Biography
Jonathan Lass, an equity partner at the law firm of Jackson Walker in Austin, Texas, is a technology lawyer who represents private sector businesses and government agencies with their mission-critical information technology, purchase and sale of assets and businesses, and cloud-based services transactions.
Key public sector engagements include information technology outsourcing transactions for the Texas Secretary of State, Texas Department of Transportation, Texas Office of Court Administration, Texas Lottery Commission, and The University of Texas.
Key private sector engagements include acting as lead counsel in domestic and international mergers and acquisitions transactions, master services agreements, data center agreements, joint development agreements, licensing agreements, software as a service agreements, cooperative research and development agreements, energy management systems, outage management systems, supervisory control and data acquisition systems (SCADA), geographic information systems, and outsourcing transactions.
Jonathan is committed to knowing his clients, believing that understanding his client’s organization and constituents provides helpful information to identify their interests and goals and allows for development of a strategy to obtain optimal results.
Jonathan believes that active listening, creative problem solving, clear drafting and strategic negotiation are cornerstones for each successful transaction, project, or litigation.
In addition to Jonathan’s law practice, he invests substantial time teaching and mentoring law students at his alma mater, The University of Texas School of Law. His favorite course to teach is Negotiations, which he has taught each semester since 2017. Prior to that, Jonathan taught Business Law and Ethics to undergraduate students at the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas.
Education
Bobby Jones Scholar, University of St. Andrews, Scotland
B.A., Emory University
J.D., University of Texas School of Law
Bar Admissions
Texas, 1999
Court Admissions
United States District Court for the Eastern, Northern, Southern, and Western Districts of Texas
- Represented the State of Texas Judiciary as lead counsel in the drafting, negotiation, and selection of vendors in connection with its procurement for a Uniform Case Management System.
- Represented the State of Texas Judiciary as lead counsel in the drafting, negotiation, and selection of vendors in connection with its eFile Texas 2.0 Outsourcing Project.
- Represented the Texas Department of Transportation as lead counsel in the drafting, negotiation, and selection of vendors in connection with its Fully Managed Information Technology Services and Operations outsourcing project valued at approximately $1,000,000,000.
- Represented The University of Texas System in complex education technology, software, and services transactions entered into by the University of Texas System and its institutions.
- Represented the Texas Secretary of State to acquire all intellectual property and software underlying its voting systems so that the State of Texas could independently protect, maintain and support its voting systems.
- Represented the Texas Lottery Commission in the outsourcing of its lottery operations valued nearly $1 Billion.
- Represented electric utilities with software and systems implementations of its energy management systems (EMS), outage management systems (OMS), supervisory control and data acquisition systems (SCADA), geographic information system (GIS), and outsourcing technology transactions.
- Represented the President of a software company in the sale of its business to a Fortune 100 technology company.
- Represented Pure Austin in the sale of its business to LifeTime.
- Represented Obsidian Software in the sale of its business to ARM.
- Represented American Electric Power in the purchase of generation assets from Reliant Energy, an NRG Company.
- Represented a publicly-held corporation in obtaining a $20 Million credit facility.
- Represented accountancy, dental, medical, and veterinary practices to acquire or sell their professional practices.
- Represented a green device company in the sale of its business to a global, venture-backed technology company.
- Represented a Dubai-based business in a global, multi-level software launch.
- Developed open source software and social media policies for client companies.
- Successfully arbitrated trademark domain name dispute on behalf of Earth and Sky®.
- Held the position of Interim General Counsel to a publicly-held corporation.
- Bobby Jones Scholar
- The Best Lawyers in America (Woodward/White Inc.)
- Corporate Law, 2021
- “Texas Rising Star,” Super Lawyers – Rising Stars by Thomson Reuters, 2010-2013
- Texas Bar Foundation, Fellow
- Author, “Computer Usage Policies, Records Management, and Information Governance,” Chapter 3 of the textbook Essentials of E-Discovery (Second Edition), State Bar of Texas (2021)
- Speaker, “Public Sector Information Technology Outsourcing,” University of Texas School of Law Technology Law Conference with Martin Zelinsky, former General Counsel of the Department of Information Resources (DIR), and Brian Tulga, Cardinal Source Management Consulting (May 22, 2020)
- Speaker, “A View into Trade Secret Misappropriation” University of Texas School of Law Technology Law Conference (May, 2018) with Federal Judges Robert Pitman, Xavier Rodriguez, and David Horan
- Guest Lecturer, Texas A&M University EnMed Program (2017)
- Speaker, “Technology and Intellectual Property Law Issues as Viewed From the Federal Bench” University of Texas School of Law Technology Law Conference with Judge Lee Yeakel, Judge Robert Pitman, and Judge Xavier Rodriguez (2017)
- Speaker, “Technology Law From the Bench” University of Texas School of Law Technology Law Conference with Judge Lee Yeakel, Judge Robert Pitman, and Judge Xavier Rodriguez (2016)
- Speaker, “Information Governance in an Electronic World,” Women in eDiscovery, Austin Chapter (2016)
- Guest Lecturer, St. Mary’s University School of Law (San Antonio, Texas), in the area of Electronic Discovery (2015)
- Speaker, “Complex Technology and Intellectual Property Transactions,” University of Texas School of Law Technology Law Conference (2015)
- Speaker, “Ethics of e-Discovery,” University of Texas School of Law Technology Law Conference with Judge Lee Yeakel, Judge Robert Pitman, and Judge Xavier Rodriguez (2015)
- Contributor, “Austin Event to Examine Complex Technology Business Transactions,” Austin Business Journal, May 4, 2015 (Christopher Calnan)
- Author, “Computer Usage Policies, Records Management, and Information Governance,” Essentials of E-Discovery, State Bar of Texas (2014)
- Speaker, “Technology, Ethics, and Electronic Discovery,” University of Texas School of Law Technology Conference (2014)
- Speaker, “Cybersecurity: Developments, Challenges and a Modest Case for Self-Defense,” University of Texas School of Law Technology Law Conference (2013)
- Speaker, “Best Practices in Electronic Discovery,” University of Texas School of Law Technology Law Conference (2013)
- Guest Lecturer, Texas A&M University, College of Engineering (2010-2013)
- Guest Lecturer, Concordia University MBA Program (2013)
- Speaker and Moderator, “Data Security Breaches – Lessons Learned,” University of Texas School of Law Technology Law Conference (2012)
- Contributor, “SXSW goes to court to protect its brand” Austin Business Journal, December 2, 2011 (Vicky Garza)
- Contributor, “Dachis, Defakto Trade Words Over Social Council Name,” Austin Business Journal, June 10, 2011 (Christopher Calnan)
- Guest Lecturer, Austin Entrepreneur Network course held at the Acton School of Business (2010)
- Speaker, “How to Protect Your Intellectual Property Rights in Software from Bankruptcy and Insolvency Risks through Software License Agreements and Source Code Escrow Agreements,” University of Texas School of Law Technology Law Conference (2009)
- Author, “How To Protect Intellectual Property,” Small Business Wiki (2008)
- Speaker, “How to Protect Your Intellectual Property,” University of Texas School of Law Technology Law Conference (2008)
- Contributor, “Local companies beware of foreign export laws,” Austin Business Journal, November 25, 2007 (Jean Kwon)
- University of Texas School of Law, Adjunct Professor
- University of Texas McCombs School of Business, Adjunct Professor
- Austin Symphony Orchestra, Board of Directors, Nominations Committee Associate Vice President (2018-2019)
- University of Texas, Advisory Board Member
- Austin Bar Association Technology Law Section, Former Chairman
- University of Texas School of Law Technology Law Conference, Planning Committee Member
- Bobby Jones Scholars Foundation, Selection Committee