Annette L. Hurst

Annette L. Hurst, a partner in the San Francisco Office of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP and Intellectual Property trial lawyer, is the firm’s Global AI Practice Lead and coordinates firm strategy across multiple legal disciplines to assist clients with the development and deployment of AI tools, the licensing and use of AI tools, and litigation and regulatory challenges to AI tools.

Annette is an experienced intellectual property trial lawyer and IP risk problem solver. Her practice focuses on trade secrets and trademark litigation, as well as disputes involving complex commercial transactions in the software and Internet industries. She counsels clients in technology industries regarding a variety of intellectual property issues, including protection and use of AI-related assets, product and marketing development for dual-use technologies, as well as IP-driven issues in major corporate and material licensing transactions. As a risk analyst and problem solver with deep proficiency in the software industry, Annette is a go-to counselor and speaker regarding the legal issues surrounding access and use of datasets in the development of machine learning algorithms. She was named “Litigator of the Week” by The American Lawyer for her work as co-lead counsel on the Mattel/MGA case. Chambers USA ranks her in Band 1 for Trademark, Copyright & Trade Secrets, with clients reporting that she is “smart, creative and terrific at oral argument” and “a very well-known authority in copyright law, a great advocate and a great trial lawyer.” Chambers reports: “Clients agree that Annette Hurst is ‘a very powerful and experienced trial lawyer for copyright cases, and a good team leader who is reliable before judges,” and “Peers consider Annette Hurst a ‘remarkably intuitive’ lawyer who ‘brings unique perspectives to soft IP cases.” Since 2018, The Legal 500 has recognized Annette as a “Leading Lawyer” in copyright law, and she was named “Female Litigator of the Year West” by Benchmark Litigation in 2013. Annette has been repeatedly named one of the top 75 IP litigators in California by The Daily Journal.

Annette’s community and professional activities include past service on the Northern District of California Patent Local Rules Committee, President of the Lafayette Elementary School PTA, and past membership on the Board of Directors of the Volunteer Legal Services Program and Board of Directors of the Bar Association of San Francisco for which she was chair of the Finance and Investments Committee. She also is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Legal Aid Society of San Francisco and the Board of Governors of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers, Northern California Chapter, as well as a past president of the Barristers Club.