Alumni Spotlight: Heather Steinmeyer, JD ’90
IP Alumni Spotlight: Heather Steinmeyer
Managing Senior Associate General Counsel at Anthem, Inc.
You’re interested in Intellectual Property (IP) and you’ve decided you want to go to law school: now what? Law school is the first step down a pathway towards an engaging and rewarding career. However, simply choosing a law school can take a great deal of diligent research and once admitted, students may not know how to best navigate the system. But have no fear, Loyola’s Alumni Spotlight is here! This week, I spoke with Heather Steinmeyer (’90) about why she chose Loyola Law School, how she fell in love with IP, and where that intersection has taken her in her career.
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Intellectual Property (IP) is a growing field that encompasses a wide range of fields including patents, copyright, trademarks, privacy, and technology. We spoke with Gregory Leighton (JD ’06) who is currently a 
Hi all!
I entered Loyola in the Fall of 2015 with one goal: pursue IP law to protect companies in the fashion and luxury goods industry. At the time, I was aware that I was hardly the cookie cutter law student. As an undergraduate at the University of Michigan, I studied English and Art History, and I channeled my energy into gaining practical work experience. I wrote press releases and marketing material for companies in the luxury bridal industry, assuming that upon graduation, I would continue to shape my career around these particular experiences.
My decision to leave engineering for law school was not a simple one, and making sure that I went to the right law school for me was just as important as my decision to make the transition. Having worked as a patent examiner for the U.S. Patent Office and as an intellectual property (IP) law clerk at Cardinal Health, I was familiar with the schools that offered great IP programs, but I knew that I wanted to attend a school where I could distinguish myself in the IP field. When I applied to schools, it was important for me to find schools that not only had a good location and a good IP program, but also a strong alumni network and supportive community that could give me the best chance of finding employment upon graduation. Having just finished my first semester at Loyola, I can confidently say that Loyola was the right choice for me and that the school is a great place for students hoping to become patent attorneys.
Next fall I start my final year at Loyola and can sincerely say that attending Loyola has been the best decision I’ve ever made. For one, the student body here is incredible and caring – not cut-throat or insanely competitive. On top of that, the 
In the spring of 2012 I graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with a degree in Bioengineering. Following graduation I began working at Cardinal Health, which is a medical manufacturing and distribution company. From July of 2012 to June of 2013 I worked as an engineer in R&D designing various medical products such as suction canisters, durable medical equipment, and monitoring devices. In June of 2013 I moved over to Cardinal Health’s Intellectual Property department and focused primarily in patent law. The majority of my work involved working with the marketing, R&D, and the legal teams to ensure products we were planning to launch were clear of competitor patents. However, I was also tasked to build patent portfolios of competitor products, meet with the R&D team to create product design arounds, and assist the IP team in prosecuting patent applications. Prior to my work at Cardinal I hadn’t the faintest idea of patents and their importance in developing technology. But by August of 2013, I was completely hooked. Thus, I decided to begin the process of applying to law school.
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