Overview
(January 10, 2023, San Francisco) — Steptoe & Johnson LLP today announced that Tod Cohen, former partner at O’Melveny, has joined the firm as a partner in the San Francisco office.
Tod joined O'Melveny from Twitter, where he served as Deputy General Counsel responsible for global legal policy, data protection, litigation, content moderation and law enforcement, employment law, and human rights. At Twitter, he managed cross-functional strategic initiatives, including the "Big Tech" antitrust inquiries and new data protection regulatory obligations in the United States and Europe.
Prior to Twitter, Tod was General Counsel of StubHub, where he directed the company’s legal and policy team overseeing payments regulation, mergers and acquisitions, strategic partnerships, antitrust law, privacy and data protection, and global public policy. Before that, he served as Deputy General Counsel of eBay, responsible for global public policy for eBay, PayPal, Skype, eBay Classified Group, and StubHub as well as eBay's Global Asset Protection Team and the company's offensive and defensive antitrust work.
Steptoe Chair Gwen Renigar commented: "Tod's wealth of experience advising many of the top technology companies on their internet law and global policy matters fits perfectly in our Government Affairs & Public Policy Practice, and will allow us to continue to meet the ever-changing needs of our clients as they navigate the changing landscape across the globe. His joining further expands our capabilities on the West Coast and ability to advise clients at the intersections of business, regulation, politics and international trade."
Tod added: "I'm excited to bring my experience managing cutting-edge technology companies through their most complex policy, payment regulation, privacy and data protection and public policy litigations to Steptoe, and to work alongside such an outstanding team. This is an exciting next step in my career, and I look forward to drawing on all the resources and insights the firm has to offer to deliver quality results for Steptoe clients."
Tod has served as an expert, member, and participant in government and industry coalitions, including the US Department of Commerce's Expert Working Group on Electronic Commerce; ICANN; the EU's Stakeholder Dialogues on Copyright Infringement; the World Customs Organization; the World Intellectual Property Organization; and the President's Advisory Council on Wildlife Trafficking. He has served as a Visiting Professor at King's College in the UK and is a long-time member of the Board of Directors of the Internet Education Foundation.
About Steptoe
In more than 100 years of practice, Steptoe has earned an international reputation for vigorous representation of clients before governmental agencies, successful advocacy in litigation and arbitration, and creative and practical advice in structuring business transactions. Steptoe has more than 500 lawyers and other professional staff across offices in Beijing, Brussels, Chicago, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Washington. For more information, visit www.steptoe.com.
The diversity of the firm is a critical factor in its success. The firm’s Chair is a woman; the firm’s elected Executive Committee has a majority of women members; the majority of Steptoe's nine offices are managed by women; and the majority of Steptoe’s practice groups have women as leaders. The firm's eight-person professional business services leadership is equally diverse, with women, women of color, and LGBTQ+ individuals comprising half the c-suite.