Global: TMT Looking Ahead 2022

Raffaele Giarda chairs Baker McKenzie's Global Technology Media & Telecoms Industry Group and co-heads the Commercial-Corporate/M&A practice in the Firm's Italy offices. He has contributed articles to law journals, and often speaks at and moderates Italian and international conferences and seminars on IT/C legal and regulatory issues. Mr. Giarda is a lecturer at the University of Rome as well as at the Italian National School for Public Administration. He joined the Firm in 1989 and became a partner in 1999.

Adam Aft helps global companies navigate the complex issues regarding intellectual property, data, and technology in M&A and technology transactions. He is the lead of the Firm's North America Technology Transactions group and co-leads the group globally. Adam also served as a law clerk to the Honorable Leslie H. Southwick of the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the Honorable Theresa L. Springmann of the US District Court for the Northern District of Indiana.

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María Antonia Azpeitia heads the Firm’s Tax Litigation and VAT practice groups in Madrid. She is ranked as a leading practitioner in her field by Chambers Europe, and is highly regarded for her work on VAT matters. She is a regular lecturer in tax seminars and conferences, and contributor to economic newspapers and other specialized publications.

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Adam is a partner in Baker McKenzie's London office and a member of the M&A and Corporate Finance Teams. Before joining Baker McKenzie, Adam was a corporate partner at a Magic Circle law firm in London. He has also spent time as the chief legal and strategy officer at a machine learning and data science growth stage company.

Erik Christenson practices in the area of general international tax planning for businesses.
Erik is a member of the steering committee for the Northern California chapter of the International Fiscal Association (IFA), and he is on the Permanent Scientific Committee for IFA USA. Erik is the liaison to Baker & McKenzie's Global Tax Practice Group for the Technology Media and Telecom.

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Will Holder is a partner in the corporate division of our London office and a member of the Firm's TMT Industry Group. He is recognised as a Leading Individual for TMT (Legal 500 UK, 2020).

Rod Hunter, a partner based in the Washington, DC office of Baker McKenzie, practices trade and investment law. He previously served as Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and senior director for international economics at the National Security Council (NSC), the White House office that coordinates trade policy and supervises CFIUS. In that role, he managed CFIUS cases, including negotiating resolution of the most sensitive cases. A recognized expert in the field, he has testified before Congress during the legislative process leading to recent amendments to CFIUS’ authorizing legislation. Previously, in addition to coordinating U.S. trade policy at the White House’s NSC, he served as senior counsel at the US Trade Representative’s office, where he litigated cases before the World Trade Organization. He has also taught trade law and policy at the University of Virginia’s Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and has testified before the United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission. Earlier in his career, Rod practiced regulatory law in Brussels, Belgium for a decade, served as a judicial clerk to Judge Boyce F. Martin, US Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, served as an associate to Chief Justice Sir Anthony Mason, High Court of Australia and served as an assistant to Senator John W. Warner, US Senate.

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Dr. Isabella Liu is the head of the Firm's Asia Pacific Healthcare Industry Group. She advises clients on matters relating to the creation, exploitation and protection of IP rights. She is also responsible for the local IP Group’s China and Hong Kong patent prosecution matters. Dr. Liu is ranked as a leading lawyer in her field by top legal directories such as Chambers Asia Pacific for the Life Sciences category and IAM Patent. She has been complimented by clients that she possesses “a superb ability to understand the most complex technologies” and was noted for "advis[ing] in a way that is very commercial and strategic."

Samantha Mobley is a senior partner in the Competition, Trade & Foreign Investment Practice of Baker & McKenzie's London office and a member of the London office Management Committee. She is a former chair of Baker McKenzie's Global Antitrust and Competition Group, a team of over 300 competition and antitrust specialists worldwide. Samantha is a member of Baker McKenzie's India Steering Committee.

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Sze Shing Tan has extensive experience in cross-border private M&A in London as well as the Asia Pacific region. Sze Shing’s practice focuses on cross-border private M&A, with particular emphasis on the energy and resources industry, financial services and technology and media sectors. Sze Shing is appointed as one of the Firm's leads for the Global Oil and Gas sub-industry group.

Ivy Wong is the chair of Baker McKenzie's Capital Markets practice in Asia Pacific and serves on the Global Capital Markets Steering Committee. Based in Hong Kong, Ivy is qualified in Hong Kong, England and Wales and New York. She has led many unprecedented and high-profile securities offerings and cross-border transactions in Hong Kong, including many successful listings that are first of its kind on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and multiple landmark and innovative deals that won industry awards.

Carolina Pardo joined Baker McKenzie in 1994 and is a Partner of the Firm since 2008. She is currently a member of the Global Steering Committee for the Firm’s TMT industry group and of the Global Steering Committee for the Firm’s Investigation, Compliance and Ethics Group. She was a member of the Global Steering Committee for the Firm’s Global Antitrust and Competition from 2016 and until 2020 and is currently a member of the Latam's Antitrust Steering Committee.
She graduated as a lawyer and a specialist in International Contracts Law from Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá. She obtained a LL.M. with emphasis in International Private Law and Competition Law from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Over 25 years, she has advised major national and international clients on matters related to compliance with data protection, competition and consumer law rules. She has represented clients in investigations and submissions related to data protection and competition matters in Colombia and has successfully coordinated and prepared white paper proposals to national authorities on behalf of major industrial groups in Colombia.
In 2016 Global Competition Review selected her as one of the 100 most influential women in antitrust. The last two Superintendents of Industry and Commerce have selected Carolina as a Non-Governmental Advisor to the Colombian Antitrust Regulator.

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Bradford Newman is a litigation partner resident in Baker McKenzie's Palo Alto Office and Chair of the North America Trade Secrets Practice. According to Chambers USA, Brad is a "recognized authority on trade secrets cases" who "is valued for his tenacious, intelligent and thoughtful approach to trade secrets matters." Bradford regularly serves as lead trial counsel in cases with potential eight and nine-figure liability, and has successfully litigated (both prosecuting and defending) a broad spectrum of trade secrets cases in state and federal courts throughout the country. He routinely advises and represents the world's leading technology, banking, professional service, manufacturing and commerce companies in connection with their most significant data protection and trade secret matters. Bradford is the author of Protecting Intellectual Property in the Age of Employee Mobility: Forms and Analysis, a comprehensive treatise published by ALM that offers authoritative guidance on legal risks and practical steps companies can take to protect their IP and remedy IP theft.

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Lothar Determann has been helping companies in Silicon Valley and around the world take products, business models, intellectual property and contracts global for nearly 20 years. He advises on data privacy law compliance, information technology commercialization, interactive entertainment, media, copyrights, open source licensing, electronic commerce, technology transactions, sourcing and international distribution at Baker McKenzie in San Francisco & Palo Alto. He is a member of the Firm's International/Commercial Practice Group and the TMT and Healthcare industry groups.

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Dr. Michaela Nebel is a partner in the Frankfurt office of Baker McKenzie since June 2011 and was admitted as an attorney to the German bar shortly after. Prior to joining Baker McKenzie she studied law at the University of Passau. She obtained her Doctor of Law degree on a topic related to privacy in the Web 2.0. From July until December 2014 she practiced at the San Francisco office of Baker McKenzie. She is a member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) and since May 2015 a Certified Information Privacy Professional/Europe (CIPP/E) and since May 2017 a Certified Information Privacy Professional/United States (CIPP/US). She is also the author of numerous articles on information technology law, in particular on data protection law and e-commerce law, and the co-author of an English language commentary on the EU General Data Protection Regulation. In 2017/2018, Michaela received several recommendations for data protection law in kanzleimonitor.de.

Jeff Martino brings an in-depth understanding of a wide variety of white collar and fraud related matters to his antitrust litigation and investigations practice. Jeff is co-lead of the Firm's Global Cartel Task Force and represents multinational corporations and their boards and executives in high-stakes criminal and civil investigations by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and other federal and state agencies. Jeff draws upon his extensive criminal investigations, litigation, and enforcement experience to advise clients through sensitive matters pertaining to international cartel actions and white collar investigations. Prior to joining Baker McKenzie, Jeff spent nearly two decades at the DOJ and his last five years as Chief of DOJ Antitrust Division's New York Office. He has extensive experience as "first chair" on trials and investigations in the most complex areas of criminal antitrust and market manipulation. Jeff's work at the DOJ included providing technical assistance to competition agencies in Asia, Africa, the Americas and Europe and overseeing matters that included international corruption and antitrust cartel offenses that entangled the largest global banks and their key executives.

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Mara Ghiorghies is a partner in Baker McKenzie's Antitrust & Competition Practice in London and a co-lead of Baker McKenzie's Global Cartels Task Force. Mara is a competition & antitrust law professional advising global corporates on EU and UK antitrust compliance, investigations, enforcement and merger control/foreign investment reviews. She advises numerous clients across a number of sectors on global regulatory reviews of cross-border competitor collaborations, supply chain and distribution networks, and corporate transactions. She is mentioned in Legal 500 as being very responsive, proactive, and fully cognisant of the realities of her clients' businesses.

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Yindi is a partner in the Baker McKenzie Dispute Resolution team based in London, and a member of the Compliance and Investigations group. Yindi’s practice includes a broad spectrum of complex and high-value international and domestic commercial litigation for multinational clients, with specialist expertise in anti-bribery and corruption investigations, compliance and trust disputes.

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Jess is a technology investigations partner practicing at the forefront of government enforcement in the technology industry. Jess leads Baker McKenzie's investigations and compliance practice on the West Coast.
For more than two decades, Jess has defended companies and individuals in government investigations and conducted internal investigations involving cutting-edge technology issues including AI, cybersecurity, and alleged misuse of all kinds of data. Jess has defended companies and individuals across the Asia Pacific region since the first DOJ Antitrust cartel investigations in 2003, and has a deep understanding of cultural issues impacting investigations in that region and across the globe.
Jess has been recognized by Chambers & Partners, The Legal 500, and Global Investigations Review for internal investigations and defense in cases involving White Collar Crime & Government Investigations.

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