As a lifelong innovator, Laura employs design thinking techniques to create new programs and courses, and teaches students to use designing thinking in legal practice. She is a certified career coach in the Designing Your Life methodology, and uses the methodology in guiding the Tech Edge J.D. students in their own career planning.

Laura is a co-author of a 2021 Diversity in Innovation Best Practices Guide for in-house attorneys and IP managers, the result of an extensive study of U.S. companies. She is a founding Co-Chairperson of the Silicon Valley chapter of ChIPs, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of women in technology, law and policy, and a founding Faculty Advisor for the Santa Clara Law chapter of ChIPs.

Prior to joining the faculty at Santa Clara Law, Laura worked in private practice representing technology startups and entrepreneurs. She was also the first Vice President of Legal Affairs at Cypress Semiconductor Corporation. Laura worked as an associate Intellectual Property litigation attorney at Arnold White & Durkee, and as an engineer and patent agent at Intel Corporation.

Laura was recognized in 2021 in the Top 100 Women of Influence by the Silicon Valley Business Journal, and was awarded a Top Woman Leader in Tech Law in 2014 and 2017 by the Recorder. She is a 2011 graduate of Leadership California’s “California Issues & Trends” program, a selective statewide women’s leadership program. In 2010, Laura was named as a Northern California Super Lawyers Rising Star. She has held board positions with several for-profit and non-profit companies. In her spare time, Laura trains for triathlons and volunteers with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.