Ep 90: From Engineer to Top Lawyer at Adobe and Microsoft with Dana Rao

How do you make the transition from IP lawyer to general counsel in a typical path? Help Adobe navigate a transition to the cloud, and then the AI era? And make time for your family through all the ups and downs?

Join Dana Rao, former general counsel at Adobe and IP and Licensing expert at Microsoft, as he discusses how he capitalized on his electrical engineering background to skyrocket himself from a patent attorney to the forefront of some of the most consequential technology decisions of the last two decades—including topics like copyright, AI, litigation, and more.

Listen as Dana explains how he became invaluable to Janet Reno’s justice department, how to make ethical business decisions, influencing legislation to combat patent trolls, and more more.

Read detailed summary:  https://www.spotdraft.com/podcast/episode-91

Topics
Introduction: 0:00
Relaxing and writing after retirement: 2:23
Transitioning from electrical engineer to DC lawyer: 10:51
Doing the right thing for your company and the world: 21:48
Leaving politics to become tech counsel: 27:21
Combating patent trolls: 36:03
From Microsoft to Adobe general counsel: 41:42
Rapid-fire questions: 51:48

Connect with us:
Dana Rao - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dana-rao/
Tyler Finn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerhfinn
SpotDraft - https://www.linkedin.com/company/spotdraft

SpotDraft is a leading contract lifecycle management platform that solves your end-to-end contract management issues.

Visit https://www.spotdraft.com to learn more.