Joins Recent Hires from Goldman Sachs, Time Warner, Credit Suisse in IP Expansion
NEW YORK – September 10, 2009 – LawFuel.com – The international law firm of Chadbourne & Parke LLP announced today that Duane Valz is joining the firm’s intellectual property group as counsel. He was previously with Yahoo! Inc. He will divide his time between Chadbourne’s Los Angeles office and Northern California’s Silicon Valley.
Mr. Valz’s practice focuses on patent portfolio development, IP strategy and complex technology transactions. He also advises on all aspects of IP issues ranging from litigation, licensing and corporate development matters as well as on social media and networking, web-content and cloud computing matters and on issues related to enterprise use and distribution of open source software.
Prior to joining Chadbourne, Mr. Valz spent over three years as VP & Associate General Counsel, Global Patents at Yahoo! Inc. In that role, he led a team of legal and engineering professionals responsible for Yahoo’s IP needs across the Internet giant’s 20-plus markets around the world. Mr. Valz expects to continue to provide advice and counsel to Yahoo! while at Chadbourne.
His hiring continues the dramatic expansion of Chadbourne’s IP group and reinforces the Firm’s commitment to provide full service and authoritative counsel to the information technology, digital media and financial services industries. Mr. Valz, 39, joins the recent, high-profile additions of former Goldman Sachs’ Chief Intellectual Property Counsel John Squires, former Time Warner Inc. Chief Patent Counsel Chuck Fish and Credit Suisse’s Chief Patent Counsel Ken Johnson.
“With John, Chuck, Ken and now Duane, we have hired four of the premiere IP attorneys practicing in the private sector to strategically grow the Chadbourne IP team and support the firm’s IP capabilities in our 12 U.S. and international offices,” said Chadbourne Managing Partner Charles K. O’Neill.
Mr. Squires, who co-chairs Chadbourne’s IP Group, said, “We are seeing, and in many ways driving, a transformation in the market for IP legal services, which places a premium on in-house experience at the practice-head level and on leading edge expertise in emerging technology and interoperability issues. In addition, our clients now more than ever are turning to us for advice and counsel on how to effectively manage IP issues that arise from both the delivery and receipt of technology and services over the internet and, increasingly, mobile devices.”
“We continue to seek and acquire top-notch talent and have attracted additional existing and new client work as a result,” Mr. Squires added. “Duane’s hiring is a continuation of our strategy. He is a tremendous addition to our team as we build out the best-in-breed model for serving the global IP needs of our diverse client base, especially on the West Coast.”
Mr. Valz joined Yahoo! in May 2006. During his tenure there, he reinvigorated the patent function, drastically increasing Yahoo’s filings and issued patents. Mr. Valz also introduced many innovations to the company’s development and positioning of its IP assets, including custom developed software tools and new appraisal and asset management methodologies. His efforts resulted in Yahoo! becoming a constituent of the Ocean Tomo 300® Patent Index, and climbing the ranks of the Patent Board’s top 35 companies in the information technology sector.
Mr. Valz also led Yahoo’s cross-functional Open Source Working Group. Before Yahoo!, he worked in legal positions at Quantum Corporation as Director of Intellectual Property, at NextCard, Inc. as Corporate Counsel and at eBusiness Design as General Counsel. He also practiced IP law and commercial litigation at the San Francisco law firm Howard, Rice, Nemerovski, Canady, Falk & Rabkin.
“Duane is a tremendous addition to the growing Chadbourne IP team,” said Walter Hanchuk, co-chair of Chadbourne’s IP group. “He further expands our ‘West Coast-style’ technology focus, with a deep understanding and successful body of work which reflects Wall Street’s, Silicon Alley’s and Silicon Valley’s changing legal, business and technology needs.”
Mr. Valz received a B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley in 1993 and a J.D. from Berkeley Law in 1996. He is a highly sought after speaker and lecturer on law and technology matters. Mr. Valz has presented testimony at the Federal Trade Commission on the evolving IP marketplace, guest lectures regularly at U.C. Berkeley’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology, and has participated in numerous conferences and roundtables on intellectual property law.
A patented inventor, he has written and spoken about the impact of In re Bilski on patent eligible subject matter, including amicus curiae filings both at the Federal Circuit and the proceedings now before the U.S. Supreme Court. The Firm has also prepared and filed briefs with the Supreme Court on behalf of clients on the issue of patent eligible subject matter as well.
About Chadbourne & Parke LLP
Chadbourne & Parke LLP, an international law firm headquartered in New York City, provides a full range of legal services, including mergers and acquisitions, securities, project finance, private funds, corporate finance, energy, communications and technology, commercial and products liability litigation, securities litigation and regulatory enforcement, special investigations and litigation, intellectual property, antitrust, domestic and international tax, insurance and reinsurance, environmental, real estate, bankruptcy and financial restructuring, employment law and ERISA, trusts and estates and government contract matters. Major geographical areas of concentration include Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, the Middle East and Latin America. The Firm has offices in New York, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, Mexico City, London (an affiliated partnership), Moscow, St. Petersburg, Warsaw, Kyiv, Almaty, Dubai and Beijing. For additional information, visit www.chadbourne.com.
