Katie is a trusted strategic advisor to technology and venture-backed companies navigating complex commercial, intellectual property, and data challenges at every stage of growth. With over 15 years of experience in the emerging company and venture capital space, she serves as a member of Gunderson Dettmer's Management Committee and counsels clients across the technology space, with a focus on artificial intelligence, advanced computing, enterprise software, hardware, robotics, and other capital-intensive technologies at the frontier of innovation.

Strategic Transactions

Clients rely on Katie as an outsourced general counsel who delivers strategic, practical guidance across the full spectrum of commercial arrangements — from acquisitions and spin-outs to SaaS licenses, IP counseling, development collaborations, distribution agreements, and a wide range of in- and out-licensing deals. She regularly leads negotiations opposite the world's largest technology companies, including Alphabet, Amazon, Anthropic, Apple, Google, IBM, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, OpenAI, and Oracle, as well as major enterprises across retail, telecom, financial services, healthcare, media, and higher education.

AI & Data Advisory

Katie is one of the nation's leading advisors at the intersection of artificial intelligence, data strategy, and commercial law. She counsels AI companies, their investors, and enterprises adopting AI across the full technology stack — from training data acquisition and licensing, to model development and IP protection, to deployment, distribution, and monetization. Her practice spans:

• Data licensing and acquisition — Structuring and negotiating agreements for the procurement, licensing, and exchange of training data, including synthetic data, proprietary datasets, and web-scraped content, with a focus on copyright, fair use, and regulatory risk. 
• AI model commercialization — Advising on go-to-market strategies for AI products and platforms, including SaaS and API-based distribution, output ownership, risk allocation, model-as-a-service licensing, and pricing structures.
• IP strategy and protection — Counseling on ownership, protectability, and enforcement of rights in AI-generated and AI-assisted outputs, training methodologies, and underlying models, including trade secret, patent, and copyright strategies.
• Data partnerships and collaborations — Structuring joint ventures, data-sharing frameworks, and strategic partnerships between AI companies and data holders across all sectors. 
• Privacy and data strategy — As founder of the firm's privacy practice, Katie leverages deep expertise in the international privacy regulatory framework to counsel clients on risks and opportunities involving personal data use and exchange in business transactions, product development, and machine learning model training. 

Thought Leadership & Venture Capital

Katie has led pioneering transactions in the AI space, advising both companies and leading venture capital firms on high-stakes investments, acquisitions, and commercial partnerships shaping the market. She brings the same strategic and commercial lens to fund-side work — including diligence on IP portfolios, data assets, and AI-related risks. A frequent speaker and trusted voice on AI legal issues, Katie has been quoted in Fast Company, The Washington Post, MIT Technology Review, Axios AI+, ADWEEK, Quartz, and VentureBeat, and has guest lectured on AI, IP, and data topics at Yale, Cornell, and MIT.