Gemma Suh Gives Voice to Inventors at Intel

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At Intel, Gemma Suh has the best of both worlds. The litigation pro and IP attorney still gets to work on cutting-edge cases with the backing of an organization that isn’t afraid to take important matters to trial. The week Modern Counsel spoke with Suh, Intel was prepping for trial in a licensing and patent infringement case whose outcome had implications in the billions of dollars.

“Intel is unusual in that we have extremely high-stakes litigation that we will take through trial and appeals,” the current associate general counsel for patent litigation explains. “We’re not afraid to prove patent monetizers and litigation funders wrong by defending our productized inventions.”

But the other world that Suh gets to spend time in is equally rewarding. The AGC has served as a member of Intel’s pro bono committee since she came to the company in 2018. In-house attorneys having easy access to pro bono opportunities is especially rare, and Suh lauds Intel’s senior leadership in the legal department for making that kind of service a priority.

Whether it’s prepping cases for trial or finding ways to give back to her community, Suh has truly hit her stride with one of the biggest names in processors.

Finding the Future

Suh immigrated to the US from South Korea when she was two years old. When the time came for her father to return to his home country after a mandated number of years in the US, he quit his job to remain stateside and raise his family.

“My parents made so many sacrifices for us,” the AGC explains. “My mother gave up her veterinarian practice to move to the US, and I think my father realized that after we were here, moving back to Korea would have put us so far behind in our education. They became small business owners, and I’m forever indebted to them for what they were willing to do for us.”

Suh planned on a career in journalism and graduated from the University of Georgia on a full academic scholarship. She received the George M. Abney award for the top student in the journalism department.

“Had my sister not gone to law school before me, I’m not sure I would have even considered that it was a possibility,” Suh explains. “But while getting a new media studies certification, I got very interested in the confluence of communication, technology, and privacy.”

Suh would attend Berkeley Law, where she immersed herself in technology law. She was involved with the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology and contributed to the Berkeley Technology Law Journal. She developed a passion for intellectual property and technology law, as well as issues focused on public policy and impact litigation related to digital rights and copyright protection.

“Intel is unique in that we have extremely high-stakes litigation because so much of our business is concentrated in a core product line.”

Gemma Suh

Notably, she interned at the Center for Democracy and Technology in Washington, DC, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco, organizations dedicated to technology law and digital privacy advocacy.

Falling in Love with IP

The new lawyer helped build out firm Davis Polk & Wardwell’s Silicon Valley IP practice. It provided Suh the chance to work on substantive patent litigation cases early in her career, including a formative experience representing a client suing laser manufacturers over patented medical treatment technology. The case introduced her to the power of inventor stories, stories of how technology came to be told by the people who created it.

“That was probably when I truly fell in love with IP law,” Suh remembers. “I may be more of an introvert, but I love telling stories. I love the human connection that occurs when you’re able to craft a compelling narrative.”

Suh would spend six-and-a-half formative years in-house at Nokia prior to coming to Intel. She left Nokia, having traveled extensively across Europe and even managing a case in front of the South Korean Supreme Court.

“Gemma is an exceptionally sharp and strategic leader with a keen intuition for how to focus her teams on winning themes. She consistently masters complex technologies and identifies the most effective way to harness that deep understanding to add value across all aspects of her cases,” says Todd M. Friedman, partner at Kirkland & Ellis. “Insightful, creative, energetic, and always a great pleasure to work with.”

Today Suh has the best of both worlds, not just in the work balance but in the life balance.

“Whether it’s the pro bono work we do [that work includes working with the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley, providing legal services for the San Mateo Legal Aid Society, and Root & Rebound, an organization that helps those with convictions on their record seek expungement], the internal affinity groups like we’re able to take part in, or the understanding we receive in caring for our aging parents or growing children, I feel so fortunate that Intel places value on that life outside of work,” Suh explains. “Every time I gear up for trial, my kids know it’s going to be very busy for a while, but then I will be spending quality time with them. Intel respects and supports that. It lets me do my best work.”

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