INTERNATIONAL MENTORS
it was important to learn and share experiences with and from her mentee.” Herdeman said she never imagined how many doors her time at the law school – including in the Mentor Externship Program – would open for her. “St. Thomas does an incredible job of pulling in leaders from the law community to help foster growth in students,” she said. “There’s a lot of accommodating the needs of students and creating opportunities and experiences for them to learn new things. Sometimes it even works out that they’ll find a firm that will take them on an international business trip.” Bonding over intellectual property Both Gisler and Herdeman aspired to have careers in the medical field while earning their undergraduate degrees. While neither ended up in health care, they both have degrees in biology-related fields,
which make for a solid foundation when pursuing IP law. To legally practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office, a bachelor’s degree in one of the specified fields of science or engineering is required. “When I came to law school with my science background, I was thinking I would head in a health law direction,” Herdeman said. “I was still really interested in medicine and hospital systems, but what I’ve really loved about intellectual property, and specifically the patent work I do, is that I’m still around a lot of healthcare professionals. I wanted to have a career where I was constantly learning new things and around smart people who challenged me. I definitely feel that way about this profession.” Gisler said her career has been about trusting her instincts and working on projects that she truly connects with. She is drawn to opportunities to help
businesses engaging in innovative technologies to solve problems. “I consistently listen to my heart and follow my own curiosity,” Gisler said. “And that’s been exciting.” During her time at the law school, Gisler felt like a part of the community. The relationships she had with both her fellow classmates and the staff and faculty helped her establish a strong network before she even graduated with her law degree. “I loved the access to these world- class minds,” Gisler said about the school’s faculty and staff. “The people are so brilliant in what they do, and they’ll open up their doors or sit down and have coffee with you. Those relationships empowered me. I was encouraged to follow my own path even if it was a nontraditional one.” Learning from each other Herdeman had briefly met Gisler in person last fall, but in Sweden
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