Ward Classen
Senior Counsel
Discovery Education, Inc.
Ward Classen is an experienced expert witness who has published and has spoken extensively. His book on software licensing, published by the American Bar Association, The Practical Guide to Software Licensing and Cloud Computing (7th ed. 2020 ABA Press) has been widely cited and quoted both by courts and academic institutions including the American Law Institute in its treatise Principles of the Law of Software Contracts.
As a practicing attorney, Ward has worked for many of the leaders in the technology industry including Accenture, Computer Sciences Corporation (now DXC Technology) and InterDigital Corporation. At CSC, Ward was responsible for all commercial legal matters including software licensing, IT outsourcing and software development.
? His experience includes software development, software licensing, IT outsourcing, cloud computing (Software as a Service), hosting, professional and consulting services, Statements of Work, Application Programming Interfaces (“APIs”), Software Development Kits (“SDKs”), development agreements, distribution agreements, procurement agreements, purchase agreements, VAR, OEM and reseller agreements, non-disclosure agreements and subscription agreements.
? As an expert witness, Ward has supported both plaintiffs and defendants in software licensing disputes including escrow release in both federal and state courts including class action litigation. ?
Ward is an AV rated lawyer who serves on the Editorial Board of The Computer & Internet Lawyer and was previously Chair of the Business Law Section of the Maryland State Bar Association as well as President of the Baltimore Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel.
Praseeda Nambiar
Counsel & Managing Director
DLA Piper
Praseeda Nambiar focuses her practice on complex global sourcing and technology transactions. She has worked at both leading global law firms as well as top technology and outsourcing companies for over 15 years, including in positions based in India and New York.
She has a wide range of experience involving outsourcing transactions, such as ITO, AD/AM, BPO, F&A, HRO, FM, infrastructure and networks, as well as with digital transformation projects involving cloud, analytics, XaaS, cybersecurity, robotic process automation (RPA) and other emerging technologies. Praseeda is currently part of a team of DLA Piper lawyers, helping a major U.S car company with its connected car program.
Praseeda helps clients achieve a commercially robust and successful long-term partnership, and her experience spans deals across India, the Philippines, China, Brazil, Eastern Europe and South America, in a range of industries including energy, banking, finance, insurance, health care, retail, real estate, telecommunications and technology.
Bert Kaminski
Director of Legal
Google, LLC
As a Director within Google’s commercial legal organization, Bert Kaminski leads a team that supports enterprise transactions for key industry segments of Google Cloud, including financial services, healthcare and public sector.
Prior to joining Google, Bert was General Counsel and a member of the executive leadership team of ServiceMax Inc., a California based cloud application provider, where he was responsible for all legal affairs of the company including privacy and technology related legal issues.
Earlier, Bert was Chief Commercial Counsel at GE Digital LLC, a General Electric company, where he served as GE Digital’s privacy leader and specialized in the Industrial Internet of Things, cloud computing, and software licensing, including issues involving cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, machine learning and data science.
Bert began his in-house legal career at Oracle. Bert established and led Oracle’s Cloud Legal team, and as Assistant General Counsel, served as the principal attorney globally for Oracle’s cloud computing and information technology managed services businesses.
Bert recently served as President of the New Jersey chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) and presently leads its Technology Law committee. Bert served as an appointed member of the Privacy Bar Advisory Board of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP).
A graduate of Fordham University’s joint J.D./M.B.A. program, Bert is also an IAPP Certified Information Privacy Professional for European data protection (CIPP/E) and earned a certificate from MIT on the topic of Artificial Intelligence and its implications for business strategy.
Patrick Basinski
Counsel
Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
Patrick Basinski advises businesses of all sizes in connection with the acquisition, development, marketing, sale, and support of technology. He has particular experience and interest in transactions involving cloud services, software, artificial intelligence, and associated issues around the use and sharing of Big Data. Having served in-house for Microsoft and Dell and as outside counsel to numerous global and emerging tech companies, Patrick has deep experience leading transactions and providing strategic and targeted assistance and counseling to legal and business teams across many industries and around the world.
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