Heather Slotnick

Heather Slotnick has over twenty years of experience working collaboratively with clients to develop high quality intellectual property (IP) portfolios while reducing legal risks. Drawing on her past in-house experiences, Heather brings an entrepreneurial, client-side perspective to the services of protecting IP rights.  She is more than a lawyer offering legal solutions because Heather works with clients to develop a plan to achieve IP goals which are in line with their business goals.  Heather also assists with negotiating and preparing agreements, IP analysis (including opinion letters and freedom-to-operate projects) and IP due diligence.

Prior to founding MLO, Heather was Associate Chief IP Counsel at Siemens Corporation where she handled complex IP issues and managed patent attorneys and staff in Siemens’ West Coast Office.  She obtained broad legal experience including leading patent license negotiations, handling due diligence matters (for both acquisitions and venture capital investments), providing IP portfolio strategy and overseeing IP prosecution efforts. Her primary technical areas included telecommunications, semiconductor devices, medical systems and software.

Heather began her legal career at Townsend and Townsend as a member of the Electrical and Electronics Patent Prosecution Group.  While at Townsend, she specialized in drafting patent applications, conducting Examiner Interviews and assisting with large patent cross license negotiations.

Heather holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering with a Minor in Management (Cum Laude) from Kettering University in Flint, Michigan, and a JD from the University of Michigan Law School in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Heather is a member of the California State Bar and registered to practice with the US Patent and Trademark Office.

Heather supports her local community by being (i) an active member of the Excellerators Cabinet for the Salk Institute and (ii) a mentor for mystartupXX, a UCSD accelerator promoting female students interested in entrepreneurship in technology.