Dewey & LeBoeuf

Vivian L. Polak

Vivian Polak, formerly a partner in the firm and chair of Dewey & LeBoeuf's Diversity Committee, consults with the firm and is actively engaged in the firm's diversity initiatives. She was co-head of the firm's Information Technology and Intellectual Property Practice Group.

Vivian became the Chair of the firm’s Diversity Committee in October 2007 (upon the combination of Dewey Ballantine and LeBoeuf Lamb) and worked to consolidate the best of each entity’s diversity efforts. She viewed the merger, and the establishment of a new Diversity Committee, as an opportunity not only to maintain the momentum and build on the progress of both legacy firms, but also as an opportunity to give the firm’s diversity and inclusion efforts a fresh look and to develop a cohesive diversity and inclusion strategy that focuses on the firm’s associates, partners and administrative staff and that looks not only at the practices of other law firms, but also derives inspiration from the best diversity and inclusion practices of corporate organizations.

In the past three years, Dewey & LeBoeuf has regularly been acknowledged by independent organizations and legal publications as one of the leaders and champions of diversity and inclusion in the legal profession. For example, in 2008, 2009 and most recently in 2011, the firm was awarded the esteemed Thomas L. Sager Award for the Northeast Region by the Minority Corporate Counsel Association, which recognizes the law firm that demonstrates national leadership and the highest sustained commitment to improving the hiring, retention and promotion of minority and women attorneys. In addition, we have been recognized as one of Vault's Top 25 Law Firms For Diversity and Work Life Matters magazine's Top Companies for LGBT Equality for 2011. Over the past two years, the firm has also achieved a perfect score in the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index.

Vivian has also been heavily involved in the firm's efforts to link its high-impact pro bono work with its goals of fostering diversity and inclusion both at the firm and in the broader community. As such, she spearheaded the firm's work on amicus curiae briefs to protect the rights of same sex couples in both New York and Iowa.

In her legal practice, Vivian offered legal and business experience and practical solutions in connection with matters involving information technology and information governance, privacy and information security, and new media, Internet and technology transactional and litigation issues. As counsel to one of the first major online service providers and numerous new media businesses, Vivian has been involved with new media and information industry pioneers since 1985, and has worked with Internet, content production/distribution, software and high-tech companies, from start-up phases through initial public offerings and into maturity, as well as with established "brick and mortar" companies that rely on various forms of media and information technology to promote and conduct their businesses.

Vivian has structured and negotiated information technology and intellectual property agreements in the context of outsourcing, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, strategic alliances, securitization, corporate restructuring, bankruptcy, co-branding, co-marketing, co-publishing, and licensing. In addition, she has regularly represented right-holders and licensees in the areas of motion picture, television, multimedia and new media products and services, character merchandising, branding, consumer products and services, and computer software and other technologies.

For more on the firm's diversity initiatives, click here.

Selected Activities

Diversity

Profiles in Diversity Journal, "Women Worth Watching," 2010
Panel Speaker, Minority Corporate Counsel Association's Fifth Annual Diversity Dialogue, November 2009
Panel Speaker, Forté Foundation’s 2009 Best Practice Summit on Women and Leadership: Creating the Capacity to Excel, “Leadership Strategies in Practice,” April 2009
Panel Speaker, Minority Corporate Counsel Association's Fourth Annual Diversity Dialogue, November 2008

Other

Participant, Sedona Conference Working Group on Electronic Document Retention and Production (WG1), 2003-2010; and Co-chair, Sedona Legacy Data Special Project Team, 2005-2010
Panelist, Sedona Conference Working Group on Electronic Document Retention and Production, "Commentary on Inactive Information Sources," August 2009
Speaker, Tenth Annual Institute on Privacy and Data Security Law, "Privacy in the Web 2.0 Environment", June 2009
Speaker, Ninth Annual Institute on Privacy and Data Security Law, "Addressing Privacy and Security Issues in Commercial Transactions", June 2008
Speaker, Eighth Annual Institute on Privacy and Data Security Law, "Privacy and Security Issues in Discovery and Litigation", June 2007
Speaker, Seventh Annual Institute on Privacy Law: New Developments and Compliance Issues in a Security Conscious World 2006, " Managing Privacy, Security and Regulatory Issues in Transactions", June 2006
Speaker, Sixth Annual Institute on Privacy and Data Security Law, "Privacy Concerns in Contracts: Services Arrangements and Outsourcing Agreements", June 2005
Panelist, New Realities in E-Discovery (Georgetown University Law Center), "The Digital Sword of Damocles-- How to Address Issues Arising from the Spoliation of Electronic Evidence", October 2004
Co-editor-in-chief, Start-Up and Emerging Companies Strategist. American Lawyer Media, February 2001-2003
Editor-in-chief, The Alley Way Newsletter — The Inside Look at New Media Law. New York Law Journal, September 2000-January 2001
Executive Committee, Antitrust Section, New York State Bar Association, 1992-1995
Secretary, Antitrust Section, New York State Bar Association, 1991
Chair, International Trade Committee, Antitrust Section, New York State Bar Association, 1985-1990
Member, Committee on Copyright and Literary Property, Association of the Bar of the City of New York, 1987-1988

Articles and Publications

Editor-in-Chief, The Sedona Conference Commentary on Inactive Information Sources: Guidance Principles for Identifying, Classifying, Retaining and Destroying Orphaned, Legacy and Dormant ESI, The Sedona Conference (July 2009)
Co-author, "Now More Than Ever, Cybersecurity Audits Are Key," The National Law Journal (March 11, 2002)
Co-author, "Federal Court Applies UCC to Software License," Start-Up and Emerging Companies Strategist (January 2002)
Co-author, "Two Developments in the Law of Cybersquatting," Tornado-Insider, (November 2001)
Co-author, "The Introduction of .info and .biz Top Level Domains," Start-Up and Emerging Companies Strategist, American Lawyer Media (June 2001)
Co-author, "ICANN Expands Domain Names," The Alley Way Newsletter, New York Law Journal, Volume 1, Issue 1 (September 2000)
Co-author, "The Legal Risks of Trademarks as Internet Search Terms," The Internet Law Journal (August 2000)
Co-author, "Intellectual Property Issues," Year 2000 Law Deskbook, Practising Law Institute (1999)
Co-author, "Personal Jurisdiction in Cyberspace," Media Law and Policy, Volume VII, Issue 1 (December 1998, New York Law School)