Ka-on Li

Ka-on Li attributes her success in intellectual property and technology transactions to facilitating ongoing ties between stakeholders.

“I understand the technical, business, and legal side of things, and place appropriate focus on each of those areas to help my clients finalize transactions that focus on collaboration and relationship building,” she said. Her matchmaking skills mean she’s often invited to the next deal and the next. “By not practicing in a legal vacuum, you get to learn more about the deal and the clients themselves.”

Born in Hong Kong but raised in Australia, Li said she fell in love with the United States while studying abroad at UCLA. She moved to Silicon Valley in 2013 to work as an associate in the Palo Alto office of Jones Day. She became a partner in 2018.

Li handles transactions for clients in various industries, including pharmaceutical, retail, financial, consumer goods, education, and entertainment. Her client roster includes Cardinal Health, General Electric, Verizon, SAP Software Solutions, and Nvidia Corp.

Recently, she co-led the drafting and negotiation of a cross-license agreement, brand framework agreement, and collaboration agreement for SunPower Corp.’s spin-off of its solar-panel production business. The new Singapore-based company is called Maxeon Solar Technologies. As part of the deal, Li also advised SunPower on its patent and trademark rights in the capital investment of $298 million from Tianjin Zhonghuan Semiconductor Co. Ltd. The transaction closed in August 2020.

Li was also part of a Jones Day team that advised medical technology company Smith & Nephew in its planned $240 million acquisition of the extremity orthopedics business of Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corp. That deal is expected to close around the end of 2020.

Her pro bono legal guidance has benefitted Global Strategies, a nonprofit developing a mobile application to improve neonatal care in underserved areas of the world, and Made in a Free World, an online platform that helps corporations identify potential human trafficking risks.

Within her firm, Li is helping ensure Jones Day hires and supports lawyers from historically underrepresented backgrounds. She currently serves as chair of her office’s diversity, inclusion, and advancement committee.

— Jennifer McEntee