Mary L. Shapiro started her law firm in the heart of San Francisco’s Financial District in 2009 after ten years at the renowned firm Townsend and Townsend and Crew, LLP. As an independent trademark and copyright lawyer, Mary counsels a broad range of clients in owning, enforcing, protecting and profiting from their intellectual property.

In the first 20 years of her business career, Mary worked her way up in the publishing world from book retailing to publishing, and rose to vice president of marketing and corporate communications for an international book distributor. At the time, as a purveyor, not yet a protector, of intellectual property, she was not yet aware of how perfectly her combined experience in marketing and publishing would serve her IP legal career later in life.

As former vice president of marketing for Baker & Taylor Books, a global publishing distributor, Mary was on the receiving end of intellectual property legal advice. She learned to challenge advice that didn’t square with her fixed marketing budget and the bigger business picture. She’s been the unfortunate recipient of an IP lawyer’s demand letter that ultimately led to rebranding and re-launching a product. After becoming an IP attorney herself, Mary maintains a balanced perspective, giving great weight to immediate marketing objectives and the long view of her clients business vision.