Earlier this month, Myra Pasek (JD ’90), former General Counsel at Impossible Foods, and current General Counsel at Ouster, spent two days at the law school talking to students about her interesting work in the technology sector. During her time at the law school, she kicked off the Spring version of the DPELC-MSL Speakers Series, and spoke on a panel related to plant-based entrepreneurship. MSL students had numerous opportunities to interact with Myra in both formal and informal settings, including at the awesome Sardine Bar, across the street from the law school. Myra’s career has involved her with many rapidly growing industries and companies, and she knows first-hand the value of professionals who understand science and technology in addition to law.
The DPELC-MSL Speaker Series talk touched on the incredible innovations being developed at Myra’s current company – the lidar sensor technology company, Ouster. Myra talked about the need to release a revolutionary product while also protecting the company’s intellectual property. The talk concluded with some general advice and stories from her time working with Elon Musk at Tesla and helping Impossible Foods enter the food sector, a risky and heavily-regulated area.
Myra’s advice for MSL students wanting to work in startups is that you have to learn how to be comfortable moving forward in the face of risk, but you also need to know when to hold back. She said that if it weren’t for the willingness to try new things, startups wouldn’t be successful. However, if they experiment recklessly, they can also hurt themselves. It takes experience and judgment to navigate this set of challenges.
Throughout her legal career, Myra has worked very effectively with scientists and engineers, and she understands the value of being able to communicate in both legal and technical languages. The way that Myra, as a lawyer, has “leaned in” to the technical side of her work sets a great example for MSL students, who are in the MSL program to learn how to lean in to the business and legal sides of their technical work.
Whatever Myra touches really seems to take off, so we’ll continue to follow her career with great interest. We’ll be visiting with Myra in San Francisco as part of the MSL Entrepreneurship Team Project in March; we are looking forward to our visit to Ouster.
