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Daily Journal Names Drummond Hansen and Simmons 2021 “Top Women Lawyers”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SAN FRANCISCO AND SILICON VALLEY—May 19, 2021—O’Melveny Intellectual Property & Technology partners Melody Drummond Hansen and Luann Simmons were named to the Daily Journal’s 2021 list of the “Top Women Lawyers.” The prestigious list honors the top “100 women lawyers practicing and barred in California.”

The Daily Journal hailed Drummond Hansen as “an expert in the complex technologies used in cars that can drive themselves,” which she views as the future of the transportation industry. The chair of O’Melveny’s Automated & Connected Vehicles group, Drummond Hansen also is an experienced litigator whose practice includes patent and trade secrets cases. Her recent litigation successes include a Ninth Circuit win quashing a defamation case filed against Bruce Perens, a co-founder of the Open Source Initiative, for expressing his opinions that a software security patch violated the GPL and could lead to copyright liability. The Daily Journal also cited Drummond Hansen’s pro bono practice. Last year, she helped three minors who were facing deportation to El Salvador reunite with their father in the US.

Simmons, O’Melveny’s Regional Head of Litigation for Northern California, was recognized for leading the defense of Google in patent infringement lawsuits centering around some of the tech giant’s newest technology. These matters included district court wins for the company involving its Home/Nest, Cloud and Assistant products. “I’ll do any case anywhere for Google because they’re just an amazing client,” Simmons, who has a background in computer science and physics, told the Daily Journal. She added that matters involving its AI-powered Assistant technology are particularly “fascinating.” The publication also singled out her win for Niantic in a patent infringement case involving its hit video game Pokémon Go.

In an increasingly active intellectual property environment, O’Melveny works closely with clients, providing practical, results-oriented advice customized to meet their business goals. The practice counsels on the acquisition, exploitation, enforcement, and defense of intellectual property rights worldwide, with lawyers who have broad industry experience and specialized academic backgrounds, including advanced technical and scientific degrees.

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