Jill A.
McWhirter

Jill counsels companies in a wide range of technology transactions to help them profitably develop, share and exploit their technical and IP assets. She provides clients with innovative IP strategies, as well as insights into the legal challenges they may face.

With a background in nuclear engineering, Jill has particular knowledge of the energy sector and its IP transactional challenges. Working with domestic and international energy sector clients, she advises on the types of IP transactional matters that may arise in daily operations, as well as on critical company-changing transactions. Jill frequently assists on IP corporate matters related to construction projects and related licensing agreements, as well as counseling on related IP concerns.  Jill works across practice areas to provide critical support on joint ventures, strategic alliances and research and development collaborations. In addition, Jill handles numerous IP-related matters in the Middle East and in the petrochemical, oil and gas industries, partnering with clients to develop overall IP strategies.

Jill’s software licensing expertise is extensive.  She works with in-house counsel, procurement and IT departments on complex software licensing transactions. She has advised on and negotiated over 200 related agreements in the last five years ranging from software and data licensing (both in-bound and outbound), exploitation and distribution of software assets, framework and enterprise agreements, as well as cloud computing and software service agreements. With this experience, Jill is able to bring significant benchmarking opportunities so that companies understand the risks and the terms being negotiated across the industry.