Faculty Directory

Susan Montgomery

Bio

Professor Montgomery retired in 2020. Since then, she has continued to play a role in the university’s entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem, including chairing Mosaic Council, serving on the Venture Mentoring Network (VMN) Steering Committee, and mentoring ventures and I-Corp teams. As a member of the faculties of the D’Amore-McKim School of Business and the School of Law, Professor Montgomery focused on interdisciplinary business and law programs, including development and operation of the IP CO-LAB and IP/Innovation Connection conference, and taught Legal Environment for Entrepreneurs and Innovators, Early Stage IP Decisions, IP Transactions Practice, and Branding Law and Practice. She previously taught Trademark Law and an International IP Law Seminar at Suffolk University Law School.

Professor Montgomery was previously a partner in the Boston office of Foley Hoag, where she practiced for over thirty years. Her practice focused on connecting IP and innovation, strategic planning for global development, and the exploitation and protection of IP assets. She has experience representing parties to domestic and international business transactions, including acquisitions, alliances, licenses and professional services contracts; advising on global IP strategies, structuring and managing the purchase, sale, collateralization and license of IP assets; managing the prosecution and enforcement of international trademark portfolios; and advising companies on trademark selection and clearance, online content, packaging, franchising and trade practices compliance.

She represented a range of US, foreign and multinational companies, including new technology start-ups, NGOs, professional service firms, software companies and mature manufacturing operations. She also served for many years as outside general counsel to several technology companies.

Professor Montgomery has served for almost two decades as an elected delegate to the American Bar Association (ABA) House of Delegates and chair and council officer of the 24,000-member Intellectual Property Law Section of the ABA. She testified before congressional committees on behalf of the ABA, co-chaired the ABA Joint Task Force on Security Interests in Intellectual Property and served on the ABA Working Group on the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA).

Professor Montgomery serves as an advisor to the American Law Institute on Principles of Software Contract Law. She previously served on the board of trustees of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and the American Intellectual Property Law Educational Foundation (AIPLEF), and the boards of directors of Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts (VLA) and the International Trademark Association (INTA).