Company Info for thelen.com | IcebreakerMembers
I am a New York attorney with twenty-plus years of practical experience in intellectual property, technology, transactional and corporate law. My current practice focuses on assisting intellectual-value companies with a broad range of legal needs in a cost effective online format. Previously, I was an associate at a large law firm, and a consultant for the United Nations.
Before law, I earned an M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering and spent eleven years building innovative software. I am also a founder, currently active with an online law seminars.
I live in Catania, Italy and New York, NY, and travel frequently.
Selected accomplishments:
► Attorney for hundreds of entrepreneurial companies, providing a broad range of legal services from incorporation through financing to acquisition.
► Documented IP defenses for the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE/EuroNext), including source code analysis of trading systems.
► Managed e-discovery for a global media company (Viacom) in disputes exceeding one billion alleged infringements.
► Negotiated 100+ technology procurement and sourcing deals for a top insurance company.
► Reviewed 200+ IPOs for a variety of insider activities.
► Developed a corporate invention program for a major financial institution (American Express). Within a year the patent pipeline had 75+ applications.
► Managed a complex domain name portfolio for a global beverage/entertainment company (Seagram/Universal) with thousands of names and dozens of active disputes.
► As a legal technologist for the United Nations, I developed the World Court website and assisted with web publication of a global labor law (ILOLEX) database.
► As a software engineer, I created award-winning software for building energy design (BEEM), software for manufacturing/aerospace (Gerber Systems), and dozens of educational programs (Smith College). 
I provide regulatory, transactional, and strategic product advisement to early-stage fintech startups who provide card issuing, payment processing, domestic and international payment method integration and aggregation, machine learning, data aggregation, digital wallets, digital currency, and blockchain technology products and services. My clients have included Stripe, Brex, Mercury, Ramp, Deel, Brigit, Toast, Lithic, Loop, Middesk, Mysten Labs, Worldcoin, Intuit, Block, and numerous Y Combinator alums. Collectively, my clients have raised billions in venture capital funding. Prior to law school, I channeled my passion for technology into a career in product management for several startups in the enterprise software industry in Silicon Valley. I combine my technology experience with a deep understanding of state, federal and global financial services regulatory regimes across a broad spectrum – bank service provider compliance, money transmission, stored value, prepaid access, unclaimed property, consumer credit, fair lending, privacy and data security, payment processing, international remittances, payment network rules, anti-money laundering, anti-terrorist financing, and consumer protection. I apply my knowledge to assist clients with product counseling, contract drafting and negotiations, terms of service, regulatory analysis, compliance policy development, corporate transactions, and “outside general counsel” assistance. I regularly negotiate complex service agreements with start-up friendly banks and service providers in the US and abroad.
Before co-founding Runway Group, l was a partner at Ketsal PLLC. Prior to Ketsal, I was founder and partner at Ouroboros LLP, a legal and consulting boutique in the fintech and blockchain space based in Washington, DC. Prior to Ouroboros, I advised some of the world’s largest financial institutions, prepaid, credit and debit card issuers and program managers, payment processors, money transmitters, consumer and commercial lenders, e-commerce platforms, digital wallet providers, customer loyalty platforms, and Fortune 100 technology companies at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, and Buckley Sandler, a leading financial services boutique (now Orrick). 
