What was your route to the top? I always knew I wanted to be a corporate attorney. In law school, I interned with companies instead of law firms and did everything I could to avoid litigation work. When I graduated in 2009, the peak of the economic crisis, my first paid job paid me exactly $0 per hour. I went on to open my own IP firm, then shut it down and work for someone else's PI firm, but I still wanted to be a corporate attorney. My “jungle gym” career path finally brought me back to the corporate world when I landed my first in-house role at an automotive consulting firm, laying the foundation for my career in tech.

What keeps you up at night? (i.e. What are your biggest business-related concerns?) How can I get more time? Many tech startups are not operating at their optimal efficiency due to time pressures, but if we can save time, we can gain time. Recent developments in technology offer useful automation tools that help attorneys save time, such as Docusign for electronic signatures, Ariba for contract management, and Box for document management. It took me six months of pitching the benefits of Ariba to finally get the green light. Now, me and my team can review and negotiate contracts much faster, making our internal clients happier, and giving us more time to do other important tasks without sacrificing quality…or our sanity.

What is the best leadership advice you provided, or received, and why do you think it was effective? “Don't be afraid to stand out and break the rules.” Rules tend to favor rule makers and rule makers tend to be those who are already in power. For a young corporate attorney still acquiring power, the standard rules aren't necessarily going to work. I tested this theory during an interview with a Fortune 500 company that was way out of my reach. Part of the interview was to give a presentation on any topic. I decided to present my effective yet unconventional training called IP & IPAs where I use beer to demonstrate some important legal concepts to engineers. When the time came, I nervously pulled a six-pack of IPAs out of my purse, set it down on the table, and began. I knew from the look on their faces that I had shocked the panel and was offered the job.

Looking back, what do you wish you had known when you started out in the legal profession? I wish I had been more aware of my strengths and weaknesses. Larry Richard, a psychologist who studies lawyers, developed 30 years of research showing that “lawyers tend to have distinctive 'outlier' personality traits that dramatically differ from the general public,” such as skepticism, autonomy, urgency, and abstract reasoning. I'm all for self-love but, in the corporate world, being unaware of yourself can be disastrous. Through effective mentorship and honest friendships, I quickly developed the skills necessary to balance my lawyering tendencies and thrive in the corporate setting, including optimism, collaboration, and patience.