Fernando A. Bohorquez Jr.

Fernando Bohorquez is a forward-thinking, problem-solving, and innovative attorney who handles commercial, intellectual property, and bankruptcy litigation and business disputes. Currently the Litigation Group Coordinator for BakerHostetler’s New York office, Fernando has deep knowledge and experience with all phases of civil litigation, managing large scale cases in high profile and pressure environments. He leverages these skills sets, as well as his networks inside and outside of the firm, to advise a variety of emerging tech startup and social media clients on business law, intellectual property, on-line advertising, and privacy and data security. He is a frequent speaker on social media and digital marketing, privacy and data security, electronic discovery, and law firm diversity initiatives and has published several articles and blogs on online advertising and marketing, Internet-related intellectual property issues, and electronic discovery, including regularly contributing to the firm's Data Privacy Monitor and IP Intelligence blogs. For Fernando’s thought leadership on these topics, click here and here. Fernando is also certified as an Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US) by the International Association of Privacy Professionals.

Fernando is very involved and invested in the startup community, representing and counseling various minority and female owned tech companies, serving as a leading member of the firm's Emerging Company team, spearheading the firm's sponsorship of the German Accelerator program in New York City, as well as the New York office's collaboration with Civic Hall, and speaking at local law schools. Furthermore, Fernando is deeply committed to civic engagement and public service. Recognizing these efforts, the Mayor of New York City recently appointed Fernando to the Conflicts of Interest Board of New York, which oversees the ethics laws applicable to all New York City public servants. He serves on numerous non-profit boards, focusing his time on pipeline efforts developing and mentoring the next generation of leaders of color in the business and legal community. Consistent with these commitments, Fernando is a member and former co-chair of the New York office's Diversity and Inclusion Committee, and is a former member and chair of the Mentor Committee.

Experience

• Integrally involved as a lead attorney for BakerHostetler's court-appointed representation of SIPA Trustee Irving H. Picard for the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC in efforts to recover assets for the Fund of Customer Property. Core member of strategy team supervising the global investigation and litigation of hundreds of actions seeking recovery of fraudulent transfers for equitable distribution to the defrauded customers filed by the Trustee in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York against financial institutions, money managers, insiders, and sophisticated investors.
• Represented senior government official in Iqbal v. Ashcroft, involving constitutional and statutory challenges to the detention policies following the September 11 terrorist attacks, resulting in a favorable U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the pleading standards required to bring actions in federal court.
• Managed large-scale, multidisciplinary team in Lanham Act litigation against numerous competitors of a leading client in the prepaid calling card industry.
• Managed a large scale litigation team in Lanham Act claims against a competitor trademarking distributor for a beauty care industry client.
• Counseled media conglomerate on digital media issues relating to contracts, licenses, intellectual property, among others, in pre-litigation management work.
• Advises numerous technology companies in pre-litigation work, including contract and intellectual property issues, and handled disputes with customers and partners to avoid litigation.
• Regularly advises technology startup founders in potential pre-litigation internal and external business disputes, including employment terminations, redemption agreements, convertible and promissory notes, and vendor and customer contracts.
• Represents and regularly advises Impelsys, an eContent 100 digital publishing company, with respect to employment matters, vendor and customer contracts.
• Advises DonorTap, an on-line fundraising platform, on corporate and intellectual property matters, including redemption agreements, convertible and promissory notes, and trademarks.
• Provides broad ranging and on-going counsel to Decisive, a rapidly growing ad tech startup that provides a platform for optimizing mobile advertising campaigns, in connection with its intellectual property strategy and IP protection. Further represents Decisive in all corporate, tax, employment, and incentive stock plan matters related to formation and funding.
• Provides a leading enterprise level social relationship platform, with a comprehensive assessment of all the major social media networks privacy policies and analyzes company's data use cases across the multiple social media platforms to maximize brand and agency customer value.
• Advises Qlovi, a rising ed tech startup that provides personal class room eReading and writing experiences, on its distribution and content agreements with schools and school districts. We also represent Qlovi in connection with all corporate and intellectual property matters.
• Counsels Society Consulting, one of the fastest growing Seattle data analytics companies, on privacy matters related to new "big data" products and services, including privacy policies and website terms of use.

Memberships

• New York State Bar Association 
  
  • Delegate to the Nominating Committee
  • Committee on Civil Rights: Former Chair
  • Former Diversity Delegate to the House of Delegates
  • Social Media Committee: Member
• New York City Bar Association
  
  • Pro Bono Committee: Former Secretary
• Hispanic National Bar Association 
  
  • New York Region Deputy President
  • Former National Mentoring Program Committee Member

Community

• The City of New York Conflicts of Interest Board: Board Member
• LatinoJustice PRLDEF: Board Member
• Council of Urban Professionals: Fellow and Co-Chair of Fellow Alumni Committee
• American Constitution Society: New York Lawyer Chapter: Executive Committee Member
• Fund for Modern Courts: Board Member
• Limon Dance Company: Board Member
• New York County Democratic Committee Judicial Screening Panel: Past Administrator

Pro Bono