Maja Larson

Biography

Maja Larson has spent her most of her career building teams and functions in the in-house environment. She is a seasoned business and legal advisor, advising executives at public and private technology and biotechnology companies and not-for-profit corporations. Maja has been responsible for legal, corporate governance, risk management and crisis management functions, and managed administrative functions including grants administration, research compliance, and human resources. She is also an investor for startup companies and serves on startup advisory boards, private and nonprofit boards as an advisor and director/trustee. For 14 years, Maja was VP, general counsel, and corporate secretary of the Allen Institute, a large-scale nonprofit medical research organization. Prior to the Allen Institute, Maja was VP and associate general counsel at Expedia, Inc., and an associate in the corporate securities group at Preston Gates & Ellis (now K & L Gates). She has worked for a publicly traded shipyard overseeing a broad range of legal matters; for an international franchisor managing franchisee compliance; and in the finance department of a manufacturing company working on SEC reporting.

Maja is passionate about mentoring law students and lawyers on career development and is a thought leader on legal competencies for attorney development. At the Allen Institute, Maja started a robust legal intern program, giving law students the opportunity to learn in-house lawyering skills, with over 40 legal interns participating over a 13-year period. She was an invited lecturer for senior in-house lawyers in China designed to teach US in-house lawyering skills.

With Professor Margaret Chon, Maja published a book chapter entitled "The Greatest Generational Impact: Open Neuroscience as an Emerging Knowledge Commons." She also was a contributor to "Women in Law: Discovering the True Meaning of Success", an anthology of stories by women lawyers on their meaning of success in law and in life. Maja holds a B.A. in Sociology from the University of Washington and a J.D. from Seattle University School of Law.