What are the key projects that you have been involved in over the past 12 months?

I joined Deciphex as Head of Legal in July 2024. Founded in 2017, Deciphex is a fast-growing Irish headquartered med-tech company that is leading the way in AI-powered digital pathology, with an ambitious goal to solve global challenges in pathology and diagnostics.

When I joined, I was thrust straight into their Series C- fundraising, which culminated in a very successful raise of €31m, announced in January 2025. This was a significant new challenge for me, coming from my previous experience in more established organisations. It, however, allowed for a great induction to the company and the opportunity to get to grips with all elements of the business, investors, advisors and shareholders, warts and all.

In tandem with the Series C fundraising, we were also tasked with negotiating a strategically important partnership with Charles River Laboratories, expanding our digital pathology offering and advancing cutting-edge image management solutions. This extension to our partnership was announced in February 2025. I was delighted to receive a Strategic Impact Award, together with one of my colleagues, for our work on this project at a company kick-off event in February.

How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crises, and how does your legal strategy align with the broader business strategy to ensure the organisation’s resilience?

As a scale-up company, priorities can shift very quickly. I have experienced this in the last year at Deciphex. As Head of Legal, my job is to ensure that we support and lead from the front on all company initiatives. The legal team at Deciphex is resilient and proactive in watching out for roadblocks and hurdles when strategies change while remaining calm in the face of such change. This helps to instill confidence and buy-in by the wider company body in company initiatives.

Have you had any experiences during your career as a lawyer that stand out as particularly unique or interesting?

Having worked in private practice, and in-house in retail and pharma over the last 15+ years, I can certainly attest that working with a scale-up company such as Deciphex, offers a whole new and exciting challenge for an in-house lawyer. While the predictability of a more mature company can be comforting, on the flip side, the “we’re all in it together” culture of a start-up is infections and ensures that as the company pivots from priority to priority, so do does the workforce to ensure a successful outcome. New challenges, threats, opportunities, growing pains and indeed jurisdictions are a weekly occurrence and require our legal team to be versatile and to skill up on elements outside our comfort zone. This is particularly the case while operating in the cutting-edge sphere of AI and digital technology.