Jessica Valenzuela Santamaria of Cooley knocked out a state court securities class action against Pure Storage that alleged certain statements were false and misleading in the company's IPO offering documents relating to its growth prospects, market opportunity and product features.

After the events that have rocked Silicon Valley this year, are you more or less hopeful about the prospects for women in the tech industry?

More hopeful. Change can't happen unless we acknowledge and talk about the unique challenges that women face. There is now an active dialogue and the people in a position to implement change are now listening.