Features Region: West

It’s not a topic familiar to most Americans, but for those working in the field of biologics, it’s a rule of engagement when filing a patent. Welcome to the world of the Budapest Treaty. As Dr. Mark Kokes, chief intellectual property officer at NantWorks, explains, U.S. patent laws practically require that biotech inventors deposit their […]

In a 1996 essay, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates famously said that “content is king.” But what happens when a global pandemic effectively keeps movie and television studios around the world from producing that content? “Luckily for us, we’ve got enough content to last for a while, but not everyone is as fortunate,” says Gavin Wise, […]

What is your “core why?” Nichoel Casey adopted this guiding question and principle from motivational speaker Simon Sinek, using it regularly in her work at Willamette Valley Bank, member FDIC. Her “core why?” Successfully leading a business with an integrated risk management approach, she says. That is: Financial institutions should explore integrating the responsibilities of […]

In an increasingly crowded online marketplace, having a good idea without cutting-edge infrastructure and back-end support is like a car without wheels: It might look good, but it won’t get you very far. These days, digital sales and an engaging online presence are essential to a business’ bottom line—whether you’re selling a service, software-as-a-service or […]

Mohsen Parsa easily remembers his first moments as an Iranian immigrant coming to America. Arriving on Halloween, the first thing he remembers when stepping off the plane was a person dressed up as The Joker. While dressing up as a spooky character is celebrated in the U.S. for the holiday, such an image had a […]

It’s a long way from small-town Kentucky to offices in Belarus, but Scott Summers has made the journey—with stops in Arkansas, Minnesota, Paris and Barcelona along the way. Now the associate general counsel for cloud computing giant Veeva, Summers is the sole attorney handling employment and labor matters. And as the company quickly assumes global […]

It’s easy enough to advise people to expect the unexpected. Scott Laughlin put those words into action at Plaza Home Mortgage—even though the unexpected was beyond anything he’d ever imagined. As Plaza’s Senior Corporate Counsel and CISO Laughlin focused on security first, after joining the company in October 2015, merging his legal and technology expertise […]

Sure, most everyone knows the music of Rihanna, Snoop Dogg and Pink, but do most people know about the instruments those artists use to create their distinctive sound? Jun Yamato does. He negotiates contracts for Lady Gaga, “The Voice” TV show and other artists to use instruments from Roland. But as the Japanese company’s longtime […]

With astonishing complexity in terms of jurisdictions, customer numbers and interaction volume—and thousands of contracts over the course of each year—just how does multinational e-commerce powerhouse eBay Classifieds Group (“eCG”) get it all done legally? If you ask David Lancelot, eBay Classifieds’ global head of legal, he’ll tell you it starts with best practice operations. […]

In early March, just days into the 2020 season, Major League Soccer was forced to blow the whistle on all matches indefinitely, owing to concerns stemming from COVID-19. Whether it’ll be game on anytime soon is anybody’s guess. As general counsel of the league’s Los Angeles Football Club, Randy Haight laments the lost opportunity to […]