Bruce Byrd, General Counsel at Palo Alto Networks

Today, my guest is Bruce Byrd, Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Palo Alto Networks where he is responsible, globally, for legal affairs, policy and government affairs, corporate governance, compliance, and risk and resilience.  Before joining Palo Alto Networks, Bruce was the Chief Legal Officer of AT&T Communications, responsible for legal affairs at AT&T’s largest operating company.  There, he led a team of over 300 lawyers and managed the full range of legal disciplines.

Prior to AT&T, Bruce was a partner at Dickinson Wright PLLC, where he maintained an active commercial litigation, regulatory and class action defense practice. Bruce is committed to community service, particularly in the realm of inclusion and diversity. Bruce graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in economics and received his J.D., cum laude, from the University of Michigan Law School.

In this candid conversation, Bruce shares his journey from deciding to be a lawyer at age 15 to becoming the General Counsel at Palo Alto Networks, discussing his foundational years in litigation, his two-decade tenure at AT&T, and his rapid leap to his current executive role.