicon Valley on a vast array of legal matters. She served as General Counsel for two software companies, privately held CoVia, and publically traded Kana Software. She also taught technology licensing at Santa Clara Law School for over a decade. Most recently, she taught patent and trademark law at Drexel University School of Law in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Technology Transactions: commercial agreements, software licenses (inbound and outbound, subscription licenses, enterprise licenses), OEM, partner and reseller agreements, support and service level agreements, consulting and services agreements, NDA’s.
General Counsel for start-ups: advice/counseling on IP portfolios, employment and acquisitions.
Sonya L. Sigler, Esq. is an experienced executive with skills and knowledge in the legal, operations, marketing, and business development functions. She consults with corporations and law firms on a variety of projects, focusing on strategic planning and the implementation of solutions to difficult and seemingly intractable problems. She also consults with start-ups and other companies seeking to grow quickly or reinvent themselves. She is an executive leadership coach for first time CEOs and women who run things. She has been an in-house IP and Corporate lawyer for over 25 years.
Ms. Sigler is a frequent writer and speaker on entrepreneurism, advanced search and retrieval techniques, first-time in-house counsel, legal operations, and other legal related topics. She also speaks and trains others on career planning, mentoring, goal setting, personal branding, rainmaking, grant writing, fundraising, and advocacy. She is a staunch supporter and advocate for women, and girls, in law and technology.
Rita E. Tautkus
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
One Market, Spear Street Tower | San Francisco, CA 94105-1126
Direct: 415.442.1357 | Main: 415.442.1000| Fax: 415.442.1001
rtautkus@morganlewis.com| www.morganlewis.com
Rita E. Tautkus is of counsel at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP. Her practice is focused on intellectual property litigation, complex business litigation and related counseling. Rita has worked with Fortune 500 and emerging growth companies across a diverse spectrum of industries and technologies. Her business litigation background includes actions for joint ventures, investor and license agreements, technology and utility contracts, and complex accounting actions. She has also handled patent infringement litigation for the telecommunications, software, manufacturing and biotechnology sectors, as well as trade secret litigation and trademark matters. Rita is also registered to practice before the USPTO. Prior to pursuing her legal career, she was a financial analyst for Intel Corporation in Santa Clara, California for seven years. She handled projects for Intel’s semiconductor manufacturing operations, peripheral components, and sales and marketing divisions. Rita received her J.D. from Santa Clara University School of Law in 1992, where she was comments editor of the Santa Clara Law Review. She received an M.B.A. from Santa Clara University in 1987 and a B.A. in economics from the University of California, Davis in 1982. She currently serves on the Santa Clara Law School Board of Visitors.
List of topics:
- Patents
- Trademark
- Copyright
- Non-disclosure agreements
- Trade secret issues
- Contracts
- IP assignment agreements
- Litigation (IP litigation, business litigation and general litigation issues)
Romin Thomson has been representing businesses in the Silicon Valley since 1997. He regularly assists clients with capital raising transactions, mergers and acquisitions, securities law issues, software licensing and trademark issues, and general corporate matters.
Romin enjoys working with businesses in a wide variety of industries. Romin is well versed in multi- state and entity formation issues and co-authored “How did Delaware Get So Popular?” for the California Business Law Practitioner (Winter 2013) published by the Continuing Education of the Bar, University of California. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Business Law Section of the Santa Clara County Bar Association, a board member of the Construction Financial Management Association and a member of the California Society of CPA’s, Attorneys Bankers and CPA’s Committee. Romin was featured in the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal as one of the Silicon Valley’s “40 Under 40” rising stars in 2008.
Romin obtained his law degree from the Santa Clara University School of Law in 1997. While in law school, Romin co-authored “Rage Against the Veil” a biography of a human rights activist in the nation of Iran, which has been published in three languages. Prometheus Books, Amherst, New York 1997.
Patricia Timm
GCAssist
831.345.0837
ptimm@gcassist.com
Tricia Timm is the Founder of GCAssist, a provider of outsourced legal services for high-tech companies. With client demands on the rise, many companies are looking for alternative providers of legal services. Through GCAssist, Tricia is able to provide immediate support to her clients, while at the same time providing alternative legal careers for a new generation of attorneys. Prior to GCAssist, Tricia was the SVP, General Counsel at SugarCRM Inc., a late stage SaaS company. Before that, she held a variety of different in-house counsel roles such as Acting General Counsel for software maker Borland, a public company with over 35 subsidiaries worldwide; Director, Legal at Homestead.com, an Internet start-up, building processes from the ground-up; and she was Corporate Counsel at Vantive Corporation. She gained her practical knowledge of how the law and technology intersect as an associate at the law firm Brobeck, Phleger and Harrison LLP, where she specialized in IPOs, venture financings, M&A and public company representation. Tricia’s awards include The Recorder’s Employer Choice – Legal Department of the Year Award and Silicon Valley Business Journal Diversity Champion- Corporate Counsel Award. Tricia is also on the Advisory Board of the Katherine & George Alexander Community Law Center at Santa Clara University.
Hal Washauer
Technology Licensing & Commercial Transactions Counsel
925.736.2188
Hal.washauer@att.net
While my formal legal training has been focused on technology licensing/distribution and related matters, I’ve recently served in an executive capacity with a major publicly traded corporation. In that capacity my legal background was deployed on an ongoing basis (as much as 70% of my time/effort during any given time period). A primary emphasis was commercial contracts negotiation, drafting and editing as well as the creation of a large suite of contract templates and related communications. The position also involved ongoing interface with in-house counsel and outside attorneys with a focus on risk management, dispute resolution through mediation and arbitration as well as litigation. Notwithstanding my management title, in reality, I served largely as a de-facto member of the corporate legal department on an as-needed basis.
Monica Winghart
ROL Group
650 Castro Street, #120-250
Mountain View, CA 94041
main: 650.967.6555
mobile: 510.303.0696
mwinghart@richardsonoliver.com
Monica Winghart is Of Counsel with the Richardson Oliver Law Group based in Mountain View, CA where she counsels clients on general corporate and patent, licensing, trademark and copyright matters. Monica brings more than fifteen years of experience in intellectual property litigation, data protection and privacy, licensing and prosecution and specializes in IP process design, implementation and optimization with a particular focus on large international organizations and tech startups. Monica also serves as General Counsel for Article One, a global crowdsourcing startup focussed on the aggregation of intellectual property information for use in litigation, licensing and portfolio management.
List of topics:
Patents, trademarks, copyrights, licensing, trade secrets, litigation, data protection, privacy, working in Europe and China, corporate compliance and policies, and general counseling services
Jacob Wolman is Corporate Counsel for ASSIA, a software company specializing in broadband data optimization. He specializes in commercial contracts, corporate governance, litigation, and privacy law. Before joining ASSIA he worked in Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati’s Antitrust and Privacy group, specializing in competition counseling for technology companies. He also worked as a solo practitioner advising small technology companies on all legal matters. Jacob is a graduate of Boston University School of Law and Pomona College.
Entrepreneurs’ Legal Advising Clinics Mentors
Mariana Antcheva
VP Legal, Sage Intacct
www.sageintacct.com/
Mariana Antcheva is responsible for Sage Intacct’s legal affairs and compliance. She brings to Sage Intacct over 15 years of legal experience advising startup and public technology companies.
Before joining Sage Intacct, she was the General Counsel of Lytro, a Silicon Valley camera and imaging startup, where she guided IP strategy, oversaw all legal matters, and served as a business partner to the CEO and executive team. Prior to Lytro, Mariana was a corporate attorney at Fenwick & West, where she represented over 50 technology companies on a wide range of legal issues.
Mariana earned a Juris Doctor degree summa cum laude from Santa Clara University and a Master of Laws degree from Sofia University, Bulgaria.
Chelsea M. Bonini
Founder & CEO – Kiski Law, P.C.
www.kiskilaw.com
chelsea@kiskilaw.com
Chelsea founded Kiski Law, P.C. in August 2010 after working with McQuaid, Bedford & Van Zandt, HiTech Law, P.C. (combined 2001-2008) and Hanson Bridgett LLP (2008-2010).
Chelsea earned her J.D. at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, and was admitted to the State Bar of California in 2001. Chelsea is an active member of the State Bar of California, and she has been a Licensed Real Estate Broker with the California Department of Real Estate since 2011.
Chelsea counsels her clients in connection with business and technology-related transactions and agreements, including drafting and negotiation of software licenses and service agreements, consulting agreements, non-disclosure agreements, joint development, and strategic alliance agreements, and various other contracts. She advises clients on general business and corporate law matters, including formation, corporate governance, and compliance, regulatory matters, data protection & privacy, financing, equity compensation, as well as real estate and employment matters. Chelsea also counsels, negotiates, and works side-by-side with companies in merger & acquisition transactions from proposal through closing. Chelsea has served as In House Corporate Counsel for Lundberg Family Farms in Richvale, CA since February 2015 and is responsible for reviewing all internal legal matters for the research & development, agricultural, farming, finance & business, sales, marketing, administration, and manufacturing departments on a regular basis, as well as interfacing with outside counsel on a myriad of matters.
Stanley Chang
Managing Attorney – Perspectives Law Group
perspectiveslaw.com/
Stanley has been prosecuting patents since 2005 and utilized law as a business tool since 1994. Stanley understands this business perspective because he was the client for many years. He practices law in the areas of corporate and intellectual property strategy, domestic and foreign patent prosecution, pre-litigation, licensing, trademark, portfolio management, portfolio development, and due diligence for start-ups through Fortune 100 companies. Stanley also counsels clients on FDA approvals for Cosmetic and Drug and 510(k) clearance for medical devices along with attendant patentability and litigation risks. He also practices in the areas of corporate matters and business entity formation, and real estate transactions.
Stanley practices in various technology areas including semiconductors (including process technology, manufacturing, design, test, packaging, system integration), optics devices, optical systems, hardware, software, complex algorithms, wireless technology, wireline technology, machine learning/artificial intelligence, big data, error correction codes, medical devices, molecular diagnostics, cryptography, mechanical devices, and network hardware and software.
Prior to practicing law, Stanley had an extensive career from engineer through Senior Director with the following companies Western Digital Corporation, Quantum Corporation, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Agilent Technologies. Stanley has also co-founded a high-tech start-up.
Stanley received his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Master of Electrical Engineering from University of Southern California (USC), and Juris Doctorate from Santa Clara University School of Law. Stanley has been admitted to practice in California and admitted to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
Bill Jacobs
Attorney, Womble Bond Dickinson
www.womblebonddickinson.com/us
Bill is an intellectual property attorney who helps startup and Fortune 500 clients formulate strategies to protect and utilize their IP assets.
His practice includes patent and trademark prosecution, software copyrights, and licensing. He also counsels clients in patent infringement and validity matters.
Bill has a background in electrical engineering, and his practical and legal experience includes computer software/hardware, cellular networks, mesh networks, cloud computing, computer vision, image processing, machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, digital currency, digital asset management, media streaming, virtualization, social networks, and mobile development.
Bill is an expert on software patenting issues, including those related to the Alice decision and subsequent rulings. He frequently advises clients on software-specific strategies to navigate the unique challenges presented by Alice. Bill has had a great deal of success preventing and overcoming Alice-type rejections by thoroughly understanding the nuances of the law and effectively communicating them to the USPTO.
Bill is also a guest lecturer at Santa Clara University School of Law on patents and other areas of intellectual property.
Olga Kay
Sr. Patent Counsel – Roche Molecular Solutions, roche.com
Olga supports Research and Development at Roche Diagnostics including research in PCR chemistry and methods, single cell analysis and next-generation sequencing and assay development in Prenatal Testing, Women’s Health, Genomics and Oncology. Prior to Roche Olga was an associate at a boutique patent firm in Beverly Hills. Prior to law, Olga was a Research Assistant Professor at USC. Olga has a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Southern California and a JD from Loyola Law School (Los Angeles).
Ji Wan Kim
Attorney – Perspectives Law Group
perspectiveslaw.com/
Ji is an attorney that focuses on assisting businesses in various areas of law. Ji’s practice areas include corporate, commercial, and real estate law. Ji also represents clients in litigation to resolve disputes in a broad range of claims including: business torts, commercial disputes, breach of contract, and corporate litigation.
Ji obtained a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration at Chapman University. Utilizing his knowledge of business administration, Ji decided to return to the Bay Area to study law at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law to focus on topics of business and corporate law. At UC Hastings, Ji was involved in various student led organizations: Executive Articles Editor of the Hastings Science and Technology Law Journal; Student Editor of the Hastings Business Law Journal; External Vice President of the Korean American Law Student Association; and Tax Preparer with the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program.
Agatha H. Liu
Partner – Hickman Palermo Becker Bingham LLC
hickmanpalermo.com
aliu@h35g.com
Dr. Liu’s practice concentrates on IP analysis, portfolio management, and strategic counseling. She routinely advises investors, IP owners, and inventors on all areas of IP related to computer technology. She also speaks and writes extensively on different IP topics, such as eligibility for IP protection, IP protection for emerging technology, and global IP protection. Prior to entering the legal profession, Dr. Liu held positions in technology and management consulting. She has a significant research background in artificial intelligence as applied to Internet communications, database system management, computational biology, and speech recognition.
Rosanna Mannan
Associate Attorney – Ericksen Arbuthnot
ericksenarbuthnot.com
rmannan@alumni.scu.edu
Rosanna is an Associate Attorney at the Silicon Valley/San Francisco office of Ericksen Arbuthnot.
Rosanna earned her BA in Philosophy from San Jose State University and graduated from Santa Clara University School of Law in 2019. Prior to going to law school, Rosanna worked for IBM as an information developer and open-source software manager drafting technical manuals, reviewing licenses, and filing patents. While in law school, she was a Pupil of the Ingram Inn of Court and an Associate of the High-Tech Law Journal. In addition to receiving several scholarships, Rosanna received the Pro Bono Award for her work with a legal clinic and a High Tech Law Certificate with Honors. She is the author of GDPR and Blockchain: A Compliance Approach for the European Data Protection Law Review. Rosanna has also worked as a law clerk and summer associate for two technology companies in the Valley.
Since graduating from law school, Rosanna has gained litigation experience through her work with the San Jose City Attorney’s Office and as an attorney for a private practice working in the areas of civil litigation and business transactional services. She is an active member of several bar associations, including APABA and SCCBA.
Chiara Portner
Of Counsel – Hopkins & Carley
hopkinscarley.com/
Chiara Portner is a member of Hopkins & Carley’s Corporate Practice in the Palo Alto office. Chiara advises private and public company clients on:
- Commercial and technology-based transactions
- Open source and dual license models
- Software, SaaS, content and music licensing
- Commercial and IP aspects of financing and acquisition transactions
- Privacy and data protection compliance matters
Chiara holds the certificate for CIPP/US for U.S. private-sector privacy from the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), the global standard in privacy certification. The CIPP/US certification demonstrates a strong knowledge of U.S. private-sector privacy laws and requirements for global transfers of data. Chiara’s clients include B2B and B2C companies that range from small software, mobile app, IoT and SaaS startups to e-tailers and clothing brands to large public companies.
Prior to joining Hopkins & Carley, Chiara had a corporate transaction practice with Paradigm Counsel. Previously, she was with DLA Piper. She has been practicing technology and privacy law since 2002.
Krystia Przepiorski
Senior Corporate Counsel, VMware, Inc.
vmware.com/
Krystia Przepiorski is Senior Corporate Counsel at VMware, Inc. based in Palo Alto. Krystia is an experienced in-house legal counsel with extensive hands-on experience negotiating strategic technology agreements, working with acquired start-up companies and emerging technologies, and providing practical risk-based assessment and advice. Her responsibilities include: strategic technology licensing/partnerships, commercial licensing (on-premise software, SaaS/IaaS, dual-licensed OSS, etc.), open source licensing, privacy, M/A due diligence/integration, and generally supporting all stages of product development.
Krystia has worked in-house at VMware since 2007 and has supported VMware’s growth from a pre-IPO company. VMware software powers the world’s complex digital infrastructure. The company’s cloud, networking and security, and digital workspace offerings provide a dynamic and efficient digital foundation to over 500,000 customers globally, aided by an ecosystem of 75,000 partners. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, VMware is committed to being a force for good, from its breakthrough innovations to its global impact.
Krystia holds a J.D. (w/ International High Technology Certificate) from Santa Clara University School of Law and B.S. in Political Science from Santa Clara University. She also holds CIPP/US and CIPP/E certifications.
Jerry Rosenblum
IP Consultant
B.S. in Engineering Physics from Washington Univ. (St. Louis); J.D. Stanford; graduate courses in computer science and semiconductor technology from UC Extension.
Became a part-time intellectual property consultant after 50+ years in high tech business law, including Patent Examiner at USPTO, General Counsel at Spectra-Physics, and private practice, having founded my own law firm which was acquired by Pillsbury, Winthrop. Participated in the early start-up phases of many companies, including Spectra-Physics, Applied Materials and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).
Sabbatical leave as resident scholar at Stanford Law School and Office of Technology Licensing, teaching a seminar on and co-authoring a law review article on product liability aspects of technology licensing.
Co-Chair of the Sample Agreements Project for the American Intellectual Property Law Association, which mentors recent law graduates in the negotiation of transactions involving intellectual property.
Pamela C. Vavra
Associate Attorney – Perspectives Law Group, perspectiveslaw.com/
pamv@perspectiveslaw.com
Pam Vavra spent 20 years in aerospace, defense, and nuclear energy, developing algorithms and writing device drivers for computer vision systems and artificial intelligence applied research. Later, she founded and managed several non-profits, ran political campaigns for causes such as historic preservation initiatives and library funding, and co-founded a clinic to teach self-litigation to undocumented residents. In law school, Pam focused on intellectual property, privacy law, and legal issues facing entrepreneurs. After graduating from law school, Pam served as Interim Managing Director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University School of Law. Licensed in CA and OR, Pam successfully ran her own practice for four years before joining Perspectives Law Group where she provides general counsel services to tech startups and small businesses. Pam also works part-time at SCU, dividing her time between the Law School and the Bronco Venture Accelerator at the Ciocca Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. She has lived in CT, MA, AL, TX, MI, OR, ND, and CA, and has enjoyed former hobbies in organic farming, sky-diving, and semi-professional photography. She is passionate about social justice and helping others fulfill their potential.
