Daphne M. Higgs

Drawing on her background in pure mathematics, corporate law and as a founder, Daphne brings a rigorous, business-minded approach to architecting durable transaction frameworks. She aligns governance, capital structures, intellectual property ownership, data rights, commercialization strategies and exit mechanics to anticipate risk and position clients for scale. She also advises on intellectual property, privacy and data security matters in connection with mergers and acquisitions, venture capital, private equity, and spinout transactions.

Her industry experience spans AI, infotech, edtech, fintech, IoT, digital assets, digital health, cybersecurity, semiconductors, quantum computing, cloud services, consumer products, entertainment, health care and cleantech. Known for her collaborative style, Daphne works closely with cross-practice teams to deliver integrated solutions that address clients’ most complex legal and business challenges.

A recognized thought leader and frequent speaker on legal informatics, intellectual property regimes and responsible innovation, Daphne serves on Law360’s Legal Tech Editorial Board (2024) and the Advisory Board of Lost Women of Science. She has been named Technology Lawyer of the Year (Euromoney, 2024), Women of Influence (Silicon Valley Business Journal, 2023) and Women Leader in Tech Law (The Recorder, 2022).

Before joining Pillsbury, Daphne held leadership roles at other international law firms, including serving as managing partner of a Silicon Valley office and on several firmwide leadership and strategic committees, including those focused on partner compensation, associate evaluation, legal practice management and AI.

• Structured and negotiated an application-development arrangement with a Grammy-Award-winning performer and Relative Wave (acquired by Google).
• Structured and negotiated a strategic partnership between a company that designs, builds and supports automated solutions for manufacturing, warehousing and distribution and a warehouse-robotics provider to deliver full-task robotics as part of an intelligent-automation offering.
• Advised numerous companies spinning out of Stanford, CMU, Berkeley, MIT and other institutions with respect to IP licenses.
• Advised a leading AI-powered-virtual-care platform and on-demand-primary-care provider on a series of high-stakes transactions underpinning its relaunch as a telehealth software-as-a-service company.
• Drafted service and product-offering documents that substantially shortened the initial engagement-to-execution timeline, increasing revenue.
• Advised a company that develops an AI-based application connecting pet dogs with their owners on IP ownership and exploitation matters.

• “Technology Lawyer of the Year” by Euromoney (Americas Women in Business Law), 2024
• Lost Women of Science, Advisory Board Member, 2021 to present