Melissa Andrieux of Dorf & Nelson spoke on Access, Equity and Allies at ChIPs Global Summit 2022.
Nearly 700 women in tech, law and policy from around the world gathered in San Francisco October 27-28 for the ChIPs Global Summit 2022 – a record attendance for the 11th annual event. Nearly 950 attended four events during ChIPs Week at the San Francisco Fairmont. (The Global Summit will return to the venue November 8-10, 2023.)
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The event opened and closed with two eye-opening fireside chats: Amy Weaver, president and CFO of Salesforce, was interviewed Thursday by ChIPs Board Director Jennifer Yokoyama, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel of Cloud + AI at Microsoft. Weaver explained why she was attracted to Salesforce by its values and how she made the unusual transition from chief legal officer to chief financial officer.
Kathi Vidal, undersecretary of commerce for IP and director of the U.S. Patent and Trade Office, was interviewed Friday morning by ChIPs Board Director Sarita Venkat, vice president and deputy general counsel for global litigation and competition at Cisco. Vidal discussed a range of issues, from the significance of IP to trade and national security and the importance of diversity.“Diversity is a national imperative, and we have to get everyone ‘off the bench,’ which is why we are taking an all-government approach. We need to de-silo everywhere, across government and across business.”
State of the Network
ChIPs Board Chair Katherine Minarik, vice president and deputy general counsel for Coinbase, joined ChIPs Executive Director Joan Toth in providing a “State of the ChIPs Network” report to the nearly 700 assembled members. “We’ve made strides, but much work remains to be done,” Minarik said. “When it comes to patent attorneys, 80% are men and 80% are white.”
Toth noted that 40 percent of the women present were from traditionally underrepresented groups. She pointed to ChIPs 25 chapters around the world and noted that ChIPs membership had grown 30% in the past 12 months.
The event included four breakout sessions: Crypto Basics and Cognitive Capital Thursday morning; and Executive Leadership and Life Coaching and Technology and Politics Thursday afternoon.
Wide-ranging topics
A provocative panel on “Health Privacy in the Digital Age” featured Alexandra Givens, CEO of the Center for Democracy & Technology; Heather Deixler, partner at Latham & Watkins; Deven McGraw, lead, data stewardship and data sharing at Invitae; and Anne Bradley, senior fellow at the Future of Privacy Forum.
Four women discussed “IP and Beauty”” Marylauren Ilagan, senior counsel and head of IP for Olaplex; Camille Friedlander, legal counsel for Benefit Cosmetics; Marjorie Goux, chief legal Officer for Rodan + Fields; and Alexandra Valenti, partner at Goodwin Procter.
Fish & Richardson supported a three-judge panel that discussed “Judicial Perspectives and Trends.” The panel was moderated by Juanita Brooks, principal at Fish & Richardson, and featured the Hon. Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, district judge, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California; Christa Zado, administrative patent judge, USPTO; and the Hon. MaryJoan McNamara, administrative law Judge for the U.S. International Trade Commission.
Friday morning included a panel on IP and Entertainment with Kelly Jo MacArthur, vice president and associate general counsel, Global Media & Entertainment for Amazon; Stephanie Burns, senior vice president and general counsel for Sony Interactive Entertainment; Sarah Bruno, partner at Reed Smith; Marcela Robledo, partner at Cleary Gottlieb; and Maz Shakernia, music product counsel for TikTok.
“Hot Topics in IP Law” was presented by Kirkland & Ellis partners Allison Buchner, Claudia Ray, Robin McCue,Dale Cendali and Patricia Carson.
To close the program, an “Access, Equity and Allies” panel was right in ChIPs wheelhouse. It featured Melissa Andrieux, chief diversity officer and chief client relations officer for Dorf & Nelson; Brianna Hinojosa-Smith, chief legal officer, Yum! Digital & Technology for Yum! Brands; April Miller Boise, executive vice president and chief legal officer for Intel; and Audra Soloway, partner at Paul Weiss.
Don’t forget to review our MCLE content and submit your MCLE forms for the NextGen and Global Summits (contact Monica Phillips if you need assistance). For information on partnership and sponsorship activities and future opportunities, contact Bridget Johnson.