JULY/AUGUST 2019
40
INHOUSE
P r o f e s s i o n a l P r o f i l e
Catherine Lacavera says she wanted a career
from a young age that would encapsulate her
passions for business, technology and law.
Now, the Canadian expatriate is doing
exactly that in the Greater San Francisco
area of California, running a large legal de-
partment of about 150 employees at multi-
national tech giant Google.
As vice president of legal for Google, Laca-
vera runs the company's global litigation, em-
ployment, discovery and regulations teams.
Her day-to-day work covers the company's
priorities at any given time, from know-
ing what legal changes there are in various
jurisdictions that might impact Google's
business to dealing with major IP-related
legal battles.
"There are cases where we're fighting
for freedom of the internet, free speech
around the world [and] accessibility of in
-
formation. Fighting for these lofty prin-
ciples sometimes comes at a great cost to
us," says Lacavera.
She points to the now-resolved Viacom
case, where the company alleged YouTube
(owned by Google) had engaged in copy
-
right infringement by allowing users to
upload and share content owned by the
company without permission. Ultimately,
the judge ruled in YouTube's favour, as the
subsidiary was shielded by provisions from
the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
"We spent over $100 million fighting the
Viacom case, fighting for user-generated
BY ALEXIA KAPRALOS
For the
love of tech,
business
and law
Canadian Catherine
Lacavera oversees
Google's large legal
department
Catherine
Lacavera
oversees about
150 people
who work in
Google's legal
department.
