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Alumni Profiles

Jordan Fowles

Attorney at Duane Morris from 2009-2011
Currently Discovery Counsel - Patent Litigation at Google

Late last summer, Jordan Fowles was sitting at his desk in the Firm's Houston office, preparing for a deposition. The fifth-year associate was working with Philadelphia partner Sam Apicelli when the phone rang. Jordan’s caller ID showed an unknown number in Silicon Valley.

It was Google calling. The company had created a position perfectly suited to his skills and thought he might like to apply. Although Jordan was doing cutting-edge litigation with the help of some terrific mentors at Duane Morris, the idea of continuing his legal career at the $30 billion leading Internet search engine was very attractive.

Q: What do you do at Google?

A: I help Google defend patent lawsuits, particularly to develop and implement cutting-edge, efficient and economical discovery strategies in patent litigation. Specifically, my work is focused on the discovery aspects of patent litigation. Obviously Google is a huge company with a lot of both electronic information and patent litigation. My role helps to protect the company from litigation risk and helps our e-discovery processes run smoothly.

Q: How were you prepared for this role in terms of your prior work at Duane Morris?

A: I had actually done a lot of this work at the Firm, where my focus was patent litigation. Working out of the Houston office, I litigated patent cases throughout Texas and in California. I worked with partners at Duane Morris in Houston to try cases in these jurisdictions. I also worked with partners from across the firm, including in Philadelphia, Atlanta, New York, San Francisco and San Diego.

Q: Who were your mentors at Duane Morris?

A: Of course in Houston [IP Litigation division head] Tom Sankey taught me a lot about trying IP cases. He and Sam Apicelli in Philadelphia and Woody Jameson and Matt Gaudet in Atlanta were fantastic mentors to me. I worked on some cases with Rick Seabolt, who was a valuable mentor to me, as well. The partners I worked with at Duane Morris had considerable experience and were willing to mentor me and share their knowledge.

Q: What was it like moving your family from Texas to Google’s headquarters in California's Silicon Valley?

A: It was a big deal—I have six children. But moving to the Googleplex, as we call it, was great. My kids love that I work at Google. There is something at every building on campus for them to play on, including a slide that you can take from one floor to another and a giant tea cup.

Q: Do you ever use the slide?

A: Of course! Next to substantive legal issues and quality of the work, one of my favorite parts of working at Google is the culture. If you are wearing business-casual, people will ask you what you are up to because you are a step more formal than jeans. Plus, the food here is amazing. We have a chef and access to complimentary meals and snacks all over campus. It’s a pretty wonderful place to work.