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When the San Francisco and Los Angeles Daily Journal published their 2009 list of Top 20 Lawyers under the age of 40 in California, two 1995 Santa Clara Law alums were included on the list. Both Heidi Keefe and Rodger Cole work in IP, and both serve as mentors in their firms.
Heidi Keefe, who earned her J.D. from Santa Clara Law cum laude in 1995, is an IP partner in White & Case’s Palo Alto office. A registered patent attorney, Keefe represents clients in a variety of high-stakes patent trials before juries and judges. She has a background in astrophysics, which comes in handy when her work includes understanding a variety of technical disciplines, from software to medical devices. A frequent author of articles and lecturer and on intellectual property protection, Keefe has taught classes at Santa Clara Law on IP Litigation, and has lectured at Boalt School of Law, Stanford University Law School, and at other locations throughout the country for Law Seminars International, the ABA, and the Practicing Law Institute.
Keefe, who earned her bachelor’s degree cum laude from Wellesley, is a member of the Founding Committee of White & Case LLP’s Women’s Network, an organization focused on providing female lawyers in the firm with access to role models, as well as leadership, business development, mentoring, and peer support opportunities.
Prior to joining White & Case, she was a partner at another leading international law firm where she was co-chair of the firm’s training program. She also served as a law clerk to the California Legislative Counsel Bureau and was a judicial extern to the Honorable Conrad Cox and the Honorable James King of the Mendocino County Superior Courts. She has frequently been recognized as a leading lawyer, including listings in "The Bay Area’s Best Lawyers” by Bay Area Lawyer magazine.
Keefe calls her legal education at Santa Clara "wonderful,” adding "where I think my education took me to the next level…was in the classes that I took with adjunct professors who were actually practicing the types of IP law that interested me. Tom Schaetzel and Ed Taylor in particular gave me real exposure to the world of patents and patent litigation in a way that I still recall and use today.”
Rodger Cole ’95 earned his J.D. magna cum laude from Santa Clara Law, where he also served as executive editor of the Santa Clara Computer and Technology Law Journal. He is a partner in the litigation group at Fenwick & West in Mountain View, where he focuses on IP and commercial litigation for high tech companies, including trade secret misappropriation, copyright infringement, and trademark infringement, as well as licensing, technology transfers, and related commercial disputes. He has also successfully defended his clients in consumer class actions. He was named a Northern California "Super Lawyer” in 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008.
While in college at the University of Redlands, Cole was the 1991 National Debate Tournament Champion and 1990 National Debate Tournament Runner-Up. In a 2001 poll of inter-collegiate debate coaches, Cole and his debate partner were voted the second best debate team in college in the 1990s.
Cole also makes time to mentor junior lawyers. In 2008, for the third straight year, Cole was voted by his colleagues as the Best of Fenwick for Outstanding Contributions to Mentoring/Training.
Of his time at Santa Clara Law, Cole said, "Law school can never truly prepare you for a legal career, but studying at Santa Clara in the heart of Silicon Valley awakens a law student to the possibilities in the world and the very exciting companies to advise.”
