Charting Their Courses: Six IP Professionals Find Different Paths to Where They Are Today

AuthorOlivier Manigat, Will Bucher, Lindsay Donn Mann, Jennifer Chung, Karen Wong-Chan, Philip H. Burrus IV
Pages6-63
Published in Landslide® magazine, Volume 13, Number 4, a publication of the ABA Section of Intellectual Property Law (ABA-IPL), ©2021 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved.
This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association.
C
h
a
r
t
i
n
g
Their
Courses
Published in Landslide® magazine, Volume 13, Number 4, a publication of the ABA Section of Intellectual Property Law (ABA-IPL), ©2021 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved.
This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association.
C
h
a
r
t
i
n
g
Six IP Professionals
Find Different Paths to
Where They Are Today
When we admire people who have great and interesting careers, we often over-
look the many paths that come with their success and satisfaction. Careers are never
a linear process, but are lled with bumps, surprises, and sometimes even abrupt
changes. As a junior lawyer, I never imagined myself as a partner at a big law rm
specializing in intellectual property and working on high-prole trademark cases.
Mine was a whim that turned into a career I love.
How do you stay on track? How do you ensure what path is right for you? How
do you take control and direct your own course? There are countless stories where
people started careers that did not follow a straight line but meandered until they
landed on the right foot.
We talk to several attorneys about how they charted their courses and, often
through unexpected circumstances, wound up on top. With dedication, hard
work, and especially an open mind to follow where your path takes you, things
tend to turn out the way they are supposed to. Just remember to let the fun in!
—Megan K. Bannigan
Image: GettyImages
Published in Landslide® magazine, Volume 13, Number 4, a publication of the ABA Section of Intellectual Property Law (ABA-IPL), ©2021 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved.
This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association.
From Law
School Directly
to In-House
Olivier Manigat is associate general counsel responsible for
retail and online operations at Herman Miller. He previously
held in-house roles at the XFL, the HEINEKEN Company,
Major League Soccer, and the United Football League.
You have had quite a career working in-house at some of
the most exciting and interesting brands. Did you always
know you wanted to go in-house?
I didn’t have any idea that I wanted to go in-house. I
thought I’d work in private practice, but I graduated law school
in 2008 during a major recession, where new associates were
getting laid off and rms were not hiring. I didn’t have a job
upon graduation but knew that I needed to start honing my
legal skills, so I worked unpaid at a boutique law rm special-
izing in civil rights and criminal defense. During that time, I
also worked for BARBRI, the popular bar exam prep company,
reviewing course materials, doing general ofce work, and
troubleshooting with students who had not passed the bar.
To help move out of this phase, I primarily focused on
two things: The rst was controlling the aspects of my career
that I could control. In addition to working at a rm where
I developed my critical and analytical thinking as well as
research and writing skills, I ne-tuned my resume and cover
letter and participated in tons of mock interviews with men-
tors and practitioners, who challenged me and gave me
critical feedback. The second thing I did was to network as
much as I possibly could in areas of law that interested me.
I was young, my network was not huge, but I reached out to
who I knew. You have to start somewhere.
I eventually landed my rst in-house legal job with a startup
professional American football league—the United Football
League (UFL). One of my former teammates on the Columbia

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