Jennifer K. Johnson, M.S., J.D.
Admitted to Washington (1999), pending admission to North Carolina
Registered US Patent and Trademark Office (1998)

I am an experienced corporate and intellectual property (IP) attorney with over 25 years of diverse experience in biotechnology, medical device, and agriculture businesses at all stages of the corporate lifecycle. My legal and IP expertise, advising, partnering, and problem-solving capabilities range from serving the needs of small to mid-sized companies to large multinational corporations, from biotech and medical device startup innovators through product development, clinical trials, product manufacture and supply, product launch, diligence, spinout, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and windup. My wide range of experience uniquely offers a comprehensive efficient external source for your internal business legal needs and for creating, leveraging, and preserving value in your company’s products.

Prior to starting Jennlaw Biostrategic PLLC, I served as the Senior Vice President of Legal and Intellectual Property at Blaze Bioscience, Inc. where I was the corporate counsel for all its internal legal needs, including strategic global partnerships, licensing, all manner of contracts, diligence, M&A, intellectual property matters, and strategic management of legal and IP budgets, for its drug and medical device products and product pipeline. Alongside such legal work at Blaze, I created succinct corporate and employee policies and processes to ensure corporate strategy, compliance, high quality agreements, and innovation capture, while working closely with C-Suite executives to align my legal practice efficiently with the needs of the business. I continue to work closely with Blaze as their external counsel.

Prior to my role at Blaze, I was the Head of IP Biology & Traits at Syngenta where I served as a leader in the global IP Management Team, and strategically managed the agricultural biotech IP portfolio, corporate policy initiatives, collaborations, and M&A due diligence and integration. Prior to Syngenta, I was Chief IP Counsel for ZymoGenetics responsible for the company IP portfolio strategy and development, major collaborations and option agreements, and IP due diligence including leading such in its acquisition by Bristol-Myers Squibb. My long-term in-house counsel experience exemplifies my broad legal and IP involvement in all aspects of biotechnology business from discovery research through product commercialization.
I received my J.D. from the University of Washington Law School in 1999 after serving as a researcher for many years prior to and at ZymoGenetics. I hold an M.S. from the University of Washington in Virology, and a B.A. from the University of California Berkeley in Microbiology.

I live with my husband, two kids, several cats, and way too many unread books, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where I take advantage of my proximity to nature, local mountain biking, hiking, river swimming, and paddling. I hold a black belt in Kyokushin-kan karate and am actively training in Shindo Muso Ryu (jo staff). I split my time between the Research Triangle area, North Carolina, and Seattle, Washington, where my roots in the biotechnology industry originated and continue.