Jessica A. Hudak
Jessica has more than 17 years of experience as an intellectual property strategy and management professional. She is an effective and innovative leader due to the varied experiences she has gained over the course of her career. Jessica has worked with dozens of early-stage technology companies, advising them on a wide range of subjects including intellectual property, employment, regulatory compliance, business development, and strategy.
Early in Jessica’s career, Jessica was chosen as a Stanford Biodesign Innovation Fellow where she mastered the process of bringing innovations to market. This fellowship equips innovators with a proven, repeatable process to identify important needs, invent novel technologies to address them, and prepare to implement those products.
As a named inventor on several patents, Jessica has a long history of designing and bringing new inventions to market. Jessica and her colleagues were the first to invent an in-bra wearable breast pump, which revolutionized the breast pump industry and improved women’s lives. Jessica and her team have over four issued patents on these inventions (and several more pending), which they sold to a leading medical device company. Among other inventions in the areas of obstructive sleep apnea, cardiovascular disease, general surgery, and bariatric surgery, Jessica has also designed, prototyped and tested mechanisms for improved visualization during minimally invasive spinal surgery, a medical device drug injection system, an applier utensil for a gastric band port; and a manufacturing process for surgical drills.
Jessica is an intellectual property portfolio development expert. Jessica’s unique ability to simultaneously understand both the in-house needs of life science companies and those of outside counsel results in streamlined processes, meaningful IP portfolios, and significant cost savings. For several years, Jessica worked in-house for Baxano Inc., a medical device start-up company developing minimally invasive spinal surgical tools. Jessica lead the company’s development of its patent and trademark portfolios and worked closely with the company’s business development, R&D (often working on “skunk works” projects), regulatory, and clinical marketing groups. While strategically expanding Baxano’s US and foreign patent portfolios, Jessica reduced the company’s yearly spend on IP-related activities by over 40%. Jessica also supported the company’s fund raising activities.
Building on this experience, Jessica founded what is now Aurora Consulting Group. As the CEO of Aurora, Jessica and her team advised dozens of companies on strategic IP portfolio development, management of outside counsel, and other business and strategy issues unique to technology start-up companies. Jessica lead Aurora Consulting Group to its successful acquisition.
Jessica has also worked for several years in law firms both as a patent agent and an attorney. Jessica currently works for Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP (one of the best law firms in the country) where her practice focuses on complex civil litigation, including patents, trade secrets, contract, and employment disputes. Jessica is a member of the firm’s Appellate and Constitutional Law practice group and represents clients in the Supreme Court, Circuit Courts of Appeals, and several district courts across the country. Jessica is part of the team representing Smith & Nephew in Arthrex v. Smith & Nephew in the Supreme Court. This case concerns the constitutionality of the Patent Office’s appointment of its Patent Trial and Appeal Board judges. Jessica also works on transactional matters, representing clients in connection with complex and strategic technology and intellectual property driven transactions, providing IP-related support on M&A, investment, financing and related transactions.
Jessica has served as a lecturer at Stanford University for over 14 years on a variety of topics relating to law, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Jessica has published a number of articles and is a contributing author to two textbooks.
Jessica is also active in her industry, with a particular interest in advancing the careers of women. As the President of the Stanford Biodesign Alumni Association, Jessica transformed the association into a financially independent organization. She is currently serving on their Board of Directors. Jessica was also one of the earliest members of the MedTech Women core management team and served as the Program Manager for MedTech Women and the MedTech VisionConference for several years.
Jessica earned her J.D. from Stanford Law School where she received multiple prizes for being the top performing student in her class. Jessica was the Articles Editor Chair and Peer Review Director for the Stanford Technology Law Review. After law school, Jessica served as a law clerk to Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Jessica received her M.S. in Biomechanical Engineering from Stanford University and her B.S. (magna cum laude) in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan. As a mechanical engineer, Jessica worked for the IDEO Health Practice, Ethicon Endo-Surgery, GE Aviation, and Stryker Instruments.
Early in Jessica’s career, Jessica was chosen as a Stanford Biodesign Innovation Fellow where she mastered the process of bringing innovations to market. This fellowship equips innovators with a proven, repeatable process to identify important needs, invent novel technologies to address them, and prepare to implement those products.
As a named inventor on several patents, Jessica has a long history of designing and bringing new inventions to market. Jessica and her colleagues were the first to invent an in-bra wearable breast pump, which revolutionized the breast pump industry and improved women’s lives. Jessica and her team have over four issued patents on these inventions (and several more pending), which they sold to a leading medical device company. Among other inventions in the areas of obstructive sleep apnea, cardiovascular disease, general surgery, and bariatric surgery, Jessica has also designed, prototyped and tested mechanisms for improved visualization during minimally invasive spinal surgery, a medical device drug injection system, an applier utensil for a gastric band port; and a manufacturing process for surgical drills.
Jessica is an intellectual property portfolio development expert. Jessica’s unique ability to simultaneously understand both the in-house needs of life science companies and those of outside counsel results in streamlined processes, meaningful IP portfolios, and significant cost savings. For several years, Jessica worked in-house for Baxano Inc., a medical device start-up company developing minimally invasive spinal surgical tools. Jessica lead the company’s development of its patent and trademark portfolios and worked closely with the company’s business development, R&D (often working on “skunk works” projects), regulatory, and clinical marketing groups. While strategically expanding Baxano’s US and foreign patent portfolios, Jessica reduced the company’s yearly spend on IP-related activities by over 40%. Jessica also supported the company’s fund raising activities.
Building on this experience, Jessica founded what is now Aurora Consulting Group. As the CEO of Aurora, Jessica and her team advised dozens of companies on strategic IP portfolio development, management of outside counsel, and other business and strategy issues unique to technology start-up companies. Jessica lead Aurora Consulting Group to its successful acquisition.
Jessica has also worked for several years in law firms both as a patent agent and an attorney. Jessica currently works for Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP (one of the best law firms in the country) where her practice focuses on complex civil litigation, including patents, trade secrets, contract, and employment disputes. Jessica is a member of the firm’s Appellate and Constitutional Law practice group and represents clients in the Supreme Court, Circuit Courts of Appeals, and several district courts across the country. Jessica is part of the team representing Smith & Nephew in Arthrex v. Smith & Nephew in the Supreme Court. This case concerns the constitutionality of the Patent Office’s appointment of its Patent Trial and Appeal Board judges. Jessica also works on transactional matters, representing clients in connection with complex and strategic technology and intellectual property driven transactions, providing IP-related support on M&A, investment, financing and related transactions.
Jessica has served as a lecturer at Stanford University for over 14 years on a variety of topics relating to law, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Jessica has published a number of articles and is a contributing author to two textbooks.
Jessica is also active in her industry, with a particular interest in advancing the careers of women. As the President of the Stanford Biodesign Alumni Association, Jessica transformed the association into a financially independent organization. She is currently serving on their Board of Directors. Jessica was also one of the earliest members of the MedTech Women core management team and served as the Program Manager for MedTech Women and the MedTech VisionConference for several years.
Jessica earned her J.D. from Stanford Law School where she received multiple prizes for being the top performing student in her class. Jessica was the Articles Editor Chair and Peer Review Director for the Stanford Technology Law Review. After law school, Jessica served as a law clerk to Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Jessica received her M.S. in Biomechanical Engineering from Stanford University and her B.S. (magna cum laude) in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan. As a mechanical engineer, Jessica worked for the IDEO Health Practice, Ethicon Endo-Surgery, GE Aviation, and Stryker Instruments.
