Marcelo Halpern is a partner in the Chicago office of Latham & Watkins and is Global Chair of the firm's Technology Transactions Practice Group.
Mr. Halpern's practice focuses on transactional, strategic and corporate representation of global "Fortune 100" companies, start-up and emerging growth companies, as well as domestic and foreign governments and non-profits. His experience includes structuring and negotiating technology and intellectual property-oriented strategic alliances and joint ventures; software, data and content licensing; outsourcing and ERP implementation transactions; counseling on digital strategy concerns including open source licensing, data security, data use and privacy issues (including HIPAA, GLB and cross-border data privacy issues); ASP, hosting and software services agreements; internet exchanges and marketplaces; internet advertising and sponsorship agreements; research and development transactions; private labeling, co-branding and other marketing and distribution strategies; venture capital investments; and intellectual property and technology issues arising in the context of mergers and acquisitions, financing and bankruptcy transactions. Mr. Halpern also provides general corporate representation to software, consulting, internet, e-commerce and technology companies.
Mr. Halpern chairs the Practising Law Institute's program on Understanding the Intellectual Property License and is a frequent speaker on topics of technology and intellectual property law. In addition to publishing numerous articles in legal and trade publications, Mr. Halpern is co-author of the books Say What You Do: Building a framework of IT controls, policies, standards and procedures and The Language Of Compliance: a glossary of acronyms, terms, and extended definitions.
Mr. Halpern has been recognized as a leader in his field in Chambers' USA Guide to Leading Business Lawyers, Legal 500, The Best Lawyers in America and Illinois Leading Lawyers Network. Mr. Halpern is again listed in the 2010 Best Lawyers in America survey in the Technology category.
Mr. Halpern has held various management roles within the firm. In addition to his role as Global Chair of the Technology Transactions Group, he currently serves on the firm's Diversity Scholars Program Committee, Technology Committee and Security and Data Privacy Committee. He has previously served as chair of the Recruiting Committee for the Chicago office.
Outside of the firm, Mr. Halpern currently serves as Vice President of the Board of Directors of Illinois Legal Aid Online, a non-profit organization working to increase access to justice for lower-income and vulnerable Illinois residents through the innovative use of technology to assist and educate the public and to train and support legal aid providers and pro bono attorneys. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of West Suburban Temple Har Zion and serves on the Board of Editors for The Internet Newsletter and for The E-Commerce Law Report. He formerly served on the Board of Directors, and as Secretary and Treasurer for the MPEG-4 Industry Forum, a nonprofit international organization dedicated to the promotion of technological standards in digital media. He has also been an Adjunct Professor of Computer Law at The John Marshall Law School in both its JD and LLM programs.
Mr. Halpern is a member of the American Bar Association (Section of Science and Technology), the Illinois State Bar Association, the Chicago Bar Association (Computer Law Committee) and the International Technology Law Association (ITechLaw).
Prior to joining Latham & Watkins, Mr. Halpern was a partner in the Chicago law firm of Gordon & Glickson LLC, where he led that firm's internet and e-commerce practice group. Prior to attending graduate school, Mr. Halpern served as vice president of a software development and consulting firm and worked as a software systems developer and manager.