Boston, MA. Global law firm Nixon Peabody continues to expand its Intellectual Property practice with the addition of Thomas O’Keefe, who joins the Boston office as counsel, bringing extensive technology transfer, licensing, and engineering experience.
With a significant engineering background, Tom works with clients across the software-as-a-service (SaaS), network, software, hardware, mobile, and services sectors—including academic research institutions—on issues involving product development and commercialization plans. He uses this scientific foundation to assess how legal issues and solutions impact not only certain products and services, but also the customer’s overall commercial objectives.
In addition to Tom, Nixon Peabody recently welcomed a team of Intellectual Property attorneys to its Los Angeles office as the firm grows the IP practice in targeted areas. Partners Erica J. Van Loon and Andrew Y. Choung, and counsel S. Desmond Jui joined the firm over the summer. Additionally, associate Mark Zhai, resident attorneys Freddy Lopez, Valentina Polunina, and Jared Densen, and patent agent Harry Lee recently joined the firm’s IP practice in Los Angeles. Patent specialist Timothy Hark also joined the firm’s Chicago office at the end of the summer.
This growth strategy tracks with clients’ rapidly evolving needs.
“Tom brings a highly sought-after skillset to our technology-focused clients, with a deep knowledge base in clients’ product- and service-focused needs,” said Jeffrey Costellia, co-leader of Nixon Peabody’s Intellectual Property practice. “Recent growth in our practice has been targeted at key areas where we see increased client demand, and we always sense ahead for emerging client needs.”
Tom joins Nixon Peabody from Akamai Technologies, where he was senior counsel, serving as the primary product and IP-related legal resource for all business divisions. He has considerable experience designing and implementing corporate policies and procedures governing user-generated and customer-generated content, as well as resolving related complaints. Tom advised engineers on code security and open source code issues, and devised company protocols for free and open-source code. He previously worked for several years in Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Technology Licensing Office.
“We are thrilled to welcome Tom to our office and the dynamic IP group we have in Boston,” said Kathleen Ceglarski Burns, co-managing partner of Nixon Peabody’s Boston office. “The focus of Tom’s practice is perfectly suited for the wide range of research institutions, technology companies, and life sciences organizations in our region.”
Tom earned a J.D. from Brooklyn Law School, a Master of Business Administration from Yale School of Management, a Master of Engineering from Tufts University, and a Bachelor of Science from Georgetown University.
