Tiffany Lee is a partner in the Corporate & Financial Services Department and Managing Partner of the firm’s Palo Alto office. She focuses on a wide variety of technology transactions. Her practice includes counseling and advising clients on intellectual property issues, and drafting development, licensing, manufacturing, distribution, and other agreements in a wide range of industries including life sciences, healthcare, electronics, semiconductor, and media and entertainment.
Chambers USA (2024) ranks Tiffany among the leading practitioners in California for Technology where she is described as, “extremely professional and bright and quickly grasps the objective.” “Tiffany's counsel and advice is superb, and she remains one of my top legal advisers."
She is also a recommended lawyer in Legal 500 US (2023) in the Technology Transactions category.
In 2022, Tiffany was named to the Silicon Valley Business Journal’s Women of Influence and in 2021 was awarded the Collaborative Leadership Award by Corporate Counsel magazine at its annual Women, Influence & Power in Law conference and awards. She is also named to Lawyers of Color’s 2022 “Law Firm Leaders” list.
Tiffany has represented publicly traded companies and privately held companies in a variety of corporate law matters, including general corporate counseling, mergers and acquisitions, and private equity financing.
Tiffany is fluent in written and spoken Cantonese and has a working knowledge of Mandarin.
Experience
Prior to joining Willkie in 2018, Tiffany was a partner of Paul Hastings LLP in Palo Alto.
- Daily Journal
- Top Artificial Intelligence Lawyers, 2024
- Top Intellectual Property Lawyers, 2024
- Chambers USA, Technology (Band 2), California, 2022-2024
- Legal 500 U.S., Recommended Lawyer, Media, Technology and Telecoms: Technology Transactions, 2022-2024
- Lawyers of Color, Law Firm Leaders, 2022
- Silicon Valley Business Journal, Women of Influence, 2022
- Corporate Magazine: Women, Influence & Power in Law, Collaborative Leadership Award, 2021
- Served on the 2020-21 Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation (JNE) for the State of California, which assists the Governor in the judicial selection process
- Serves on IP Committee of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Silicon Valley
- Board member of the Korn Ferry Charitable Foundation
- Member of the Licensing Executive Society (U.S. & Canada) and the Intellectual Property Law Section of the American Bar Association
- Panelist, “Analysis of a Technology License Agreement,” Practising Law Institute’s Advance Licensing Agreements Conference, April 16, 2024
- Panelist, “Analysis of a Technology License Agreement,” Practising Law Institute’s Advance Licensing Agreements Conference, April 25, 2023
Technology
- Cisco Systems, Inc. in connection with:
- its acquisition of cloud-activity monitoring software provider ThousandEyes Inc.; and
- its acquisition of Voicea, a privately held company focused on artificial intelligence-based voice collaboration technology.
- SIX in its partnership agreement with and investment in Omniex, an institutional trading platform provider for digital assets and cryptocurrencies.
- Meta in structuring and negotiating agreements covering the development, manufacture, and supply of customized servers and server components for Meta’s data centers around the world, including US$1 billion-plus manufacturing and supply agreements.
- Meta in connection with the hardware and software side of AI transactions including :
- the vertical integration of its new AI infrastructure, including more than $2 billion in CPUs and networking infrastructure that will go into Meta’s data centers worldwide; and
- numerous deals for the licensing and acquisition of content and data for the training, population and implementation of AI models and AI generated content.
- QuEra, a leading quantum computing company, in negotiating a development and commercialization agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS) whereby QuEra Computing’s technology is integrated into one of AWS’s new offering.
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Oculus VR, a subsidiary of Facebook, focused on developing immersive yet affordable virtual reality (VR) technology, on the corporate and transactional IP aspects of the worldwide launch of its groundbreaking VR headset, the Oculus Rift.
- Samsung Electronics in connection with:
- its acquisition of U.K.-listed CSR plc’s mobile connectivity and location technology as well as certain relevant patents, including a license to patents and intellectual property for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and GPS;
- its acquisition of Nanoradio AB, a developer of ultra-low power wireless LAN chipsets for high-speed wireless access in mobile phones based in Sweden; and
- its US$8 billion acquisition of Harman International Industries, Inc., a leader in designing and integrating sophisticated in-vehicle technologies. The transaction is Samsung's largest-ever acquisition and is the largest Korean outbound M&A transaction on record; and
- a major action of an industry-specific semiconductor business.
- Samsung Telecommunications America in connection with the drafting and negotiating of various IT consulting agreements, including the provision of consulting and other services for the development of certain software using open source software.
- Spotify in connection with its agreement with Google for the provision of cloud computing services for Spotify’s business operations.
- Rackspace in connection with the development, manufacturing and supply of servers and technology for use in its data centers and cloud platform worldwide.
- Spirit in connection with a manufacturing agreement whereby Spirit obliges its suppliers to purchase certain components or materials from Spirit.
- Brocade Communications Systems, Inc., a company specializing in data center networking solutions and services, in its US$1.2 billion acquisition of Ruckus Wireless.
- Mattel, Inc. in its acquisition of Sproutling, a maker of “smart” technology products for parents and families.
- Fujian Grand Chip Investment Fund LP (FGC) in its proposed voluntary takeover offer for the Frankfurt-listed chip maker AIXTRON SE.
- One of the leading display panel suppliers in its series of multi-billion dollar agreements with one of the leading consumer electronics companies for the development, manufacture and supply of displays for smartphones, tablets, and notebook and desktop computers, which incorporate certain components and materials consigned by such leading consumer electronics company, and which components and materials use certain tooling or equipment consigned by such leading consumer electronics company.
- A social media company in connection with its back to back billion dollar cloud services agreement with Amazon Web Services and Google.
Media and Entertainment
- Fosun International, the largest privately owned conglomerate in China, in its acquisition of Cirque Du Soleil, the world’s largest theatrical production company.
- China Media Capital in connection with:
- its joint venture with Warner Bros. Entertainment to launch Flagship Entertainment Group Limited, a new movie studio, to develop and produce a slate of Chinese-language films for distribution around the world. This transaction was awarded “Joint Venture Deal of the Year 2015” by China Business Law Journal; and
- its US$350 million joint venture with DreamWorks Animation, a leading U.S. animation company, to create Oriental DreamWorks, a new animation company focusing primarily on creating original film and television animation content for China and the rest of the world. The joint venture is positioned to be the leading China-focused family entertainment company and is one of the largest international investment projects in China.
- Shaquille O'Neal in the sale of his rights to his future business endeavors to Authentic Brands Group, one of the biggest brand management companies in the world.
- GREE, Inc., a leading mobile social gaming network company, in revising its agreement with NFL Enterprises, LLC to license certain intellectual property for an NFL-branded game on mobile devices.
- Golfzon Newdin Holdings and its affiliates in their acquisition of 100% equity interest in Leadbetter Golf Academies, a U.S.-based golf instruction institute founded by renowned golf coach David Leadbetter.
Life Sciences
- Loyale Healthcare, a leading provider of patient payment and engagement solutions, in its acquisition by RevSpring.
- Amgen Inc. in connection with the renegotiation and drafting of a long-term strategic manufacturing, licensing and supply agreement with a value of more than US$50 million for certain proprietary compounds.
- Caladrius Biosciences, a leading cell therapy company combining an industry-leading development and manufacturing services provider with a select therapeutic product pipeline, in a global collaboration through its subsidiary, PCT, with Hitachi Chemical.
- City of Hope in negotiating and drafting agreements for major licensing, research and collaboration, partnerships, clinical trials, research tools, and other IT deals over the last 12 years.
- Dong-A Pharmaceutical, a leading Korean pharmaceutical company, in connection with:
- its strategic alliance with Meiji Seika Pharma, a Japanese pharmaceutical company, to develop, manufacture, market, and sell biosimilar pharmaceutical products, including through the construction of a manufacturing facility in Songdo, Korea; and
- its US$125 million equity investment in, and the structuring and organization of, its strategic alliance with GlaxoSmithKline. This transaction is one of the largest and most comprehensive collaborations in the history of the Korean pharmaceutical industry and was commended as one of the “Most Innovative M&A Deals 2010” by the Financial Times US Innovative Lawyers Report 2010.
- Vermillion, Inc., a developer of diagnostics tests for cardiovascular diseases and cancer, in connection with:
- its research collaboration and patent license agreements with Johns Hopkins University for the licensing and joint development of a series of diagnostics tests for the detection of certain types of cancer; and
- its strategic alliance with an exclusive license to Quest Diagnostics Inc. for the joint development, sale and distribution of diagnostic test kits.
* Tiffany advised on these matters prior to joining Willkie.
Credentials
Education
Harvard Law School, J.D., 2004 Stanford University, B.A., 2000