Bird Electric Scooters. Photo: City of Santa MonicaE-Scooter Company Bird's Top Lawyer to Join Robotics Firm Nuro
Bird's chief legal and policy officer David Estrada is headed to Nuro's headquarters in Mountain View to be closer to his family, according to a spokeswoman for Bird. At the moment, e-scooter companies Lime, Revel Mopeds and Lyft Inc. are all looking for in-house lawyers.
October 17, 2019 at 03:21 PM
3 minute read
The original version of this story was published on Corporate Counsel
The chief legal and policy officer of electric scooter company Bird Rides Inc. is flying the company's coop in Santa Monica, to join Nuro Inc., a robotics firm that builds self-driving delivery vehicles.
David Estrada is headed to Nuro's Silicon Valley headquarters in Mountain View to be closer to his family, according to Bird spokeswoman Rebecca Hahn. He joined Bird, a startup now valued at $2.5 billion, in March 2018.
"David Estrada helped bring micro-mobility alternatives to millions throughout the world. He is leaving Bird to be closer to his family and we wish him and his family all the best," Hahn wrote in an email Thursday.
A Nuro representative confirmed Estrada's hiring but declined further comment. Attempts to reach Estrada were not immediately successful.
He is walking away from a growing e-scooter industry that seems hungry for legal talent. At the moment, Lime, Revel Mopeds and Lyft Inc. are looking for in-house lawyers.
As Bird's chief lawyer, Estrada has helped the company navigate evolving laws and regulations, local government and public backlashes over e-scooter invasions and lawsuits bubbling up throughout the country.
At Nuro, which has raised more than $1 billion from SoftBank Corp. and other investment partners, Estrada will once again be at the helm of a legal department for a tech startup forging new territory. The company's first product is a self-driving delivery service for groceries and other goods.
Estrada began his in-house career in 2000 as senior corporate counsel for Yahoo. He went on to serve as an associate general counsel for YouTube; legal director for Google X, the search giant's research and development arm; vice president of government relations for Lyft; and chief legal officer for Kitty Hawk, which makes battery-powered aircraft.
A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, Estrada told his alma mater's Transcript Magazine that his introduction to self-driving car technology while at Google X made him realize that "figuring out the legal and regulatory space for new technologies without a clear legal framework could be my sweet spot.
"It's like I finally realized after all these years what I really loved doing," he added.
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 All
Collectible Maker Funko Wins Motion to Dismiss Securities Class Action
How Tony West Used Transparency to Reform Uber's Toxic Culture
What Paul Grewal Has Learned About Advocacy as Coinbase's Top Lawyer
7 minute read
Showered With Stock, Tech GCs Incentivized to 'Knock It Out of the Park'
Trending Stories
- 1Gibson Dunn Sued By Crypto Client After Lateral Hire Causes Conflict of Interest
- 2Trump's Solicitor General Expected to 'Flip' Prelogar's Positions at Supreme Court
- 3Pharmacy Lawyers See Promise in NY Regulator's Curbs on PBM Industry
- 4Outgoing USPTO Director Kathi Vidal: ‘We All Want the Country to Be in a Better Place’
- 5Supreme Court Will Review Constitutionality Of FCC's Universal Service Fund
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
