Nora E. Garrote
Partner in Charge, Diversity and Inclusion
Nora offers clients a combination of in-depth business law, technology, intellectual property, and commercial transactions knowledge that leads to practical and creative solutions to the client's needs regarding procurement, use, exploitation, and disposition of technology and other intangible assets. With more than 30 years of experience and deep familiarity with the full range of established and evolving technologies, she assists companies with comprehensive technology, intellectual property, and contracting matters.
Nora's work includes:
- Advising on and negotiating contracts for licensing, development, procurement, integration, implementation, and support of software, digital platforms, and computing devices
- Negotiating software as a service (SaaS), cloud computing, hosting and managed services transactions, and data and content licensing agreements
- Preparing joint venture agreements, intellectual property sale agreements, marketing and advertising affiliation agreements, professional services contracts, website and e-commerce arrangements, and collaboration and partnering agreements
- Drafting trademark use agreements, patent and copyright licenses, entertainment program agreements, and intellectual property infringement settlement agreements
- Negotiating mergers and acquisitions and related due diligence involving key technology, data, and intellectual property assets
- Representing businesses in marketing and sponsorship contracts
As partner in charge of Diversity and Inclusion at Venable, Nora helps develop and implement programs, outreach, and mentoring opportunities that foster equity and inclusion within the firm. She previously chaired Venable's Diversity and Inclusion Committee.
Related Practices
Experience
Experience
Representative Matters
- Represents a financial and insurance services company in its migration to cloud financial platform
- Assists an international, nongovernmental organization in its procurement of cloud storage as a service solution and managed financial software products
- Oversees contracts allocation and assignment aspects of a major hotel brand’s reorganization into various public companies
- Negotiates agreements for licensing of well-known characters and stories for location-based entertainment venues
- Represents hotels regularly in reviewing and negotiating property-level contracts for various services, including food and beverage, photography, sponsorship, entertainment rights licensing, and store concessions
- Assists a women’s health medical device company in its product distribution arrangements
- Represented a major hotel brand in contracts for the implementation of an international food and beverage membership program
- Represented a hotel chain in the agreements for the purchase, licensing, and administration of the IP and data assets of another hotel chain, and transfer to a newly formed joint venture
- Assists payment processing companies with partnering arrangements with third parties
- Represents a major social-media company in contracts for benefits technology platforms and services
- Represents companies in contracts for migrating and implementing cloud services
- Assists a mortgage lending and real estate business with digital marketing contracts
- Represented a major direct-marketing company in the order fulfillment, transition, and intellectual property contracts relating to the sale of a majority interest of its worldwide acne medication business, the world's leading nonprescription acne brand, to a global consumer products company
- Represented a direct-marketing company in its agreements for cloud computing, collocation, and shared data center services solutions, in its business process outsourcing of document production and document management functions, and procurement of a hosted on-demand e-commerce platform for online stores
- Represented a local government agency in negotiating and drafting agreements for procurement and implementation of a new ERP system, a new payroll and time system, and the contracts for the integrated payroll fulfillment services
- Represented a financial services company in loan origination and lead management systems contracts
- On behalf of a financial institution, negotiated a transition agreement from its existing affiliation with a third-party banking network and the transition of the technical back-end and branding
- Represented an energy company in its contract with a third-party services provider for extended post-stabilization support for its newly implemented customer care and billing system
- Assisted a trade association with contracts for healthcare data analytics systems and supporting services
- Assisted trade associations on contracts involving learning management systems
- Assisted a health insurer in its development and master services agreements for “software as a service” claim processing, claims administration platform, and analytics and reporting platforms
- Represented, in different transactions, energy companies in their procurement of ERP billing and customer care and analytics systems, and the master services agreements for integration, implementation, and stabilization of those systems
- Represented an insurance and financial services company in agreements for an enterprise “software as a service” information and data management system, licensing and implementation of a financial software system, and a master contract with a hardware vendor for the ongoing provision, installation, and set-up of computer hardware
- Assisted financial institutions with retail online electronic banking terms of use
- Assisted a financial institution with an agreement to integrate, on a Web basis, the bank’s transactional back-end with third-party accounting and business management software
- Assisted a resort operator with an agreement for the development of mobile apps for guest management of events and activities
- Worked with an industrial asset management and disposition company in negotiating and drafting U.S. agreements to provide asset management software on a cloud basis
- Represented a telecom carrier in its framework agreement with a BPO outsourcing company, for cross-outsourcing data processing and telecom services
- Created contracts for software licensing, support, and integration services for a national blood banking system
- Handled the licensing of ERP supply chain and financial systems for a producer of food products
- Drafted settlements in various patent infringement cases for medical devices and drugs
- Represented vendors of security products and online fraud detection services in a variety of technology and data arrangements
- Represented a clothing manufacturer in a supply chain outsourcing arrangement
Insights
Insights
Credentials
Credentials
Education
- J.D. Columbia University School of Law 1983
- Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar
- A.B. magna cum laude Bryn Mawr College 1980
Bar Admissions
- District of Columbia
- Virginia
Professional Memberships and Activities
- Member, District of Columbia Bar Association
- Member, Virginia Bar Association
- Member, Association of Law Firm Diversity Professionals
Recognition
Recognition
- The Best Lawyers in America, 2014 – 2022
- Profiles in Diversity Journal, Latino Leaders Worth Watching, 2021
- The Best Lawyers Business Edition, Women in Law, Technology Law, 2017 – 2019
- Who's Who Legal
- Data: Information Technology, 2018
- Telecommunications Media & Technology: Information Technology, 2017
- Chambers USA, America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, Technology & Outsourcing, Washington, DC, 2011 – 2021
- Legal 500
- Media, Technology and Telecom – Outsourcing, 2011 – 2021
- Media, Technology and Telecom – Technology Transactions, 2016 – 2021
- IAM Patent 1000, The World’s Leading Patent Professionals, IP Transactions, 2013 – 2019, 2021
- International Who’s Who of Internet, e-Commerce & Data Protection Lawyers, Leading Lawyer, 2011 – 2012
- Intellectual Property Transactions Group, Co-chair (Venable was ranked by U.S. News – Best Lawyers as Tier 1 for Technology Law in the National and Washington, DC regions.)
Community
Community
Pro Bono
- Board member and former executive committee member, Legal Aid Society of Washington, DC
- Instructor, Street Law Program, Fall 2018
Volunteerism
- Board member and committee member, Board of Directors, Virginia Hospital Center, Arlington, Virginia
- Board member, Virginia Hospital Center Foundation
- Former member, Board of Visitors, School of Business and Technology, Marymount University