Stephanie Skaff, Partner, Farella Braun + Martel (Courtesy photo)

In trade secrets and intellectual property litigation over the design and construction of a $200 million Facebook data center in Sweden, Stephanie Skaff helped net a confidential settlement with Facebook for her client BladeRoom Group Ltd.  Following a 20-day trial against co-defendant Emerson Electric Co., a jury awarded BladeRoom a $30 million judgment in May.

Name a lawyer whose work you admire and why.

Annette Hurst. Annette is whip-smart and fearless. She not only has a commanding presence in the courtroom, she also finds time to use her talents to contribute to the nonprofit legal community and to the national debate on important social and political issues.

What's the best part about working in the tech sector?

Everything changes rapidly, so I'm always learning something new.

What's the biggest challenge?

Everything changes rapidly, so I'm always learning something new.

What piece of advice do you give to lawyers considering a career in tech law?

Don't just represent your clients … partner with them. Tap into their expertise and resources, collaborate together, and develop trusted relationships. Forging real partnerships with your clients will not only make your work more satisfying and fun, it will bring you better results than you can ever achieve on your own.

What's one way technology has made your life easier?

I can work from anywhere in the world.

One way it's made your life more difficult?

Technology definitely has changed the pace of the profession and made carving out family and personal time more challenging.

Name an important opportunity you got early in your career and what you did with it.

My first day at Farella, I was staffed on a case that was starting a jury trial. I ended up being tasked with reviewing the daily transcripts for possible post-trial legal motions. I found several creative legal issues and ended up writing a winning judgement notwithstanding verdict. A fortunate (and very fun) start to a long career!

What's the best piece of career advice anyone ever gave you?

Judges are people. Clients are people. Witnesses are people. Your colleagues are people. And even those frustrating lawyers on the other side of the case are people. The better you understand, communicate and work with people, the better trial lawyer you will be.

Number one survival tip in a work crisis:

Breathe and keep things in perspective.

In 50 words or less, how far has the tech industry gone toward tackling its gender gap since you started practicing?

The gender gap is alive and well, unfortunately. Women are still underrepresented in technology and will continue to be underrepresented until we find more creative solutions to some existing problems, including the lack of a robust pipeline of female STEM students and a work environment that continues to erect significant barriers to career advancement for women.

What's one way you've had to change your thinking toward practicing law to succeed with tech industry clients?

I no longer think of myself as just a litigator or a trial lawyer; I think of myself as a trusted partner to my clients. I know my clients are looking for the quickest, most creative and cost- effective solution to their existing disputes. Finding that solution requires understanding the client's business and key objectives really well. Asking the right questions and listening carefully from the beginning of an engagement is critical.

What's one area of technology that you're most excited about and why?

The rapid developments in artificial intelligence are exciting not only from a technology perspective, but it also because AI doesn't fit neatly into the traditional confines of our existing intellectual property laws. AI will require a re-examination of the very foundation of how we define and own intellectual property. (e.g. If an invention is created by a machine, is it patentable? If code is written by a machine, who is the author?)