Alumni @ RopesTalk

In the latest installment of Ropes & Gray’s Alumni @ RopesTalk podcast, health care partner Ben Wilson interviews Erin Abood, senior university counsel at Stanford University. Erin was a health care associate at Ropes & Gray for five years before joining the in-house team at Stanford in 2010. Her practice focuses on digital health, international medicine, fraud and abuse, and privacy issues for Stanford Medicine. In this interview, Erin discusses her transition from Big Law to a small in-house team, what her team at Stanford values most about outside counsel, how her secondment to Stanford while still an associate helped smooth the path for her, and the phenomenal training she received at Ropes & Gray that she feels was critical to her development as a lawyer. She also reflects on the dramatic shift to digital health during the pandemic, and offers advice to associates who are considering an in-house move.

In the latest installment of Ropes & Gray’s Alumni @ RopesTalk podcast, health care partner Ben Wilson interviews Erin Abood, senior university counsel at Stanford University. Erin was a health care associate at Ropes & Gray for five years before joining the in-house team at Stanford in 2010. Her practice focuses on digital health, international medicine, fraud and abuse, and privacy issues for Stanford Medicine. In this interview, Erin discusses her transition from Big Law to a small in-house team, what her team at Stanford values most about outside counsel, how her secondment to Stanford while still an associate helped smooth the path for her, and the phenomenal training she received at Ropes & Gray that she feels was critical to her development as a lawyer. She also reflects on the dramatic shift to digital health during the pandemic, and offers advice to associates who are considering an in-house move.

In the latest installment of Ropes & Gray’s Alumni @ RopesTalk podcast series, IP litigation partner Matt Rizzolo interviews Ryan Dickey, a cybercrime and intellectual property prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice. Ryan started his legal career at Ropes & Gray with plans to become a patent litigator. He talks about how his career goals shifted along the way, leading him to a federal clerkship in Hawaii, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and now, working at the DOJ and teaching at GW Law. Ryan shares what initially drew him to Ropes & Gray and how his time at the firm prepared him for his later career roles. He also offers his thoughts about why being kind is not only good life advice, but also important for professional success.

In the latest installment of Ropes & Gray’s Alumni @ RopesTalk podcast series, IP litigation partner Matt Rizzolo interviews Ryan Dickey, a cybercrime and intellectual property prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice. Ryan started his legal career at Ropes & Gray with plans to become a patent litigator. He talks about how his career goals shifted along the way, leading him to a federal clerkship in Hawaii, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and now, working at the DOJ and teaching at GW Law. Ryan shares what initially drew him to Ropes & Gray and how his time at the firm prepared him for his later career roles. He also offers his thoughts about why being kind is not only good life advice, but also important for professional success.

In the latest installment of Ropes & Gray’s alumni podcast series, Alumni @ RopesTalk, life sciences and health care partner Michael Beauvais interviews Julie Constable, vice president of legal and compliance at Blackstone. Julie spent almost a decade at Ropes & Gray as an associate before taking a senior legal role at Blackstone. Julie talks about what a typical day looks like in-house as she leads transactions emerging from the Blackstone Life Sciences team. She reflects on how Ropes & Gray prepared her for her position now by training her to think more critically. Julie also talks about the unique pro bono partnership between Ropes & Gray and Blackstone that she helped to develop, benefitting organizations such as The Innocence Project.

In the latest installment of Ropes & Gray’s alumni podcast series, Alumni @ RopesTalk, life sciences and health care partner Michael Beauvais interviews Julie Constable, vice president of legal and compliance at Blackstone. Julie spent almost a decade at Ropes & Gray as an associate before taking a senior legal role at Blackstone. Julie talks about what a typical day looks like in-house as she leads transactions emerging from the Blackstone Life Sciences team. She reflects on how Ropes & Gray prepared her for her position now by training her to think more critically. Julie also talks about the unique pro bono partnership between Ropes & Gray and Blackstone that she helped to develop, benefitting organizations such as The Innocence Project.

In the latest installment of Ropes & Gray’s alumni podcast series, Alumni @ RopesTalk, health care partner John Chesley interviews Alon Rotem, chief legal officer at thredUP, and Brianna Humphreville, associate general counsel at thredUP. Alon and Brianna met as summer associates at Ropes & Gray in 2006. While their careers took different paths after leaving Ropes & Gray—which they discuss in the podcast—they reunited at thredUP, an online consignment and thrift store. They talk about what it’s like to be lawyers at a tech company that’s environmentally focused, and share their experience of taking thredUP public during the pandemic. Looking back at their time at Ropes & Gray, they reflect on the cultural similarities between Ropes & Gray and thredUP. Finally, they give some advice for outside counsel looking to work with thredUP.

In the latest installment of Ropes & Gray’s alumni podcast series, Alumni @ RopesTalk, asset management partner Jason Brown interviews Jacob Comer, general counsel and chief compliance officer at NovaQuest Capital Management, a leading investor in life sciences and health care companies. Jacob began his career at Ropes & Gray in 2003 as an investment management associate and has since taken on legal, regulatory and compliance roles for a private equity firm, venture capital firm and hedge fund. Now at NovaQuest, Jacob talks about the challenges of moving in-house, interviewing for and accepting a new job during the pandemic, his experience working at Ropes & Gray, and his professional influences. Jacob also discusses what he looks for when engaging outside counsel and offers advice for attorneys considering a move in-house.

In the latest installment of Ropes & Gray’s alumni podcast series, Alumni @ RopesTalk, asset management partner Jason Brown interviews Jacob Comer, general counsel and chief compliance officer at NovaQuest Capital Management, a leading investor in life sciences and health care companies. Jacob began his career at Ropes & Gray in 2003 as an investment management associate and has since taken on legal, regulatory and compliance roles for a private equity firm, venture capital firm and hedge fund. Now at NovaQuest, Jacob talks about the challenges of moving in-house, interviewing for and accepting a new job during the pandemic, his experience working at Ropes & Gray, and his professional influences. Jacob also discusses what he looks for when engaging outside counsel and offers advice for attorneys considering a move in-house.

In the latest installment of Ropes & Gray’s alumni podcast series, Alumni @ RopesTalk, IP litigation partner Matt Rizzolo interviews Jason Idilbi, general counsel at Passport Labs, a mobility software platform that facilitates mobile parking and transit ticketing applications. Jason reflects on his “non-linear” legal career path, which began at Ropes & Gray in 2008 and led to roles as a judicial clerk, litigator and in-house counsel. Now at Passport, Jason talks about the most difficult project he’s had to tackle in the last three years, and also what he looks for when engaging outside counsel.