Laural Boone received her PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Chicago, was a postdoctoral researcher at Rockefeller University, and then earned her JD with honours from George Washington University. After prosecution and litigation experience with law firms Finnegan Henderson and White & Case, she joined Alexion Pharmaceuticals in 2014. Boone handles the full scope of global biotechnology IP issues. Her current responsibilities include patent prosecution; rendering legal opinions with respect to patentability, validity and freedom to operate; due diligence reviews; and transactional work. She handles all phases of IP for drug research, development and commercialisation.