About
He has lived all three pillars.
Most AI advisors know one world. Juan Vasquez has worked in all of them: teaching the legal profession how to adopt intelligent technology, building and securing the technology itself, and constructing the governance that makes it safe to use.
The arc runs like this: twelve years as a U.S. Air Force officer in computer emergency response, defending networks under real adversarial pressure. An electrical engineering degree from UT Austin, earned in uniform. Civilian years in cybersecurity and reverse engineering at ManTech and Macaulay Brown, taking hostile code apart to see how it worked.
Then law — summa cum laude from St. Mary's — and nearly a decade of patent practice at Norton Rose Fulbright and Dentons before joining Whitaker Chalk as a Member in 2022. Today his practice spans intellectual property and AI readiness & governance.
Alongside the practice, he founded 3ITAL — the International Institute for Intelligent Technology Adoption in the Law — chairs the State Bar of Texas Emerging Technology Committee, directs the 3i BAIRD Lab, and holds leadership roles in a portfolio of AI ventures. He wrote Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Patent Practice (2024), and in November 2024 delivered a keynote to the Justices of the Supreme Court of Jalisco, Mexico. He is a native-level Spanish speaker.
The through-line: when he advises on AI readiness, none of it is theoretical. He has taught it, built it, secured it, and governed it.
The path
Timeline
1995–2007
U.S. Air Force — Captain
Computer Emergency Response
Twelve years defending military networks when most organizations didn’t yet know they needed defending. Where the security mindset — assume nothing, verify everything — became permanent.
2005
B.S., Electrical Engineering
The University of Texas at Austin (AECP)
Commissioned through the Airman Education and Commissioning Program — an engineer’s education earned while in uniform.
2008–2013
Cybersecurity & reverse engineering
ManTech International · Macaulay Brown (concurrent)
Malware analysis, reverse engineering, and cybersecurity development for the defense sector — taking hostile systems apart to see how they worked. That habit of understanding technology from the inside out carried straight into patent practice.
2013
J.D., summa cum laude
St. Mary’s University School of Law
The pivot from building and breaking technology to protecting it. Staff writer, St. Mary’s Law Journal.
2013–2022
Big-law patent practice
Norton Rose Fulbright (2013–2019, 2020–2022) · Dentons (2019–2020)
Patent preparation, prosecution, and counseling for global clients — two stints at Norton Rose Fulbright with a year as Managing Associate at Dentons between them.
2022–present
Member
Whitaker Chalk Swindle & Schwartz PLLC, Fort Worth
IP practice — patent prosecution, opinion work, licensing — plus a growing AI readiness and governance practice serving executives, boards, and counsel. Registered patent attorney, USPTO.
2024–present
AI ventures & institute leadership
3ITAL · GovernAIable · SertifAI · and more
Founding and leading organizations across education, technology, and governance — the ecosystem behind the counsel — and chairing the State Bar of Texas Emerging Technology Committee, the bar’s first standing committee on emerging tech.
Education
J.D., summa cum laude — St. Mary's University School of Law (2013)
B.S., Electrical Engineering — The University of Texas at Austin (2005)
Airman Education and Commissioning Program
Recognition & roles
- Fort Worth Magazine Top Attorney, 2022–2025
- Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch, 2025
- Keynote for the Justices of the Supreme Court of Jalisco, Mexico (November 2024)
- Chair, Emerging Technology Committee, State Bar of Texas
Fluent in Spanish (native level).
Put the experience to work
Start with the AI Readiness Assessment, or talk through a patent matter.