Lori Lesser

Lori E. Lesser is a Partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, where she practices in the Litigation Department and is Head of the Intellectual Property Transactions Practice and Co-Chair of the Privacy and Cybersecurity Practice.

Lori advises on all aspects of intellectual property, technology and privacy law, including corporate transactions, litigation, licensing, outsourcing, strategic agreements and counseling in fields including media and entertainment, software and technology, financial information, apparel, retail and consumer products, pharmaceuticals and life sciences, internet, mobile and social media services and nonprofits.

• Lori has represented companies including AIG, Alibaba, Airbnb, Acelity, Ancestry.com, Barclays, Best Buy, Cast & Crew, CBRE, Ellucian, Evercore, Hilton, Johnson Controls, JPMorgan Chase, K2M, L3 Technologies, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Owens & Minor, Palantir, Pfizer, PTC, Refinitiv, Skillsoft, Spotify, Syncsort, Take-Two Interactive, TD Bank and Travelers. She has represented private equity firms including Apax, Blackstone, Centerbridge, First Reserve, Hellman & Friedman, J.C. Flowers, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Lightyear, Lion Capital, Silver Lake and Vestar.
• Her IP transactional experience includes mergers and acquisitions, securities offerings and secured financings, bankruptcy and restructurings, joint ventures, licensing, outsourcing, counseling and other strategic agreements. Her IP litigation practice comprises trial and appellate work and WIPO arbitrations.
• Lori is recognized in Band 1 for Technology (NY) by Chambers USA, which writes, “Those who work with Lori Lesser are effusive in their praise.” Clients have cited her as “a thought leader in the transactional space” and “impressive”; “a tireless and meticulous lawyer” who provides “excellent service” with “second-to-none knowledge” in the sector; “an exceptionally smart and knowledgeable lawyer” who “does a good job of focusing on the issue at hand”; and a “master of the subject matter.” The Legal 500 recognizes Lori as a “Leading Lawyer,” where she is described as “pragmatic, technically brilliant and a pleasure to deal with” and “not only a top-notch technology lawyer but also a superb transactional one.”

Lori has served as a David Rockefeller Fellow for New York City and serves on the boards of the Partnership Fund for New York City and Greater NY. She is a member of the Radcliffe Institute’s Dean’s Advisory Council, a director of the Harvard Alumni Association and the immediate past president of the Harvard Law School Association of NYC.

She serves on advisory boards for ChIPs (chief IP counsel), ProPublica and Hunter College’s pre-law advisory program. Lori lectures frequently on IP topics and co-chairs PLI conferences on technology and software issues. Lori graduated from Harvard University (A.B., magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, 1988) and Harvard Law School (J.D., cum laude, 1993).

Education:

• Harvard Law School, 1993 J.D.
  • cum laude
• Harvard University, 1988 A.B.
  • magna cum laude; Phi Beta Kappa

Associations:

• Partnership Fund for New York City and GreaterNY, Board of Directors
• Radcliffe Insitute’s Dean’s Advisory Council, Member
• Harvard Law School Association of NYC, Immediate Past President
• ProPublica, Business Advisory Council
• Harvard Class of 1988, Executive Committee and Class Committee Treasurer

Admissions:

• New York 1994
• U.S. District Court Eastern District of New York 1994
• U.S. District Court Southern District of New York 1994
• U.S. Court of Appeals Federal Circuit 1995
• U.S. Supreme Court 1997
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit 2016