Hello from the other side! For the past 15 years, I’ve been a member of an elite squad: in-house ad law counsel. In-house counsel do it all – from negotiating multimillion-dollar media deals to rush redlining nondisclosure agreements. And they often do it wearing old band tee shirts and using pens from home. Time and resources are tight, and the best legal teams know how to support their businesses: commercial know-how and sharp insight without the ivory tower. Now, I’m building on that experience to work with a broader client base in our media and ad law community.
I’ve been fortunate to work with the best, spending time in-house at McDonald’s Corp., where I managed risk for the Monopoly Game at McDonald’s and negotiated Happy Meal partnerships. I also tried my first (of many) Big Mac(s) at the original HQ in Oak Brook, Illinois. Eventually, I moved to the agency world to learn more about digital media and ad tech. I led the media legal team for Publicis Groupe in the U.S. before joining the full-service commerce and creative WPP agency Wunderman Thompson as global general counsel. Landing in the agency world was like coming home. Prior to law school, I earned a spot as an agency account executive in Madison, Wisconsin, after a yearlong internship. I remember begging local radio stations for value-add spots and recording voiceovers myself when budgets were tight.
My approach to commercial negotiations, policy creation, campaign review, and dispute resolution is similarly practical. Partnering with my clients to navigate strategic deals and activate their brands is a joy. Advertising moves fast. Legal teams need to move fast too, something that in-house counsel know so well. Setting up strategic partnerships with clarity and practical risk management protocols up front is critical, and I want to help make that happen.
So now I’m joining another amazing squad, the BakerHostetler Advertising, Marketing, and Digital Media team. Based in Chicago, I’ll focus on media and advertising transactions and counseling. I’ll blog about integrated marketing, smart contracting approaches, regulatory trends, and ad law tips. I hope you’ll join me. The collective advertising, ad tech, regulatory, and counseling experience on our team – along with a truly collaborative approach to legal client service – is unbeatable. I’m honored to join, and we agreed I can keep wearing my old band tee.