André Brunel

• Formerly General Counsel and Business Development for Pinpoint Insight, Inc., a start-up developer of cutting-edge software to manage large-scale electronic document reviews in complex litigation. Led corporate rebranding effort and developed extensive legal, business, and technical understanding of the emerging legal field of electronic discovery.
• General Counsel and Senior Vice President of Creditor Relations and Public Affairs of The Ballenger Group, LLC, a business process outsourcing and technology services company. Established legal department. Obtained key trademark and patent rights for groundbreaking software technology. Managed numerous outside counsel to successfully resolve alleged false advertising and Gramm-Leach-Bliley (privacy) violations. For example, successfully resolved a $72 million claim by the FTC for $750,000 and obtained a key correction of the record from the Chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations regarding critical allegations against Ballenger. Launched public relations and federal lobbying campaign with a national public affairs group, which involved industry-leading new media and Internet campaigns. Managed in-house legal staff in establishing formal “best practices” complaint handling process, contracts, and consumer disclosures.
• Partner in the Outsourcing and Technology Section of Hughes & Luce LLP in its Austin office. Previously worked in the Intellectual Property Work Group at Irell & Manella, LLP in its Los Angeles office.
• While in private practice, Mr. Brunel has worked extensively on complex software licensing deals; multimillion dollar e-commerce and outsourcing transactions; trademark counseling, prosecution, and dispute resolution; and intellectual property audits in due diligence for mergers and acquisitions. He is familiar with all types of complex software and hardware agreements, including software development, license, escrow, maintenance, outsourcing, and bundling/OEM/VAR agreements, as well as employee/consultant professional services agreements. He has negotiated all major types of Internet transactions, e.g., Web content syndication, co-branding, and promotion agreements and Web affiliate, marketing, and hosting agreements. Finally, he has worked on all forms of trademark transactions, including complex license and settlement agreements, and trademark litigation and prosecution counseling, including Internet domain name disputes.
• Received an LL.M. from Queen Mary & Westfield College, University of London; a J.D. from The University of Texas School of Law; an M.P.A. from the L.B.J. School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas; and a B.A. from Georgetown University. Mr. Brunel is a Fulbright scholar.
• Admitted to the State Bars of Texas and California.

Full Bio:

André Brunel has over a decade and a half of legal experience working on technology matters with senior management of large public companies as outside counsel at AmLaw 200 law firms in California and Texas and as the first General Counsel at two privately held companies, one of them a startup. Mr. Brunel has developed significant business, public affairs, and management experience in his executive roles at the privately held companies.

As General Counsel and Business Development at Pinpoint Insight, Mr. Brunel was responsible for all legal matters, business development, and client feedback for product development of enterprise-class software, based on open source code, to manage large-scale electronic document reviews in complex litigation. As a result, Mr. Brunel developed a unique legal, business, and technical perspective on the emerging field of electronic discovery.

As General Counsel of The Ballenger Group, Mr. Brunel established the legal department and managed an in-house legal staff and multiple, outside law firms on a wide range of litigation, intellectual property, tax, corporate, bankruptcy, and transactional matters. Among these various lawsuits was a case of first impression in Maryland State Court involving electronic discovery. He also worked closely with internal, senior software developers. In addition, Mr. Brunel tracked state and federal legislation and met extensively with State Attorneys General, state regulators, consumer advocates, the FTC and other federal officials to develop a comprehensive “best practices” set of contracts, compliance procedures, and consumer disclosures to minimize future litigation risk.

During his private practice career, Mr. Brunel has helped the following sample of clients with their intellectual property matters: NBCi (the public subsidiary of NBC that served as its Internet portal), AOL, Allbusiness.com, CNET, Vignette, The J. Paul Getty Trust (which owns the Getty Museum), Hilton Hotels, Measat Broadcasting (the Malaysian state monopoly DTH television station), Dayton Hudson (the owner of Target), First Interstate Bancorp (acquired by Wells Fargo), Softbank, Motown Records, National Education Corporation, Intel, Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant, Perot Systems, Peter Norton, and EDS.

Mr. Brunel received his LL.M., with Honors, in Commercial and Corporate Law from the University of London, Queen Mary & Westfield College. Mr. Brunel received his J.D., with honors, from the University of Texas School of Law and was elected to the Order of the Coif. He was the Chief Articles and Notes Editor of the Texas International Law Journal. The University of Texas L.B.J. School of Public Affairs, where he ranked first in his class, awarded his Masters in Public Affairs degree with Highest Honors. Mr. Brunel received a Fulbright Scholarship to perform research in Krakow, Poland. He also studied for a year at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, Germany. He graduated, magna cum laude, from Georgetown University with a B.A. in government and philosophy. While at Georgetown University, he was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa National Honor Society and selected as a Baker Scholar.

Mr. Brunel is admitted to the State Bar of California and the State Bar of Texas.

Mr. Brunel has given numerous presentations to professional organizations about legal and business issues regarding technology and intellectual property. He has authored the following articles:

• André Brunel, "Hiring Partners Should Consider In-Housers’ Skills When Recruiting," 23:24 Texas Lawyer 26, August 20, 2007.
• Marc Shivers & André Brunel, “Contractual Limitations of Liability (a/k/a “LOLs,” or Why the Other Party is Laughing Out Loud),” 19:5 Computer & Internet Lawyer 6, May 2002.
• André Brunel & Greg Sapire, “Beyond Banners: Restructuring Portal Advertising Deals,” 2:6 Internet Law & Business 485, April 2001.
• André Brunel, “Crown Jewels of the Internet; Trademark Rights Overshadow Copyrights on the Web,” 16:27 Texas Lawyer 29, September 18, 2000.
• André Brunel & May Liang, “Trademark Troubles with Internet Domain Names and On-Line Screen Names: Roadrunning Right into the Frying Pan,” 8:9 J. The Journal of Proprietary Rights 2, September 1996.
• Robert Steinberg & André Brunel, “Internet Icons: Trademark Iconoclasm,” 7:12 J. The Journal of Proprietary Rights 2, December 1995.
• André Brunel, “A Checklist of Trademark Considerations for Multimedia Start-Ups,” 1:7 The Multimedia Law Report 1, May 1995.
• André Brunel, “Billions Registered, But No Rules: The Scope of Trademark Protection for Internet Domain Names,” 7:3 J. The Journal of Proprietary Rights 2, March 1995.
• Gary Frischling & André Brunel, “Continuum Multimedia: Examining the Fine Print/Possible Contract Pitfalls,” Photo District News 30, September 1993.
• Morgan Chu & André Brunel, “Post-Altai Computer Copyright and Trade Secret Decisions,” 11:1 The Computer Lawyer 1, January 1994.
• Ken Liebman, Gary Frischling & André Brunel, “The Shape of Things to Come: Trademark Protection for Computers,” 9:12 The Computer Lawyer 1, December 1992.
• Ken Liebman, Gary Frischling & André Brunel, “The Shape of Things to Come: Design-Patent Protection for Computers,” 9:11 The Computer Lawyer 1, November 1992.
• Mark Baker & André Brunel, “Restructuring the Judicial Evaluation of Employed Inventor’s Rights in the High-Technology Industry,” 35:2 St. Louis University Law Journal 399 (1991).
• André Brunel, Note, “A Proposal to Adopt UNCITRAL’S Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration as Federal Law,” 25:1 Texas International Law Journal 43, (1990).
• André Brunel & Michael Burke, “Pennsylvania,” Chapter 8 of Promoting High-Technology Industry: Initiatives and Policies for State Governments, Jurgen Schmandt & Robert Wilson, eds., Westview Press, Boulder, CO (1987).

print this page