Ka-on Li

With 16 years of IP experience, Ka-on Li co-leads Jones Day's intellectual property transactions group.

"I have had many informal mentors throughout my entire career," she said. "They've all taught me different things. They taught me, among other lessons, the importance of communicating to clients clearly, being precise and intentional in all my drafting and the art of achieving your client's strategic IP and business goals in negotiations while maintaining a spirit of collaboration with the other side."

She played a pivotal role in the strategic partnership agreement between Cardinal Health, Inc. and Ember Technologies, which aimed to revolutionize the cold chain process for temperature-sensitive medicines. This collaboration was set to introduce the world's first self-refrigerated, cloud-based shipping box, ensuring product integrity and security while minimizing shipping waste.

In another notable cross-border transaction, Li guided Rich Data Co, an Australian AI decisioning platform, through a strategic agreement with the US-based fintech company nCino, Inc. This agreement was designed to enhance nCino's banking solutions by integrating RDC's cutting-edge AI and machine learning capabilities, thereby streamlining the lending process and driving efficiency and revenue for nCino's customers.

Li also led all IP and technology-aspects of Jones Day's representation of NerdWallet, Inc., which provides financial guidance to consumers and small- and mid-sized businesses, in its acquisition of On the Barrelhead, Inc. for total consideration of $120 million, consisting of approximately $70 million in cash and $50 million in NerdWallet Class A common stock.

Discussing trends, Li said she is "seeing more data commercialization and AI focused projects in all industries, the embracing of generative AI and clients creatively addressing the IP issues arising from generative AI, and a gradual recovery of the tech and life science M&A, private equity and investor markets. I am also seeing more cross-border IP transactions deals."