Daugherty brings well-rounded expertise to intellectual property

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When Raye Daugherty started her career as a 23 year old, she had to work hard to establish her credibility and gain the trust of managers who were taking her advice.

Getting there required some brushing up.

“The thing I’ve always done is over-prepare,” she said. “I prepare extensively, and I make sure I’ve anticipated every possible question they could ask.”

Now, as a partner at Quarles & Brady, Daugherty is sought after not only for her expertise in intellectual property and patenting, but also for her experience helping a panel of female lawyers with client development.

“In an area that is often led by men or predominantly male teams, we’ve turned that on its head,” Daugherty said. “Our teams are almost all female attorneys and most of them have engineering degrees.”

Because many of Daugherty’s clients rely on her to provide high-level advice about technical and legal matters, she has begun offering in-person patent-law training, conducting more than 25 sessions throughout the country.

“We in-house folk are constantly looking for the rare type of external counsel, those who combine a pragmatic business perspective and touch with a deep subject matter expertise,” said Aaron Gunderson, who is vice president of legal – global business operations at Pentair and has worked with Daugherty for more than 12 years. “Raye fits the mold very well. She is hyper-pragmatic and responsive, always in the trenches with the business folk working to solve problems. Raye is innovative in not only how she helps her clients, but in how she educates them about intellectual property, builds her book of business and helps other attorneys do the same.”

Throughout her career, Daugherty has formed long-lasting client relationships. Those have led to some big deals. One had her working on a multi-year consolidation of patent and trademark portfolios following a $4.5 billion acquisition.

“Raye is unstoppable and will always make sure the job gets done, and the road gets repaved so she once again has a solid and organized path forward,” said Lori Meddings, a partner whom Daugherty recently recruited to the firm.