GCs and Law Firm Attorneys: Perfect Together? (Presented by Above the Law)

Lisa's path to the law was anything but traditional. After six years of Army service, she attended law school at night while working full-time during the day as a paralegal for a mid-size law firm in Louisville, Kentucky — an experience that shaped her view that becoming part of a community is the fastest way to propel one's purpose toward success.

Lisa left Kentucky State University in 2022 after receiving an invitation to serve as Ohio Northern University's second Vice President and General Counsel in the institution's history. At Kentucky State, she served on the President's Senior Leadership team and stepped in as Acting Chief of Staff and Acting Director of Veteran and Military Student Affairs. Earlier, as an Assistant Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, she served as Acting Executive Director of the Civil and Environmental Division, managing five branches comprising twenty attorneys and sixteen legal support specialists. During her Army service, she was nominated by her BNCOC instructor for a Distinguished Leadership Award.

Lisa is an adjunct instructor in Transactional Skills (Contracting) at Ohio Northern University's Claude W. Pettit College of Law. As an author and speaker, she helps others strengthen their purpose and recognize that applying C-Suite thinking at the intersection of law and business is the path to success as an in-house lawyer.

As Vice President and General Counsel of Ohio Northern University since 2022, Lisa oversees the provision of all legal services to the University, has general charge of all legal matters pertaining to the University and its governing board, and advises the Board, its committees and officers, and the President on opportunities, risks, and the range of topics that confront the institution.

Before Ohio Northern, Lisa spent more than five years as General Counsel of Kentucky State University, a public HBCU, providing legal advice to the President, Board, faculty, and staff. Her portfolio spanned employment law and strategic human resources initiatives, management of federal and state civil litigation and administrative proceedings, oversight of outside counsel, responses to actions initiated by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Department of Labor, and legal support for procurement, contracts, and brand protection.

Lisa's nine years with the Commonwealth of Kentucky included service as General Counsel for the Education Professional Standards Board, its Executive Director, and its staff; as Assistant General Counsel for the Kentucky Board of Education, its Commissioner, and Kentucky Department of Education staff; and as an Assistant Attorney General representing state agencies and officials in civil and administrative actions before state and federal courts and administrative tribunals, including defending the Commonwealth against constitutional challenges to Kentucky's statutes.

Lisa spent a total of nine years at Woodward, Hobson & Fulton, LLP in Louisville — first as a senior litigation paralegal and then as an associate attorney specializing in insurance defense, professional malpractice, and commercial litigation. Her legal career began in the U.S. Army, where she served first as a legal specialist and then as a legal non-commissioned officer, deploying to Bosnia-Herzegovina to oversee legal activities for 1,100 soldiers in ten units and later providing legal support at Fort Knox to Brigade and Battalion Commanders for a training brigade of over 5,000 soldiers, supervising and training seven battalion legal clerks.

His role includes guiding, advising and educating attorneys and clients on pricing of legal services, developing training programs on legal project management and matter management, and creating templates to assess profitability and related tools.

Known for translating complex ideas into compelling stories, Laura is a passionate advocate for the customer and a champion of continuous learning and growth.

As Global Marketing & Insights Director at iManage, she empowers teams with data-driven guidance to position products effectively and communicate value clearly.