Jay Kugler DeYoung Named Chair of Women’s Initiative

Fish & Richardson have announced that Jay Kugler DeYoung, a principal in the firm’s Boston office, has been named chair of the firm’s EMPOWER Women’s Initiative. In 2009, Fish created EMPOWER – which stands for Enrichment, Mentorship, Partnering, Opportunities, Wisdom, Excellence, and Responsibility – to promote the recruitment, retention and advancement of the firm’s female legal staff. EMPOWER provides expanded professional and business development opportunities, mentoring, training, and support to position the firm’s women for success.

DeYoung takes over the leadership of EMPOWER from principal Teresa Lavoie, Ph.D., who led the program for more than three years. During her tenure, Lavoie was a key driver of the firm’s work to reduce bias in its promotion process, ensuring candidates are considered on merit. She also helped spearhead Fish’s commitment to the Mansfield Rule and improvements to its parental leave policy. Lavoie will continue to serve on the firm’s management committee.

DeYoung is a preeminent life sciences patent attorney who has spent her career championing women in the law. She has served for 11 years as a group leader for associates and technology specialists – mentoring and evaluating junior members of the Patent Group in Fish’s Boston office. For the past three years, DeYoung has participated in the firm’s Professional Development Subcommittee, which assists in making recommendations regarding principal elevation, and in 2019 she joined Fish’s Board of Directors. She has worked with high school students through Fish’s “Most Patentable Invention” program with the Massachusetts Science and Engineering Fair for the past 18 years, and joined MSEF’s Board in 2019.

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