D. C. Toedt
Thanks for stopping by. I’m a business lawyer in private practice in Houston; most of my clients are technology companies, including a number of startup companies as well as established ones. I’m licensed in Texas and California; I’m also registered to practice in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
What I do
Contract review: Much of my work involves reviewing, negotiating, and sometimes drafting contracts. I like to figure out how to streamline the process and help companies get to signature more quickly, with contracts that will help them get their business done and avoid disputes. I’ve posted a list of some of my favorite blog writings in that area.
Patent applications: I also help technology companies get their patent applications drafted more quickly, by using a special inventor-interview technique that I’ve developed over the years.
Teaching: I’m a part-time adjunct professor at the University of Houston Law Center; each spring I teach a three-semester hour course for 3Ls on advanced contract drafting and negotiation.
Contact info
My email address is dc ahht toedt dahht cahhm (spelled out that way to fake out spambots). CAUTION: Don’t send me any confidential information without my prior agreement. If you do, you might lose any applicable attorney-client privilege in the information; that’s because you and I will not have an attorney-client relationship unless we both expressly agree to that in advance.
Past lives
I used to be a partner and a member of the management committee at Arnold, White & Durkee. AW&D was a 150-lawyer intellectual property boutique law firm with six offices around the U.S. The firm later merged with Howrey LLP.
I left AW&D to join my long-time client BindView Corporation as vice president and general counsel. BindView was a network security software and services company, which I’d represented since its start-up. It had gone public not long before I joined. We grew the company to something like, at its peak, $70 million in revenue and 700-plus employees, with offices in six countries. I served there until the company’s successful “exit,” in which we were acquired by our field’s global leader, Symantec Corporation.
Publications
I was the principal author of the first edition of a legal treatise, THE LAW AND BUSINESS OF COMPUTER SOFTWARE, published by West, and wrote its annual updates for more than 10 years.
I’ve published a number of legal articles over the years. Here’s a partial list.
Bar association work
I’ve long been active in law-related professional associations. At the moment I’m one of the two co-chairs of the Commercial Transactions Committee (formerly known as the Uniform Commercial Code Committee) of the Business Law Section of the State Bar of California. I was formerly a member of the governing council of the American Bar Association’s Section of Intellectual Property Law.
Education
I was on law review at the University of Texas at Austin; I earned my undergraduate degree in mathematics, with high honors, at UT Austin as well.
Navy service
In between college and law school I served my ROTC scholarship payback time as a U.S. Navy nuclear engineering officer. My service included three years of sea duty aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise; among other responsibilities, I was in charge of a 150-man engineering division and, when on watch as officer of the deck underway, in charge of the ship and its 5,000-man crew.
My last name
My last name is spelled Toedt (it’s German) but pronounced Tate, the same way U.S. House Speaker John Boehner pronounces his last name. I do sort of wish my great-great-great grandfather had changed it when he came to this country 150 years ago.
Disclaimer
Any views I might express here are my own and not necessarily those of my clients, my former employer, my former law firm, etc., etc.
Contract review: A final checklist
