Terumo Neuro’s in-house legal team isn’t resting on its laurels.
Since winning best in-house legal team at the Business Journal’s General Counsel Awards last year, the team has closed about 10 cases, including a class action lawsuit.
But that’s not the most exciting milestone the team has accomplished, according to Jacqueline Collins, general counsel of Terumo Neuro.
Its been nearly a year since the Aliso Viejo-based medical device maker rebranded from MicroVention to Terumo Neuro, reflecting its desire to capture more of the neurovascular market.
“We’ve been expanding on that brand promise,” Collins told the Business Journal.
Its parent company, Japan-based Terumo Corp., has been active in acquisitions, looking at “exciting new spaces in brain health” such as smart devices and rehabilitation, she said.
They have also been more engaged with the rest of the company globally.
Terumo Neuro brought in R&D engineers from Tokyo to its newly expanded headquarters.
Last year, the company acquired the former Pacific Life Insurance Co. building for $42.3 million in response to increasing demand for its products.
“We have a lot of innovation that goes on here, so it’s become a very attractive place for our parent company to place additional employees,” Collins said.
Cybersecurity, AI in Protecting IP
One of the company’s largest legal achievements was winning a trade secrets case against competitor Balt USA LLC last year.
Terumo Neuro filed a lawsuit against Balt and three former employees after discovering they had taken thousands of documents containing trade secrets
to start a business that competed with Terumo Neuro and sought more than $100 million in damages.
“I think every company in the medical device industry is actively engaged in protecting intellectual property,” Collins said.
Part of that means using advanced cybersecurity to protect IP, as well as newer technologies like artificial intelligence.
“There’s AI that we now need to make sure we’re using correctly, and that will continue to be a focus for medical device companies and medical device lawyers going forward,” Collins said.
Collins said that she’s a big advocate for technology to help manage data and manage things more efficiently but doesn’t see it as a replacement for lawyers.
“It will 100% not replace lawyers, but it will replace lawyers who don’t use AI because we’ll be able to deliver those services better,” she said.
Mentoring Next Generation of Lawyers
The team continued to be active in the Orange County community.
Terumo Neuro’s legal department welcomed two first-year law student interns from the Association of Corporate Counsel’s (ACC) diversity program in the summer.
“I really love this new generation of lawyers,” Collins said.
“In my generation, when a senior lawyer told you to do something, you just did it, but this generation asks why, and I think that’s a really good question right now. We need to explain why.”
Two months ago, Terumo Neuro employees in Aliso Viejo gave back to two local nonprofits.
Employees helped pack backpacks with school supplies for local children at Families Forward and sorted through clothing donations at Laura’s House, which provides shelter and support for victims of domestic violence.
