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Today, my guest is Simon Sinek, an author, speaker, and consultant who writes on leadership and management.  He is best known for his brilliant and ground breaking TED Talk entitled "How Great Leaders Inspire Action," which explains why we are inspired by some people, leaders, messages and organizations over others and is the 3rd most viewed video on TED.   Since then, he has written 3 books: Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action (2009), Leaders Eat Last: Why […]

Today, my guest is Daniel James Brown, author of the New York Times best selling book The Boys in the Boat, a story about 9 working class boys who became the 1936 U.S. Men’s Olympic gold medal winning rowing team. With a team composed of the sons of blue collar workers and led by Joe Rantz, a teenager without family or prospects, the University of Washington’s eight-oar crew team was never expected to defeat the elite teams of the East Coast […]

Today, my guest is Will Shortz (aka the "Puzzle Master"), Editor of the New York Times Crossword Puzzles, and star of WordPlay (see trailer below), one of my favorite movies.  Some may know that he graduated from the University of Virginia Law School but probably not many know that he almost dropped out after his first semester and that his favorite class was intellectual property!  Listed as one of the 30 most famous people with law degrees, Will was gracious enough to join […]

Today, my guest is Kirk Lacob, Assistant General Manager for the 2017 NBA Champion Golden State Warriors where he is involved in all aspects of the team’s basketball operations, including player personnel evaluation, draft preparation and scouting. He also served two years (2011-13) as the team’s player development representative with the league office, coordinating and implementing programs to aid in the overall development of players both on and off the court. In addition, Kirk continues to oversee operations for the Warriors NBA Development […]

Today, my guest is Larry Sonsini, Chairman of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.  After graduating from Boalt Hall (Berkeley Law) in 1966, Larry decided to join John Wilson to work with Silicon Valley startups and has since gained international recognition for his expertise in the areas of corporate law, corporate governance, securities, and mergers and acquisitions. In addition to having served as CEO as well as Chairman for more than 35 years, Larry served as Chairman of the New York Stock […]

Today, my guest is Kathi Vidal, the Managing Partner of Winston & Strawn's Silicon Valley office where she is one of the leading patent litigators in the country. Nationally recognized for trying high-profile, high-stakes, and high-tech patent disputes for the region’s leading companies, her experience covers a myriad of technologies, including semiconductors, telecommunications, circuits and systems, computers, software, Internet applications, and consumer products.  Kathi is a nationally-recognized IP litigator who has protected innovative companies through offensive patent actions to preserve their market […]

Today, my guest is Michelle Lee, the former Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the first woman to serve as Director of the USPTO. Prior to this role, Michelle was Deputy General Counsel for Google and Head of Patents and before that, a Partner at Fenwick & West, where she advised companies on intellectual property, licensing, litigation and corporate matters. Michelle was also a law clerk to Judge […]

Today, my guest is Dick Pogue, a Senior Advisor and former Managing Partner of Jones Day, who talks about how 2 Supreme Court cases in the 1970s and the creation of The American Lawyer dramatically changed the legal profession and shaped the way it is today. Although Dick officially retired from the firm in 1994 and spent 9 years at Dix & Eaton, a corporate public relations firm, he rejoined Jones Day in 2004 where he is still very active. His son David […]

In my continuing series on remote leadership, my guest today is Dean Fealk, an international attorney, policy advisor and civic leader who cross sectors to partner alongside government, business and NGOs to strengthen the economy through international investment and trade. As San Francisco managing partner and international employment practice co-chair at global law firm DLA Piper, Dean represents leading multinational companies on legal and strategic issues related to international business, including more than US$30 billion in cross-border transactions.  He serves as […]

Today, my guest is Evan Chesler, Chairman of Cravath Swaine & Moore, who has been widely recognized as a leading trial lawyer by numerous professional publications, including Chambers USA, Chambers Global, The Best Lawyers in America, The American Lawyer, Benchmark Litigation, The Legal 500 United States, Law Dragon and Super Lawyers. Evan is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, a fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, a fellow of the American Bar Foundation and a fellow of the NY Bar Foundation. He is the President of […]

Today, my guest is Ken King, a Partner in the Silicon Valley office of Skadden Arps, which office celebrated its 20th anniversary in July 2018. Ken is widely recognized as one of the country’s preeminent corporate attorneys where he provides clients a strong focus on the technology, semiconductor and biotech sectors, regularly handling complex, cross-border M&A transactions and advising companies and boards on shareholder activism and corporate governance matters. Fluent in Japanese, Ken has also represented numerous U.S. and Japanese corporations […]

Today, my guest is Neel Chatterjee, a Partner in Goodwin’s Intellectual Property Practice. An internationally recognized technology litigator and trial lawyer, Neel has a proven track record of wins in hard-to-win technology cases and his cases often break new ground in undefined areas of the law.  Neel has been recognized as a top IP litigator and trailblazer by Intellectual Asset Management, Managing IP, Chambers, Benchmark Litigation, National Law Journal and the Daily Journal in addition to being recognized by Best Lawyers in the field of patent and intellectual property litigation. […]

Today, my guest is Jack Sheridan, a partner in the Silicon Valley office of Latham & Watkins whose practice focuses on corporate legal needs of public and private companies primarily in technology, life sciences, and retail consumer sectors. During his career, Jack has represented companies and underwriters in more than 100 public offerings raising billions of dollars of capital, more than 150 companies in successfully raising venture capital financing; and numerous public and private companies in sophisticated merger and acquisition transactions. Jack […]

Today, my guest is Daralyn Durie, Co-Founder of Durie Tangri,  who is a Chambers ranked trial lawyer who has been selected by Benchmark Litigation as one of the top 100 trial lawyers in the United States, Chambers & Partners as one of the top 20 patent litigators in California, the Daily Journal as one of the top 100 lawyers and one of the top 75 intellectual property lawyers in California, and by Law360 as an Icon of IP and MVP.  […]

Today, my guest is Steve Immelt, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Hogan Lovells where he is responsible for developing and driving our vision as a "bold and distinctive law firm creating valuable solutions for clients." Steve spends his time focused on achieving the firm's strategy and supporting partners in building their relationships with clients and each other around the world. Before taking up the role of CEO in 2014, Steve was the global co-head of the firm's Litigation and […]

Today, my guest is Jeff Saper, a Partner and Vice Chairman of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where he specializes in public and private financings of technology and other emerging growth companies, as well as the representation of leading investment banks and corporate issuers in connection with public offerings and mergers and acquisitions. Jeff has been involved in more than 200 public offerings, and has served as company counsel with respect to the initial public offerings of such prominent companies as […]

Today, my guest is David Hashmall, who serves as Chairman of Goodwin, a leading Global 50 firm with more than 1,000 lawyers. As Chairman, David is responsible for Goodwin’s overall strategy and growth, client relations and external communications. He chairs the firm’s Executive Committee and is a member of its Management and Allocations Committees. Prior to his current role, David led the firm’s Litigation Department for over 10 years and has more than 35 years of experience litigating complex commercial disputes and […]

Today, my guest is Charlie Verhoeven, a Partner at Quinn Emanuel who is head of its Northern California offices and Co-Chair of the firm’s National Intellectual Property Litigation Practice. Charlie has won billion dollar defense verdicts and dismissals and on the plaintiff side, has won multiple 9 figure verdicts. He was lead counsel defending the Android operating system, Samsung, Motorola and HTC brought by Apple and Microsoft, popularly known as the "Smart Phone Wars." Charlie is a "Band One" Chambers […]

Today, my guest is Frank Aquila, a Partner at Sullivan & Cromwell who has a broad multidisciplinary practice that includes extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions and corporate governance. He has been engaged in many high profile matters that include activism, cross-border transactions, leveraged buyouts, proxy contests and unsolicited bids as an adviser to global leaders such as Amgen, Andeavor, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Avon, Cheniere Energy, Diageo, Diebold Nixdorf, International Airlines Group, Kraft, Navistar International and United Rentals. He also regularly counsels boards of directors and board committees on corporate governance, crisis management and […]

Today, my guest is David Katz, a partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, an adjunct professor at New York University School of Law, and co-chair of the Board of Advisors of the NYU Law Institute for Corporate Governance and Finance. David is a corporate attorney focusing on mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, shareholder activism and complex securities transactions, has been involved in many major domestic and international merger, acquisition and buyout transactions, strategic defense assignments and proxy contests, and has been […]