Who Is Nicole Shanahan? Author-Attorney Married To Google Co-Founder Going For Divorce

Who is Nicole Shanahan? News of the divorce of Google co-founder Sergey Brin from his wife of four years Nicole Shanahan has surfaced on the internet.

Nicole Shanahan and Sergey Brin have announced their split stating "irreconcilable differences." The couple has reportedly been together since 2015 and tied the knot 4 years ago on November 7, 2018. Sergey Brin has filed for dissolution of marriage to Nicole Shanahan, and his net worth of  $94 billion has netizens speculating that this will be yet another expensive divorce post billionaires Bill-Melinda Gates and Jeff Bezos' divorces.

Sergey Brin is a 48-year-old billionaire and the co-founder of Google. He is one of the top 10 wealthiest people in the world. He was married to Anne Wojcicki, the co-founder of 23andMe. Brin and Anne separated in 2015 and now co-parent their two children. Sergey Brin and Nicole Shanahan have a daughter from their marriage and reports suggest that Brin has asked for joint custody with no expectation of child support from Nicole.

According to court documents, the ex couple's shares will be divided equally among them. Additionally, “All issues as to the property rights or obligations of the parties will be determined by confidential binding arbitration in accordance with a written agreement between the parties.”

Brin and Shanahan have also brought in a private temporary judge for the case, in a bid to not reveal the proceedings of the verdict.

Who Is Nicole Shanahan?

Nicole Shanahan is now in the spotlight after news of her split from Sergey Brin. Reports reveal that the couple already separated back in December 2021, as per the court filings submitted in Santa Clara County, California. The statement issued by the County as per the NY post read-"Because of the high profile nature of their relationship, there is likely to be a significant public interest in their dissolution case and any potential child custody issues.”

Nicole Shanahan is an attorney based in California. She is also the founder and president of the Bia-Echo Foundation. It is a private foundation that aims to invest in the innovation of people working to bring about change in the fields including reproductive longevity & equality, criminal justice reform, and a healthy & livable planet. Bia-Echo has invested in and has led the launch of the world’s first Centre for Reproductive Longevity and Equality and Criminal Justice Reform at the Buck Institute and Stanford Computational Policy Lab, respectively.

Nicole Shanahan is also the founder of ClearAccessIP (now owned by  IPWe, Inc.), to effectively develop, manage and transact patent-protected technology using AI. She has also been a CodeX fellow, which is the joint center between Stanford Law School and Computer Science, called Stanford Center of Legal Informatics. During her CodeX fellowship, she launched a Smart Prosecution project, an attempt to create a platform between district attorneys and community organizations. Her Academic research is based on Ronald Coase’s work “Coasean Mapping,” a transaction cost theory.

Details On The Divorce

Reports revealed that Sergey Brin is represented by the Law firm Hanson, Crawford, Crum Family Law Group, LLP, while Shanahan is being represented by Spector Law Firm, APLC, and Meyer, Olson, Lowy & Meyers, LLP. According to a bay area local publication, the court filings have “emphasized Brin and Shanahan’s desire for secrecy around the proceedings, and they have attempted to have much of the case placed under seal.” The petition by Brin's lawyer also stated- “Of great concern is that such publicity puts their minor child at risk of danger, harassment, and even kidnapping if the specifics of their day-to-day whereabouts are exposed to the public.” No details of custody and division of assets has been revealed yet.

In July 2022, a report by Wall Street Journal claimed that Shanahan had an affair with SpaceX founder Elon Musk in 2021 due to which his relationship with Brin soured. According to the report, Musk’s affair with Shanahan took place in December at Art Basel in Miami, following which Musk asked Brin for forgiveness at a separate event.

However, on July 25, Musk rejected the rumour and called them "Total BS" on Twitter. He further wrote, "Sergey and I are friends and were at a party together last night. I've only seen Nicole twice in three years, both times with many other people around. Nothing romantic."

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