Tom Speiss is a partner of the Intellectual Property group and a member of the firm’s Hospitality, and Sports and Entertainment practice groups. Tom utilizes the skills that he has developed as an attorney, through his MBA from University of Southern California (USC), and as a former news reporter for the Los Angeles Times to advise and work with his clients to strategically create and implement their domestic and global vision.
Tom began his legal career as a trademark litigator. Over the past 25 years, his practice has grown to focus on developing global IP strategies and managing IP portfolios ̶ including trademarks, copyrights and patents, and URL matters, which closely overlaps with trademarks. Tom focuses in trademark branding and advertising, licensing, counterfeiting investigations and working with Federal and state law enforcement to blunt such counterfeiting activities. Tom further quarterbacks IP due diligence efforts both on the sell-side for his clients and on the buy-side for institutional investors.
Tom’s coursework in the USC MBA program focused on entrepreneurship, both domestically and internationally. Tom had been practicing law for several years at the time he attended the MBA program. He was able to immediately implement his coursework ̶ including international business and global strategies, management and organization, marketing and entrepreneurship ̶ into his daily guidance to his start-up clients, leading some of his former MBA colleagues who formed their own companies through acquisition. Tom has particular skill at managing his client relationships within his law firm platform, and ̶ in addition to undertaking direct work in the IP area ̶ he serves as the liaison between his clients and key practice groups, including corporate governance and IPO readiness, labor and employment, real estate, FDA and FTC matters and additional practice areas.
Formative roles earlier in Tom’s career included working as a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, where he harnessed the skills integral to being a successful attorney, namely, factual development and diagnosis – e.g., understanding the situation, conducting factual research, gaining further insight, and the ability to convincingly deliver a specific point of view that is understandable and relatable to their target consumer demographic.
