Kirby Drake recently published her chemistry-to-law story in the Industry Matters newsletter for the American Chemical Society: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/industry/industry-matters/beyond-the-bench/duke-chem-lab.html. In this story, Kirby discusses how she decided that lab chemistry was not the right career path for her and how she assessed her priorities to determine that a non-traditional career path in intellectual property (IP) law was the way she wanted to proceed. She also addressed the challenges for scientists and engineers in understanding IP, how the world of IP is likely to evolve, and she identified her dream project to work on and the three scientists/business leaders – deceased or alive – that she would select to support her on the project.
The Industry Matters newsletter is a weekly publication of the American Chemical Society that explores industry insights, career advice, and more to help chemists and chemical engineers succeed in a dynamic and challenging working world.