Recognized as one of the “Top 100 Lawyers in California” by the Daily Journal (2012) and one of the top “40 under 40” business professionals by Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal (2007), Nader A. Mousavi is a partner and co-head of the Firm’s Intellectual Property Group. He joined the Firm in May 2010.
Mr. Mousavi’s practice includes advising clients on intellectual property and technology issues in a wide range of corporate and transactional matters. These transactions include:
- mergers and acquisitions
- joint ventures
- collaborations
- financings
- licensing
- outsourcing
- monetization
- research and development
- manufacturing
- commercialization
- settlements
Mr. Mousavi has extensive experience representing companies and investors in a variety of intellectual property-intensive industries, including software, semiconductors, communications, Internet, media, services, consumer products, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices, clean technologies and financial institutions. Mr. Mousavi was counsel to Silver Lake Partners and Skype in connection with the $8.5 billion sale of Skype to Microsoft.
After graduating from Stanford Law School, he joined TCS, an early-stage telecommunications software (SaaS) company, where he led strategy and legal affairs as TCS pioneered the “softswitch” and ultimately was acquired by a leading broadband equipment company.
Following the acquisition, Mr. Mousavi served as senior counsel for the acquirer until joining Hale and Dorr (now part of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr) in 2001. Mr. Mousavi later also served on secondment to Cisco Systems as lead technology counsel to Cisco’s IP communications business unit. He became a partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr in 2008 and co-founded the firm’s Palo Alto office before joining Sullivan & Cromwell.
Awards and Recognitions
- IAM Patent 1000 - The World's Leading Patent Practitioners (2012)
- Daily Journal - named as one of the “Top 100 Lawyers in California” (2012)
- The American Lawyer – named as one of the “Lateral All-Stars,” a list honoring the most significant partner moves of the year (2010)
- IAM Licensing 250: The World’s Leading Patent and Technology Licensing Lawyers (2010, 2011)
Professional Activities
Mr. Mousavi is a frequent speaker on intellectual property and technology matters, including at Stanford Law School, the Silicon Valley Chapter of the Licensing Executives Society, the Practising Law Institute and various other professional organizations and conferences.
He is a member of the Advisory Board for Stanford Law School’s Program in Law, Science & Technology, as well as the Silicon Valley Chapter of the Licensing Executives Society, and a former member of the board of directors of PARSA Community Foundation.
Mr. Mousavi is a former member of the California Council of Champions for Citizen Schools, a national non-profit organization dedicated to providing after-school education for middle-school children, and since 2001, he regularly volunteered as a Citizen Teacher in Citizen Schools’ mock trial program. He is also a founding member of the Northern California Chapter of the Iranian-American Bar Association.