When Elizabeth Smith decided to focus her legal practice on the life sciences, the reason was personal. Soon after graduating from law school, Elizabeth’s father was unexpectedly diagnosed with lung cancer. This experience led Elizabeth to rethink her purpose in life, and she set her sights on medical school. “I began taking pre-med and other science classes (molecular biology, biostatistics and genetic engineering), all of which I loved,” said Elizabeth. Other priorities – marriage and children – would ultimately supersede med school, but not her desire to help patients and families going through tough medical challenges. Fortunately, Elizabeth found a way to integrate science into her legal practice by representing life sciences companies.
Today, with over 30 years of life sciences experience under her belt, Elizabeth remains inspired and committed to supporting her clients’ groundbreaking work. “Understanding how the science and specific business objectives can impact legal strategy is critical to my practice,” she said, “and this interconnectedness is something I learned while working in-house.” As Elizabeth explains, “unless these elements are coordinated, they can work at cross purposes; therefore, as legal counsel, my goal is to construct a comprehensive legal strategy that accommodates both the scientific and business goals of the company.”
A great example of this approach, Elizabeth once out-licensed a sizable patent portfolio and other IP (know-how) to a biotech start up. The financial terms were complicated, as was the equity component. The start-up was trying to secure financing, and there were many ups and downs and changes to the terms of the license agreement. “It took considerable collaboration among the scientific founders, business team and lawyers to ultimately get my client’s technology out of the lab into the hands of the start-up for commercial development.”
In addition to her in-house roles with both NeoGenesis Pharmaceuticals and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Elizabeth also worked in private practice and in the tech transfer office at Mass General Hospital supporting clinical researchers. “While I was at Mass. General, I once negotiated a compassionate use clinical trial agreement in under 12 hours over a weekend that enabled a cancer patient to get immediate access to a potentially life-saving investigational therapy. The impact my work had that weekend is why I love what I do.”
Like many working parents, Elizabeth juggled her career and family for many years before deciding that she needed more flexibility in her legal practice. “I wanted to spend more time with my young children and still work with innovative clients developing hugely important technologies.” By joining OGC, Elizabeth could finally have both – a robust practice in the life sciences field and time to be part of her children’s day-to-day lives in a way that was impossible before.
More about Elizabeth Smith
Elizabeth routinely assists clients with structuring and negotiating complex business transactions, including license agreements, strategic alliances, research collaboration agreements, clinical trial agreements and CDMO Agreements. Elizabeth also supports the day-to-day operations of her clients by negotiating CDAs, MTAs and services agreements. When she is not working, Elizabeth enjoys spending time with her family, especially down-hill skiing, sailing and golfing.