OGC Staff>

Attorneys

Robert F. Firestone, Esq.
Associate General Counsel
Phone: 215-746-5266
Fax: 215-746-5222
robert.firestone@ogc.upenn.edu

Robert F. Firestone joined the Office of General Counsel as Associate General Counsel in 2003, concentrating his practice on intellectual property, research, technology contracting, and general contract and commercial law matters.  He works closely with the Center for Technology Transfer protecting intellectual property and commercializing research inventions from the Health System and the University; with the Office of Research Services on compliance issues and a variety of sponsored research, clinical trial, and licensing agreements; and with initiatives to grow relationships with industry and government entities through ventures and affiliations.  He also assists on transactional matters for the University of Pennsylvania Health System, and works on Internet and computer law matters.

Prior to joining Penn, Mr. Firestone was a Vice President and Assistant General Counsel for the Electronic Publishing division of Dow Jones & Company, publishers of The Wall Street Journal and Barron's, where he had both business management and legal duties.  Mr. Firestone was part of the senior team responsible for the launch of WallStreetJournal.com in 1995, one of the first paid subscription web sites in the world, and represented the division's radio, website, database, and content licensing businesses in a wide variety of matters.  Before joining Dow Jones, Mr. Firestone worked at two Philadelphia law firms: Dechert, and Gollatz, Griffin and Ewing.

Mr. Firestone graduated from Boston University's College of Communication (B.S., summa cum laude, 1982), and received his law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School (J.D., magna cum laude, 1986), where he taught Legal Writing and was a Senior Editor on the Journal of Comparative Business and Capital Market Law.  After law school, Mr. Firestone clerked for the Honorable Norma L. Shapiro, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.  He is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, is a member of the National Association of College and University Attorneys (NACUA), and previously sat on the Board of Directors of the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA).  He has lectured to lawyers and industry groups on copyright and computer law matters.

Practice Areas:

• Intellectual Property
• Research