Former Amazon Attorney Named First General Counsel of Lambda School
Cecilia Ziniti, formerly of Amazon and Cruise, was named general counsel of San Francisco-based Lambda School.
September 19, 2019 at 01:54 PM
3 minute read
An online school that helps people get jobs in the tech industry announced Wednesday the hiring of its first general counsel who previously worked as the first full-time attorney for Amazon.com Inc.'s Echo and Alexa products.
Cecilia Ziniti was named general counsel of San Francisco-based Lambda School. Ziniti, who is based in San Francisco, is the only attorney in-house at the school.
Speaking from Washington, D.C., on Thursday, Ziniti said she had been following co-founder and CEO Austen Allred for the past couple of years and believed in the mission.
"The mission was always interesting to me: giving people a skill that allows them to change their lives," Ziniti said.
She said, as she had done in previous jobs, she likes to be involved in emerging industries. The Lambda School operates on an income sharing agreement, or ISA, over traditional student loans. Once a graduate earns at least $50,000 a year, the graduate pays 17% of their income for two years and the repayments are capped at $30,000.
"ISAs are so new and we're the leader in the space," Ziniti said.
Ziniti has spent the majority of her career in-house, according to her LinkedIn profile. She most recently served as the lead counsel and director of product, regulatory and intellectual property legal at the self-driving car company Cruise. She has also served as general counsel at Anki and was the first full-time counsel dedicated to Amazon's Echo and Alexa products. She has also worked as an associate at Morrison & Foerster. She is a graduate of the University of California, Berkley School of Law.
She said she is hiring and believes the in-house legal department at the school will include between three and five lawyers.
"We're actually three businesses in one," Ziniti explained.
She explained she has to consider the curriculum aspect, the income-sharing agreement and the sales team, which tries to place graduates into jobs.
"I'll be looking for attorneys with experience in regulation, fintech and education," Ziniti said.
In July, California fined the company $75,000 for not properly registering with the state, according to a report in Business Insider.
Ziniti said the school is working on getting licensed in California, which she described as relatively easy because that is where the company is based. She said she is working to get the company licensed in other states where it is applicable.
The Lambda School has 130 employees with 2,700 students. A spokesperson for the school said they project to have 4,000 enrolled by the end of the year.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllFormer Rutgers Law School Dean Replaces Hoffman as University General Counsel on Interim Basis
4 minute readAs Student Workers Unionize in Droves, NLRB Tries to Prevent Colleges' Privacy Concerns From Slowing Momentum
5 minute readDemise of Chevron Deference Likely Played a Major Role in Successful Title IX Challenges, Experts Say
4 minute readHarvard Hires Ex-Defense Department GC as Legal Chief at Tumultuous Time
3 minute readTrending Stories
- 1Shaq Signs $11 Million Settlement to Resolve Astrals Investor Claims
- 2McCormick Consolidates Two Tesla Chancery Cases
- 3Amazon, SpaceX Press Constitutional Challenges to NLRB at 5th Circuit
- 4Schools Win Again: Social Media Fails to Strike Public Nuisance Claims
- 5Spencer Lawton, Savannah Prosecutor Who Tried ‘Midnight in the Garden’ Case, Dies at 81
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250