About Elizabeth B.
Elizabeth B. Hagan took a route to law that began in the laboratory. She earned a B.A. in Biology from Wellesley College in 2003 and then moved into graduate research, completing a Ph.D. in Biology and Medicine at Brown University in 2009. After several years immersed in scientific training, she returned to school and received her J.D. from the University of Washington School of Law in 2013.
Her time in science shaped how she approaches legal problems. The doctoral years taught patience for complex data and a methodical approach to evidence. Law school added new tools: legal reasoning, advocacy, and the mechanics of practice. That combination of skills is a recurring theme in her professional trajectory.
After finishing law school, Hagan joined Fenwick & West LLP. At the firm she has worked on matters that require translating technical concepts into legal strategy and clear explanations for clients and opposing parties. Her role at Fenwick has put her into teams that handle the kinds of legal work where a technical background can be useful.
Colleagues and clients encounter an attorney who can move between dense scientific papers and detailed legal filings without losing track of either. She draws on her graduate-level training when assessing scientific evidence and when developing lines of argument. That background also shapes how she evaluates risk and assesses the strengths of different approaches in contested matters.
Hagan is admitted to practice in Washington. She maintains ties to both the legal community and professional circles that discuss the intersection of law and the life sciences. Those connections help her keep current on developments that matter to clients dealing with scientific or technical questions in a legal setting.
Her career path reflects a deliberate shift from discovery in the lab to advocacy in legal contexts. It is a path taken by a number of lawyers who began in research but wanted to apply that expertise to the rules and disputes that govern innovation and commercialization. Hagan’s work sits at that crossroads, where technical knowledge and legal doctrine meet.
She currently practices at Fenwick & West LLP in Washington, handling legal matters that draw on her background in biology and medicine.
