Luann L. Simmons

Simmons, managing partner of O’Melveny & Myers LLP’s San Francisco office, is an intellectual property litigator with an enviable client roster. With a background in physics and software development, she’s a trusted voice of reason for technology giants including Google LLC and Niantic Inc., a software development company perhaps best known for the augmented reality mobile game Pokemon Go.

“I’m fortunate because I’ve had the chance to work with clients that are not only great companies, but share the DNA of my firm,” Simmons said. “Companies like Apple, Google, and Niantic care about the world and they want to do things the right way. My firm is the same way.”

Simmons’ undergraduate degree is in physics, but her self-taught computer programming skills earned her a software and information development gig at O’Melveny back before there was a computer on every lawyer’s desk. She went to law school at night, ultimately working alongside mentor and O’Melveny partner George Riley, who died in 2016.

For Simmons, putting complex technology into context brings her career full-circle. She studied physics with the intent of becoming a teacher.

“I wanted to teach complicated concepts to people and I feel like that’s what I am doing now,” Simmons said. “I have the greatest job in the universe because I get to meet with some of the most brilliant engineers in the world, listen to them explain some of these incredible innovations, and teach it to judges and juries.”

— Jennifer McEntee