Twice each academic year, the MSL invites a group of industry professionals, alumni, and part-time students to speak about their professional journeys. These panels showcase how MSL grads can leverage their interdisciplinary learning and skills to achieve professional success.  

Our Spring 2024 Industry Associates Night introduced students to a wide range of career paths and industries, from compliance to research, venture funds and commodities, security and risk, intellectual property, and international commerce.  

The seven professionals who joined the panel for this installment of Industry Associates Night shared how they’ve applied their legal education to advance their careers. They also shared their insights about their specific industries and professional development.  

Thank you to our panelists for sharing their wisdom: Monique Drones of Northwestern University, Gini Yost of BDO, Amir Kabir of AV8 Ventures, Erin Middleton of CME Group, Jasmine Wang of Huawei, Bud Sims of Google, and William Windham of Solebury Strategic Communications.  

Please read on to see some of the excellent nuggets our panelists shared. 

---

Monique Drones, Manager, Sponsored Research Coordination
Northwestern University

Folks in sponsored research are much like the folks I’ve encountered in the MSL program. They are intelligent, detail-oriented, honest people who really try to put their best effort into their work. Those are great qualities for any field you want to go into.” 

 

 

Amir Kabir, General Partner
AV8 Ventures

I spent a lot of time with lawyers figuring out how to fund startups and learning what the contracts and financing documents have to look like for those organizations. As an immigrant to the United States, which has a very different legal system from what I’ve experienced in Europe, I appreciated the MSL’s overview of the U.S. legal system, and I have been able to use the knowledge I gained in my current work.” 

“Most of the people in the venture industry have some sort of technical background. At the end of the day, you’re trying to analyze technology and tech trends and see how these trends apply and what will be successful in the future. I feel strongly that having technical background and legal knowledge puts you at an advantage.”

 

Erin Middleton, Global Head of Rules
CME Group

There are definitely lots of positions in compliance you can pursue. I think if you’re trying to get into compliance, you should think about what it is that you want to protect.”

“Being able to raise your hand and have some accountability goes a long way, especially in compliance, because the culture of compliance starts from the top. If you can show that it’s okay to make a mistake and to correct it, then that will trickle down to everyone else.”

 

 

Bud Sims, Cloud Security Architect
Google

Make sure the job fits what you want your life to be. If you’re into travel, look into consulting. If you want a job in tech, know your fundamentals. Then of course, just follow your passion.” 

 

 

William Windham, Senior Vice President
Solebury Strategic Communications

The finance industry gave me the opportunity to explore cutting-edge science and things that I personally find fascinating with a role that didn’t necessarily require me to be doing bench work for a research department somewhere.”

“I’ve met a lot of people who are working in areas related to finance – for example, investment bankers, research analysts, people in finance departments, venture capitalists, private equity investors, and hedge fund investors — who come from a variety of different backgrounds and didn’t add finance to their skillsets until somewhere later in their career path. What is unique about them and what they’re able to leverage the most is expertise in a niche area where they have an interest – they have a base knowledge that no one else has, and that gives them an edge.”

 

 

Jasmine Wang, Managing Director, CTO Office, Trustworthiness Lab
Huawei 

Embrace the MSL opportunity. This is a very diverse program. You would be amazed about how the program allows you to encounter people from all over the world who have such different backgrounds. Also be open to opportunities in other countries — international businesses currently have a lot of work in the regulatory area.”

“The MSL helped me to understand international regulatory analysis better. I gained deep insight about how to manage a company’s IP strategy and how to engage in international standards and with international organizations. This is a great program for anyone like me who has a technology background.”

 

 

Gini Yost, Forensic Data Analytics Manager
BDO 

I really noticed the credibility I gained from the MSL. I had been working in this industry for a while, and I recognized that I was able to speak with more confidence and people respected my input more because of the Northwestern MSL degree. Take advantage of that, because you’re putting in the hard work.” 

“There’s a lot of opportunity for legal professionals to be the link to people who have more technical knowledge.”