Lynne Hermle of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe secured defense verdicts at trial in a pair of cases brought by former SpaceX employees which threatened the reputation of Elon Musk's rocket manufacturing venture.

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?

Our tech clients are pushing hard for diversity at all levels and working on improving hiring and recruitment processes. Very optimistic, although I wish there were more women going into engineering and other technical fields.