Shawn Professional / Personal Profile

I was recently asked to write a few bullets for a professional / personal profile in connection with a possible magazine article. This exercise was a challenge. Your job is to "brag" on your accomplishments without sounding like a arrogant jerk. It can be a fine line. For what it is worth, here it is:

• Current Position: Shawn Helms is an experienced transactional lawyer in the Technology & Outsourcing practices of Jones Day. In his current position, Shawn independently negotiates complex and business critical technology, outsourcing and intellectual property related transactions.
  


• Background: Shawn grew up in Windsor, Missouri - a small, rural town with no stoplight that features eight churches, one bar, and one combined junior / senior high school. As a child and into his high school years, Shawn stuttered so severely he could barely communicate. He recalls being terrified to read in class or meeting new people. In high school Shawn took out a loan at the local bank to buy his first computer. He mowed lawns around Windsor to make payments on that computer. That computer was the start of his career in technology.
  


• Education: Shawn was the first in his family to go to college. Upon graduation from Windsor High School, Shawn attended William Jewell College, a small liberal arts school just outside of Kansas City. Shawn received three Bachelor of Science degrees (Computer Information Systems, Economics and Business Administration) from William Jewell College and graduated magna cum laude, with leadership honors. Shawn went on to law school at Georgetown University Law Center and received his J.D. (cum laude) in 2000.
  


• Professional History: While attending law school at night, Shawn was the Director of Information Technology at the law firm of Williams & Connolly in Washington, DC. During this time, Shawn also served as an adjunct professor at the University of Virginia in its technology department. Shawn started his legal career at the law firm of Cooley Godward in California. During his time at Cooley, Shawn represented many Internet startups and wireless telecommunications companies. After leaving Cooley, Shawn became in-house counsel at Sprint. In 2004, Shawn left Sprint to join the Dallas office of Jones Day in 2004.
  


• Outsourcing Law Treatise – Shawn recently co-authored a legal treatise on outsourcing law. The treatise, titled "Outsourcing: Law and Business" will be published by Law Journal Press (the treatise publishing arm of American Lawyer Media) in September 2011. This will be one of the few treatises on outsourcing law. The publisher expects that this treatise will become the foremost legal text on the topic.
  
  
• Awards and Recognition – Shawn was one of only two Jones Day associates (out of the 168 Jones Day lawyers) recognized by Chambers USA in 2011. Shawn was recognized by Chambers as a leader in the field of technology and outsourcing in both 2010 and 2011. Shawn was also selected as a Texas SuperLawyers Rising Stars in the area of IT and outsourcing in 2010 and 2011.



• Articles, Publications and Interviews – Over the past several years, Shawn has written numerous articles on technology law, outsourcing and IP licensing issues. His articles have been published in the Boston University Journal of Science & Technology Law, The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, CIO.com, Oxford International Journal of Law and Information Technology, The American Health Lawyers Association quarterly newsletter, Dallas Bar Association Headnotes newspaper, State Bar of Texas Intellectual Property Law Section Newsletter and Outsourcing Leadership News. Shawn has also been interviewed and quoted in several issues of Business Week, providing guidance and perspective on legal technology issues.


• Family: In junior high, Shawn started dating Misty Madole - who would become Misty Helms after they married in college. Shawn and Misty now live in Heath, Texas with their 6 children. Shawn and Misty homeschool 5 of their 6 children.
  


• Dallas Area Community Involvement – Shawn is an active member of the Dallas Regional Chamber - Technology Business Counsel and the Dallas chapter of the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals. For the past four years, Shawn has been a speaker at The Presidents’ Forum of Dallas speaking on outsourcing and legal technology issues. Shawn is also a frequent volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, is active in the United Way Young Leaders Society of Dallas, frequently assists the board of directors of the Home Educators Associational Resources Organization (a homeschool education cooperative) and is a member of Lake Pointe Church in Rockwall, Texas.
  


• Notable Recent Technology Transactions:
  


• Sprint 4G Upgrade - Shawn recently represented Sprint Nextel Corporation in its acquisition of next generation wireless infrastructure equipment to be used to upgrade Sprint’s nationwide wireless network. The deal is thought to be the largest single purchase of telecommunications equipment and services ever. The transaction involved the purchase of equipment and implementation services from Samsung, Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson. The project includes the purchase of multi-modal base stations capable of supporting advanced 4G wireless technologies (i.e., LTE and WiMax). The implementation of the equipment will take several years and upon completion, will result in Sprint having one of the most advanced wireless networks in the United States. Sprint’s projection of the total deal value is confidential. The total estimated incremental cost of the transaction during the deployment period is between $4 billion and $5 billion. Sprint estimates that the upgrade will save Sprint $11 billion over the next seven years in operating expenses by allowing Sprint to cut its roaming costs and eliminate cell towers that support Sprint’s iDEN network.



• Texas Instruments Acquisition of National Semiconductor - Several month ago Shawn was on the Jones Day team that represented Texas Instruments Incorporated in its $6.5 billion acquisition of National Semiconductor Corporation. The acquisition combines two industry leaders in analog semiconductors.
  


• Diversey IT Outsourcing - Shawn represented Diversey in its full scale outsourcing of the company's information technology functions to Wipro (a large India outsourcing provider). The scope of the transaction included infrastructure, server support, desktop support, applications and help desk in all Diversey’s corporate and operational office worldwide (over 60 countries).
  


• Attachmate Acquisition of Novell - Shawn played an important role in Jones Day’s representation of Attachmate Corporation in its $2.2 billion acquisition of Novell, Inc. and a related $450 million sale of patents to a consortium led by Microsoft Corporation (which included Apple, Oracle and EMC). Shawn worked with the M&A team in the negotiation of various licenses and services agreements with Microsoft in connection with the transaction. In addition, Shawn was in charge of certain IP due diligence matters and analyzed various open source and other intellectual property issues that were critical to the transaction.