AbouT
I have over 17 years experience as an attorney practicing business law. Almost ten years of my career were spent working in-house for companies ranging in size from $130 million to $30 billion in revenue. In my last position prior to starting my own practice, I was the Chief Legal Officer of a small biotech company listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange where I was responsible for all legal matters. Prior to that, I was the VP and Deputy General Counsel for a Fortune 550 defense contractor listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
During my legal career, I have done just about everything a lawyer can do, from writing briefs to the US Supreme Court to billion dollar mergers and acquisitions to routine employee complaints and commercial contracts. I have worked to obtain patent protection for critical company technology, dealt with government investigations of my companies, formed business entities, dissolved them, and maintained them. I have negotiated contracts of all shapes and sizes with customers and suppliers.
It is my in-house experience that I believe gives me an edge in representing individuals starting and running businesses. Not only have I worked closely with the business people at my companies - from CEOs to contract managers to recruiters to IT professionals - but I have engaged, used, taken advice from, and disregarded advice from, law firm attorneys. And, importantly, I have had to manage million-dollar legal budgets. As such, I understand the bottom line very well, I understand the need to balance business risks with legal protection and the need to protect and promote the key ingredients of any successful business - be it people, technology, or methods of doing business.
I started my career as a law clerk working at the elbow of a federal judge in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Here, I saw how business relationships could go very wrong and why. It was also here that I learned I did not want to be a litigator. I believed in collaboration, win-win relationships and productive uses for the law, not the impractical, costly process of litigation. I then worked for one of the largest law firms in the world, based in Washington, D.C. Here I received great fundamental training in corporate governance, corporate transactions, contracts and intellectual property. However, I had no real grasp of what my business clients truly cared about. I was not involved in the real decision making that occurred at a company. Wanting to be closer to the business of my clients, I went to work for a firm client in the government contracting sphere. Here, I was a jack-of-all-trades, working on any legal matter that a company might face. I continued in-house, rising to management positions within legal departments before starting this practice.
Prior to entering law school, I spent six years working for a small business in Northern Virginia, eventually managing the business. We manufactured custom guitar electronics for some of the music industry's biggest names, such as Aerosmith and Bruce Springsteen. During my time as manager, I helped mature this company by expanding our retail business, automating our business and accounting systems and developing our website. As such, I know first-hand the challenges that a business owner faces.
Positions Held:
Chief Legal Officer, Osiris Therapeutics Inc.
Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Orbital ATK
Assistant General Counsel, Orbital Sciences Corporation
Associate, Hills Stern & Morley LLP
Associate, Hogan & Hartson LLP (now Hogan Lovells)
Law Clerk, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
Education:
JD, William and Mary School of Law
Articles Editor, Law Review
MA, Anthropology, The George Washington University
BS, Anthropology, James Madison University
Bar Admissions:
Virginia
District of Columbia
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
.
J. Black, Managing Partner, CoCounsel