Darcy L. Jones

As a top litigator who specializes in high-stakes patent and trade secret cases for technology giants Google, Verizon and Adobe, Darcy Jones said being on a creative team is key to helping her navigate complex legal matters.

"I love that I get to work with creative attorneys and experts to develop cases and develop the storytelling aspect of the law," she said. "When you get a group of people like that together, you get great results."

As a trial lawyer, Jones has built a reputation for coming up with innovative legal strategies for the country's largest technology companies.

In one of her most recent cases, she coleads counsel representing mobile payment company Fintiv in a case against Apple involving a patent covering the management of virtual cards.

Jones and her team in 2020 defeated Apple's petition to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board for inter partes review of the patent -- the first time the board issued a discretionary denial based on the pendency of parallel patent litigation.

Jones also defeated Apple's motion to transfer the district court case from Texas to the Northern District of California. The case is set for trial in June 2022. Fintiv v Apple 1:19-cv-01238-ADA (W.D. Tex., filed Oct. 28, 2019).

For Jones, one of the best parts of the job is working with clients for a positive solution while also shaping the legal landscape.

"It's easy to get stuck in day-to-day things, but when you have the ability to change the law, and to do this with other people, it's incredibly gratifying," she said. "This is why we all entered the profession in the first place."

This is actually a second career for Jones, who started out as a librarian in information technology. Jones' goal was to work in law school administration with her degree, but she loved law school so much she used her vacation time as a summer associate at a firm in Atlanta.

"It just made sense to me and felt like the right trajectory," she said.

As for handling complex cases, Jones said the challenge is to not make them too complicated while also understanding the key issues.

"I've been fortunate to have the opportunity to work with and be mentored by both men and women who have had that ability to step back from the case and look at what are the things that really matter at the end of the day," she said. "That's the trick for any good trial lawyer."

- Kelly Puente