Fish & Richardson Announces Attendees for Google Summer Associate Scholars Program

Fish & Richardson announced today that the firm is participating in the Google Summer Associate Scholars Program, a diversity-based educational leadership program that is designed to help prepare law students and new associates for the many factors that affect a client's business, beyond just day-to-day legal matters. Five Fish representatives - summer associates Leanne Loper and Ka-Lo Yeh, technology specialist Vivian Lu, and associate Joel Henry - will attend the program, which will be held from July 17-21, 2017 at various Google sites in Silicon Valley.

Google's Global Patent Team developed the program to address the unique challenges that women and minority lawyers face in less diverse fields such as the legal and tech industries. The goal is to give participants the business acumen they need in order to be successful, empowered law firm attorneys and client representatives.

By the end of the program, attendees will have gained an understanding of how in-house patent attorneys provide value to their companies; an understanding of what clients expect from outside counsel; an understanding of Google's commitment to diversity and inclusion; a basic understanding of different patent strategies that a client may pursue; key business relationships and how to navigate them effectively; and new Google contacts, including a patent attorney mentor assigned to each attendee to maintain contact with during law school and their transition to work.

"Fish has a longstanding and ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusion and we are thrilled to participate in this incredible program, which supports some of our specific diversity goals, including increasing the representation of individuals from diverse backgrounds in our firm, and increasing the percentage of individuals from diverse backgrounds in positions of responsibility with firm clients," said Betty Chen, a principal and global hiring principal at Fish. "Every day, we see clients, jurors, and judges in courts across the country that are themselves diverse. When we can present a trial team that looks like them, we have more credibility and a greater understanding of different points of view, which leads to better results. So diversity is not just the right thing to do, it is part of a sound, forward-thinking business strategy."

"Recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce is an important part of our mission to promote a creative, respectful and inclusive culture that values the diversity of people," added David Jordan, a principal at Fish & Richardson and the main liaison for the Google Scholars Program. "That's why we were especially excited to be able to expand our participation in the program to include an associate and two technology specialists."