February 8-9, 2026 | Julie Watson and Pam Cox Speaking at AUTM 2026
Marshall Gerstein’s IP Transactions team will be in Seattle for the upcoming AUTM Annual Meeting. Special Counsel Julie Watson is teaching an advanced licensing course and Partner Pamela Cox is speaking on a panel during the conference. Details below:
“Advanced Licensing: Strategy and Structure for Successful Deals” – February 8, 7:30 AM – 4:00 PM PST
Designed for licensing professionals with more than three years' experience, this one-day program brings together instructors with years of experience negotiating transactions for both research institutions and companies for a deep dive into hotly contested issues in license agreements. The program will explore commonly encountered challenges, such as consideration and diligence provisions; non-patent licenses; and areas and language that may result in loopholes in a license that can be detrimental for the licensor, as well as strategies and solutions to address them.
Julie is teaching with Hannah Dvorak Carbone (Caltech), Arundeep Pradhan (University of Wyoming) and Wes Blakeslee (Blakeslee LLC).
“Clauses I Regret (the Sequel)” – February 9, 3:45 PM PST – 5:00 PM PST
Building off the well-attended and engaging session by these panelists at last year's annual meeting, this session will continue the discussion with more examples from license and option agreements, research agreements, gift agreements, equity arrangements along with internal policy language.
Pam will be joined by Michael Villalobos (Vanderbilt University) and Pasquale Ferrari (UC Santa Barbara) on the panel, and the discussion will be moderated by Felicia Metz (University of Maryland).
About Marshall Gerstein’s speakers:
Julie Watson concentrates her practice in early-stage intellectual property transactions, particularly in the dynamic realm of technology startups and university technology transfer. With over 35 years of experience structuring intricate intellectual property deals, Julie has earned a reputation for her acute understanding of client needs and her ability to provide strategic solutions. She has been lauded as one of the "World's Leading Patent Practitioners" by Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) magazine. Julie's knowledge and practice focus includes negotiating licensing transactions for biopharma and university clients, managing university out-licensing portfolios, and advising on intellectual property policies and compliance. As Chair of the Board for the Certified Licensing Professional™ (CLP), faculty for the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM)’s Essential Course and adjunct professor in Intellectual Property Licensing at Northwestern School of Law, she is dedicated to continuously advancing the profession.
Pam Cox’s practice focuses on unraveling complex deal structures and devising creative agreement solutions as well as IP protection strategies and alternative dispute resolution for clients ranging from multinational corporations to non-profit institutions. As a patent attorney who started in-house doing technology transfer 30 years ago, Pam is an active supporter of advancing the licensing profession and governance, Pam is President elect, elect of the Licensing Executive Society International (LESI), the former President of the Certified Licensing Professionals, Inc., and multi-term former Member of the Boards of each organization, frequent invited international presenter and instructor including for AUTM, and an adjunct professor at Northwestern School of Law.