Biography

Summary

Venky Venkatraman is a patent attorney, arbitrator, mediator, and consultant with engineering and management experience. Focused primarily on patent (Intellectual Property) law, business (corporate) law, international law, University Disciplinary Proceedings (Title IX Student Sexual Misconduct Defense), and family law in both transactional and litigation practice.

Licensed to practice law in the State of New York and in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas and registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trade Office (USPTO).

Credentialed by the Texas Mediator Credentialling Association as an Advanced Mediator, designated a Higginbotham Fellow by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and included in AAA’s Roster of Arbitrators and Mediators as a Commercial Arbitrator and Mediator with specialization in Domestic Business, International Business, Information Technology, and Intellectual Property.

Professional Experience

Experienced attorney, mediator, consultant, and arbitrator with a multicultural background having lived, studied, and worked in different countries specializing primarily in international & domestic business, information technology and intellectual property law. Highly experienced in the Information Technology industry, especially expert in outsourcing which involves companies and teams located in various countries. Registered Patent Attorney experienced with filing and prosecuting patents and trademarks with the USPTO.

Current Employer-Title

Zenith Consulting Mediation & Legal Services - Managing Attorney.

Profession

Arbitrator, Mediator, Lawyer, Consultant.

Work History

Zenith Consulting Mediation & Legal Services, 2003-Present; Schwegman Lundberg & Woessner, P.A., 2014-2015; Wipro Technologies, 2005-2007; Threshold Partners, 2003-2005; Infosys, 2002-2003; Indus Systems International, 1987-2000; IBM, 1990-1991; Tata Consultancy Services, 1983-1986.

Experience

Management and Consulting Experience: Experienced in the areas of electrical engineering and software development on various platforms, operating as a senior manager and consultant primarily in outsourcing of Information Technology projects across industries including retail, banking, finance, utilities, law, telecommunications, and transportation with companies and teams located in various countries.

Extensive experience in managing teams of several hundreds of people, both onsite and offshore, supporting the Information Technology needs of large US corporations, by serving as a liaison between US corporations and offshore service providers, having the background to understand both the technology and the business, and an ability to navigate technological and financial complexity, and further possessing cross-cultural business competency.

Negotiated numerous contracts (especially those involving multi-national / offshore service providers and large US Corporations) and so intimately familiar with the types of disputes that may arise in cross-cultural business transactions and how they can be avoided or resolved due to having knowledge of how contracts are viewed in different cultures.

IP Law Experience: Registered with the United States Patent and Trade Office (USPTO) and leveraged prior IT Outsourcing experience to similarly form a relationship with an India based IP Services firm, in order to provide reasonably priced IP services (Trademark searches, Trademark applications, Patent Searches and Patent Applications) to US clients.

Admitted to practice in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas to provide patent litigation services.

Trial and Appellate Experience: Started litigating even before obtaining a law degree as a pro se where the dockets included hundreds of pleadings in trial court, numerous hearings in trial court (including full-blown trials), appeals before the Dallas Fifth Court of Appeals and the Texas Supreme Court, including mandamuses, resulting in several significant wins in trial and appeals court.

Focused primarily on patent (Intellectual Property) law, domestic and international business (commercial) law, University Disciplinary Proceedings (Title IX Student Sexual Misconduct Defense), and family law in both transactional and litigation practice.

Mediator Experience

Mediating for around 9 years and conducted dozens of mediations during that period.

Mediated mostly in the areas of business-business disputes, business-consumer disputes, personal injury and family law.

Been a party at several mediations, observing the strengths and weaknesses of various mediators, before becoming a mediator.

Representative Issues Handled as a Mediator

1. Disputes between businesses like where a breach of contract was alleged.
2. Disputes between credit card companies and customers like where a customer had run up big balances and was unable or unwilling to pay resulting in the credit card company suing the customer.
3. Disputes between landlords and tenants like where a landlord had withheld the security deposit alleging damages and where the tenant sued in small claims court to recover that security deposit.
4. Disputes within families involving finances, divorce, child custody, etc.
5. Disputes between customers and businesses like where a customer alleged he/she was injured while in the premises of the business.
6. Disputes between customers and insurance companies like where a customer alleged he/she was entitled to more compensation that what the insurance company offered.

Mediator Style And Process Preferences

Uses the Evaluative Style of Mediation which is quite similar to Arbitration. Evaluative mediators assist the parties in reaching resolution by helping to “evaluate” the strengths and weakness of the cases and providing impartial insight and analysis as to the issues at hand. The evaluative mediator structures the mediation process, directly influencing the outcome of mediation by helping the involved parties and attorneys re-evaluate their legal positions (based on the facts that have been revealed during mediation), including cost-benefit of pursuing a litigated resolution versus settling in mediation.

Brings to bear the attention to detail as an engineer, understand the big picture as a manager and cut through the fluff as a lawyer to resolve seemingly intractable disputes between warring parties.

Technology Proficiency

Extremely at ease with all types of technology due to having a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, a management degree with a specialization in information Systems and decades of experience working in the Information Technology industry.

Education

Mitchell Hamline School of Law - Juris Doctor (JD)

Southern Methodist University (Dedman School of Law) - Patent Law Specialization

Dallas College (formerly El Centro College) - Paralegal Certification

Dallas College (formerly El Centro College) - Mediation Training

Stanford University - Stanford Advanced Program Management Certification

University of Connecticut - MBA (General Management)

Indian Institute of Management - MBA (Systems & Finance)

Indian Institute of Technology - B Tech (Electrical Engineering)

Professional Licenses

Licensed by the New York State Bar, admitted to practice in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, registered by the USPTO, credentialed as Advanced Mediator by the Texas Mediator Credentialing Association, designated Higginbotham Fellow by the American Arbitration Association (AAA).

Professional Associations

Member of the New York State Bar Association, Dallas Bar Association, American Bar Association.

Citizenship

United States of America.

Languages

English, Hindi, Tamil, Marathi, Urdu.