Reinterpreting the Corporate Counsel's Role

At Draper, we develop technology that will change the world. We might be enabling the development of autonomous vehicles, new drug therapies, human organ systems to predict the effects of drugs on multiple-organ systems, guidance and navigation technology to enable space exploration—or something no one has previously considered. I used to think "innovation" was only what happened in our engineering labs, but that's just the beginning. Our brilliant engineers work on multidisciplinary teams to develop an idea, reduce it to practice, come up with a design, and then look to our business experts in the program offices to develop a strategy for getting people motivated to bring it to market. At GMP, I came to realize that successful innovation is a multi-step, cross-functional process in which everyone, including me, has a role to play.

I left GMP with an expanded sense of my potential contributions to the organization. While I continue to use my legal expertise to execute transactions and advise on various legal matters, GMP unleashed in me a real desire to do more. Because I provide legal support to so many different business functions, I particularly appreciated the way GMP helped me understand what drives each of these groups. I can now put myself in their world more easily and, as the legal expert, help advance their strategic goals.

Now, I look for ways to better address my internal stakeholders' needs and foster greater collaboration across functions in order to enable the flow of innovation—and make Draper smarter. For example, I've introduced a "Legal Learnings" seminar to help the business and engineering groups speak the same language around innovation and commercialization. With a common vocabulary, they will be able to exchange ideas more freely. My team also instituted "office hours" for the program offices to create a space for real-time collaboration and promote efficiency.

I want to create an environment where individuals are more comfortable bringing their ideas to the table on matters like commercialization, including licensing. I work with multidisciplinary engineering teams to understand how a nascent technology could potentially transition into a spin-out or how we might license that technology to industry. Working with the commercial and engineering teams, I might say, "Let's think about the different licensing structures we can use to attract different parties to the table and facilitate the transition to the market" or "why is this potential licensing partner willing to pay for this technology?"

I've come to realize that I don't have to be a corporate strategist to make a truly strategic contribution to Draper. Strategy is woven throughout every function. By enabling the different groups to achieve their goals, as well as using my legal expertise to foster collaboration and innovation, I am furthering Draper's success.