The global law firm Jones Day has announced that three lawyers have joined the Firm as partners in its Silicon Valley Office. Wendy Davis is now a member of Jones Day’s Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Practice, and Janet M. McNicholas, Ph.D. and Gregory P. Silberman have joined as members of Jones Day’s Intellectual Property Practice.
Ms. Davis arrives from the Palo Alto office of Cooley, where she was a partner in the Compensation & Benefits Practice. Dr. McNicholas was most recently in the Palo Alto office of K&L Gates, where she was a partner in that firm’s IP Procurement and Portfolio Management Practice. Mr. Silberman arrives from the Palo Alto office of Kaye Scholer, where he was a partner in the Intellectual Property Practice.
“Wendy, Janet and Greg are each accomplished lawyers with tremendous experience here in the Valley,” said Greg Lanier, Partner-in-Charge of Jones Day’s Silicon Valley Office. “Wendy is a great addition to our Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Practice, which consists of more than 50 experienced compensation and benefits attorneys around the globe. Janet and Greg bring to bear deep IP experience across a range of technologies that will be a great complement to our worldwide IP Practice. We’re delighted all three of them have chosen to join us here at Jones Day as we continue to grow our Silicon Valley Office to work with clients here and around the world.”
Ms. Davis’s practice focuses on equity and executive compensation. She advises clients on the practical design considerations of compensation programs, as well as the intersection of tax, employment, corporate and securities laws. Ms. Davis also provides counsel on the shareholder relations issues that arise in connection with compensation matters, and works regularly with clients to develop and maintain their equity compensation plans, cash bonus plans, deferred compensation arrangements and change of control agreements. Ms. Davis received her law degree from the University of Chicago Law School, where she served as the Editor of Interdisciplinary Programs of the Law School Roundtable. She graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor of arts degree in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania. Ms. Davis is a member of the American Bar Association and the State Bar of California, and is also on the Board of Advisors for the Silicon Valley Chapter of the National Association of Corporate Directors.
Dr. McNicholas is particularly noted for her patent-related achievements in the areas of biotechnology, pharmaceutical products and medical products. She serves as patent counsel to biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, including start-up and emerging growth companies financed by private equity and venture capital investors, and advises clients in the development, management and enforcement of worldwide patent portfolios. Dr. McNicholas writes and prosecutes patent applications for a broad range of life science technologies, has experience with litigation and dispute resolution, and advises clients in licensing and agreement matters. Dr. McNicholas received her law degree from the University of Chicago Law School, where she graduated cum laude, and her bachelor of arts degree from Rosary College. Prior to practicing law, she conducted research in immunology, molecular biology, biochemistry and genetics at the University of Illinois as a pre-doctoral student, and then at Stanford University and at the California Institute of Technology as a post-doctoral fellow of the Arthritis Foundation. She earned both her master of science degree and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois.
Mr. Silberman is a patent and technology attorney with more than 20 years of experience representing domestic and foreign clients in legal and business issues related to the development and deployment of business, information and entertainment technologies and services. His practice includes counseling clients regarding intellectual property and privacy/security issues, outsourcing, and open source software. Mr. Silberman’s technology transactions practice includes negotiating and managing a broad range of development and services agreements including agreements for cloud computing, content and database licensing, software development, sponsored research, advertising, and open source software. He also advises clients on the development of terms of service/use, data retention, information technology usage and privacy policies, and data breach response. Mr. Silberman received his law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of The Law, and his bachelor of arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley. He is also a Certified Information Systems Security Professional. Mr. Silberman previously served as Intellectual Property Counsel at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
With the addition of the three new partners, there are now 58 lawyers in the Silicon Valley Office.
