Panel Information

Date/Times/Location

Friday, February, 17 2012, 3:30 - 4:30 (for day students) & 5:30 - 6:30 (for evening students), in the 1st floor Function Room, Sargent Hall. 

There will be refreshments and an opportunity to talk with the panelists immediately following each of the sessions.

Panelists

Afternoon

Todd Krieger is legal counsel at InterSystems Corporation, working primarily on international and domestic software licenses and related agreements for healthcare, financial services, and other fields. In 2010, as the lead counsel in several successful competitive dialogue tenders, Mr. Kreiger helped negotiate a $66 million contract for a national patient management system in Scotland and an $18 million contract for a national laboratory information management system in Wales. Prior to joining InterSystems, Mr. Kreiger worked as legal counsel at Bose Corporation where he focused his practice on retail and wholesale domestic and international distribution and other legal issues.

Leigh-Ann Patterson Durant serves as Associate General Counsel at EMD Serono, Inc., a leading international biopharmaceutical company.  In 2011, Ms. Durant was honored by Pharmaceutical Executive as one of the year’s Top 30 Emerging Leaders in the pharmaceutical industry.  Before joining EMD Serono, she was a partner at the national law firm of Nixon Peabody and she clerked for the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island.  She graduated from Suffolk University Law School, cum laude, and served on the Law Review. Ms. Durant has a lengthy history of service to and leadership in the areas of women’s issues and civil rights. She was the 2001-2002 President of the Women’s Bar Association of Massachusetts, one of the largest and most influential women's bars in the country. She has served on the WBA’s Board of Directors for the past 15 years.  She also served on the Massachusetts Government Appointments Project (MassGAP) Steering Committee.  Ms. Durant is a Charter Member of the National Women’s History Museum in Washington, D.C.  In addition, she has served on the Boston Bar Association’s Board of Directors, on the Executive Committee of the Boston Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights, and on its Board of Directors for a number of years.  In 2009, the Lawyer’s Committee awarded her its Outstanding Civil Rights Leadership Award.  In 2007, the Supreme Judicial Court awarded her the Adams Pro Bono Publico Awards.  In 2000, Ms. Durant was named as one of Boston Business Journal's "40 Under 40." Boston Business Journal has named her a Massachusetts Super Lawyer for the past 7 years and one of the Top 50 Women Lawyers in Massachusetts numerous times.  Women’s Business selected her as one of the Top 10 Women Lawyers in Massachusetts in 2004, 2005, and 2006. Ms. Durant regularly speaks at regional and national conferences and has published extensively.  Contact information: EMD Serono, Inc. ; Phone: 781-681-2126 ; Email:  Leigh-Ann.Durant@emdserono.com

Thomas M. Johnston is Senior IP Counsel for the Vascular Therapies group at Covidien, where he counsels his clients on all aspects of intellectual property including patent prosecution and enforcement, trademarks, copyrights, licensing and contracts.  Tom earned his J.D. from Suffolk University School of Law with a concentration in Intellectual Property Law (1999), and has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the New York Institute of Technology (1991).  Prior to joining Covidien, Tom was a partner at Holland & Knight in Boston (2005-2009) and an associate at Fish & Richardson (1999-2005), where he focused his practice on patent litigation and prosecution.  Tom has been a member of two trial teams and worked extensively on over 15 patent litigations in diverse technologies, including medical devices, consumer products and sporting goods.  He has also drafted and prosecuted patents in many technologies including medical devices, oral care products and manufacturing equipment, personal safety products, consumer products, bullet resistant products, and agricultural products.  Tom’s work has also included work on many right to use opinions and diligence projects.  

Evening

Chet Cekala earned his JD from the Suffolk University Law School in 1987 and his MBA from Suffolk University's Sawyer School of Business in 2001. He worked as a patent lawyer for Procter & Gamble, W.R. Grace and Gillette. He served as the Chief IP Counsel at Teradyne from 2006 to 2010 and joined A123 systems as their Chief IP Counsel in March 2010.During his career, Mr. Cekala has been involved in all aspects of in-house IP practice. While at Gillette, he oversaw the patent operations of Gillette's shaving division as well as Oral-B Laboratories, PaperMate and Duracell. Mr. Cekala also managed large-scale international IP disputes and headed the patent department in Gillette's European headquarters in London. While at Teradyne, he built a global IP department with offices in North Reading, MA and Singapore. He also was the architect of Teradyne's Neptune® hard disk drive-tester IP strategy resulting in nearly $100 million in first-year sales. Mr. Cekala is currently counseling Waltham-based A123 Systems as they commercialize their proprietary Nanophosphate® Lithium-ion battery technology in the transportation, electric grid services, and consumer markets.

Mary Clare Decker serves as Global Head of Contracts for Monitor Group, a leading international advisory and consulting firm headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with offices in twenty-five major cities around the world. A graduate of Suffolk University Law School, Mrs. Decker also has degrees from Stanford and Harvard Universities. The former General Counsel for a national insurer and Chief Legal Officer and Director of Human Resources for a pharmacy, she brings to her work over thirty years of in-house and law firm experience.She has served on several boards and is a frequent speaker on contract drafting and negotiation. She is licensed to practice law in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Elizabeth Levy is Counsel for Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics, a worldwide manufacturer of medical diagnostics devices, formerly Bayer Healthcare Diagnostics. She provides general legal support for several business units with an emphasis on commercial, antitrust, contract, regulatory and compliance matters. Ms. Levy joined Bayer in 2001 as senior patent counsel and in 2005 became lead counsel for its Near-Patient Testing segment, now the Point-of-Care business unit. She is chair of Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics' New England chapter of its Women's Information Network @ Siemens (WIN@S) and co-chair of Siemens' New England WIN@S chapter.  She is co-chair of Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics' Diversity Council and a member of Siemens Healthcare's Diversity Council. Ms. Levy began her legal career as a patent agent while attending law school at night, having worked as an engineer for 8 years. She obtained her J.D. with honors from Suffolk University Law School and her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering with honors from the University of Texas. She practiced intellectual property law at three firms and was a partner at two, including McDermott Will & Emery LLC. She holds two United States patents for inventions in the field of incandescent lamps.  Ms. Levy has been an active member of the National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL) since 2007, serving on the annual General Counsel Institute (GCI) and Midyear Meeting planning committees and as a mentor in the NAWL Mentoring program since 2010. Ms. Levy chaired NAWL's 2011 GCI and will be responsible for obtaining sponsor funding for, and participation in, NAWL's 2012 GCI. She is profiled in Power and Influence for Lawyers: How To Use It To Develop Business and Advance Your Career (S. Letterman White, West/Thomson Reuters 2011). She can be reached at elizabeth.levy@siemens.com or at (781) 269-3876.

Moderator

Andrew Beckerman-Rodau, Professor of Law, Suffolk University Law School

Alumni & Faculty Mentors

Many Suffolk Law alumni work in-house and are happy to speak with current law students. 

For more information about the Alumni Mentor Program, contact Diane Frankel Schoenfeld, Director of Alumni Relations, Suffolk University Law School at 617.305.1904 or diane.schoenfeld@suffolk.edu

The Career Development Office can help you identify Suffolk graduates working as in-house counsel. If you have not done so already, make an appointment to meet with a career counselor for more information.

To speak to a faculty member about working as an in-house counsel, contact Professor Andrew Beckerman-Rodau, arodau@suffolk.edu

Career Development

To get oriented in your job search and make an appointment with a career counselor, please link to the CDO's webpage or call 617-573-8094 or email lawcdo@suffolk.edu.

Find job postings and search the CDO's database of employers by logging on to Symplicity. For Symplicity tutorials, visit the CDO webpage.

To search for alumni who hold in-house counsel positions through LinkedIn, Martindale.com, and SULS's Online Community, review the following handout called, "How to Find Alumni Networking Contacts" available on the "Handouts/Resources" section of the CDO website.

To explore in-house opportunities in numerous cities and states throughout the US, view the 20 "Out of Town Guides" available on the 'Handouts/Resources' section of the CDO website.

To listen to audio recordings of career programs that discuss in-house lawyering, visit the 'SULS Community' section of the CDO website (contact the CDO for the password).

For additional links to various employer resources, visit the 'Links' section of the CDO website.

Additional Information/Resources:

Corporate Counsel -- Daily Email Alert 

Library Resources

General

Tips for Landing the Job of Your Dreams
Top Ten Free & Subscription Legal Research Sites
Lawyering Bibliography
Suffolk University Law School Research Databases
For a complete list of research guides, go here.

A few recent law review articles:

Guides & Manuals

Directory of New England In-House Counsel, Lawyers Weekly (2010-2011); Law Reference KFM2610.A15 D57 

The In-House Counsel's Essential Toolkit / ABA Committee on Corporate Counsel, Section of Business Law, ABA (2007); Law Treatises KF1425 .I64 2007, v. 1-7

Nail Your Law Job Interview: The Essential Guide to Firm, Clerkship, Government, In-House, and Lateral Interviews, Career Press (2009); Career Dev. Law KF297 .P74 2009

For more resources on this topic, search the Library's online catalog.

Contact Information

If you have any questions at all or need research assistance, contact a Moakley Law Library reference librarian: 617-573-8516 or lawref@suffolk.edu

Conferences & Continuing Legal Education

Suffolk University Law School's Advanced Legal Studies (ALS) Center for CLE & Academic Conferences seeks to create in-depth continuing legal education for the legal community by utilizing the strengths and resources of the law school and the expertise of the bench and the bar. Their programs are built around members of the Suffolk faculty and experienced lawyers and judges. By carefully crafting the curriculum for each program, preparing solid course materials, and employing vigorous and open discussion methods, these programs provide attendees with challenging and helpful educational opportunities.

All current Suffolk University Law School students can register for ALS Conferences, for FREE. To review their current calendar of events or to get more information about ALS and the conferences they organize as well as a list of the very helpful practice-oriented publications they publish, go here.

For more information about Suffolk's Advanced Legal Studies Center, contact Carole Wagan, Esq., Director, Center for Advanced Legal Studies, cwagan@suffolk.edu or (617) 305-1652.

LEAPP Journals & Student Survey

LEAPP Journals

First-year students are required to attend each of the LEAPP panels and prepare a short journal entry following each panel. They will record their impressions of the presentations and what they learned about law practice from the speakers. When this series of panels are completed in this spring, students journal entries will be reviewed by faculty members on the LEAPP Committee.

For more information, log on to Campus Cruiser.

Student Survey

Please go to Campus Cruiser and take just a few moments to complete a brief survey.