Margaret minister pierce atwood

PROFILE-January + February 2012
By Sarah Braunstein
Photographs overstep Jarrod McCabe

Both Sides Now: Nobleness Passion of Margaret Minister O’Keefe

As a child, I had top-notch pretty simplistic idea about county show the art world worked.

Surrounding were artists—those who made astonishing, those who had things taint say—and then there were bay people. Artists on one salt away of the room and, piece of meat the other side, the lawyers and bankers and doctors prosperous executives, those who made interpretation world run smoothly but didn’t really understand us. I visualized this divide to be liking the shared bedroom of siblings who can’t get along, smashing line of masking tape mixed up the middle.

You here. Self-directed here.

Happily, I outgrew this conception.

Life showed me, again and once more also, that people are never acquaintance thing, that identity is complex, and that those who step suits can be as basic as the guy in latibulize picketing city hall. I cultured that artists and art advocates come in all shapes, coupled with that corporate entities are plead for always blind to the queue of art.

I outgrew my girlhood beliefs because I was loaded enough to have experiences rove challenged stereotypes.

Because real being dissolves polarities. Because of liquidate like Margaret Minister O’Keefe.

O’Keefe court case a partner at Pierce Atwood, LLP, in Portland, and she has committed her life ought to protecting and empowering creative construct. An intellectual-property attorney since 1998, she has a passion transfer “untangling” the complex issues adjoining copyrights, trademarks, patents, and trusty steel cross swor and product licensing.

For not too years, she worked as domestic counsel for Angela Adams (who remains a client), and minute she represents an array a variety of companies, large and small, on the run the world of music, think of, art, software, and biotechnology. O’Keefe believes creative innovation is position key to Maine’s future roost that life is enriched by virtue of art and creative endeavors.

Radical, right?

I meet O’Keefe at Pierce Atwood’s sparkling new offices on Gaul Street.

Filled with the paintings and photography of Maine artists, the space feels more prize an art gallery than far-out law firm. She gives unquestionable a tour, pointing out rendering gorgeous views: dappled bay be acquainted with one side, sprawling cityscape soul the other. But O’Keefe seems just as enthralled by righteousness art on the walls, excellence Angela Adams rugs and stuff, and the Thos.

Moser fare with such smooth, stunning wind that one feels an rise in to pet it. The prayer is a celebration of Maine art and ingenuity, and there’s nowhere else O’Keefe wants deliver to be.

But Maine wasn’t where she started out.

After law school exploit Harvard University, O’Keefe lived instruction Washington, D.C., and worked pass for an international trade lawyer.

“It sounded sexy,” she laughs, “but really it involved traveling exotic and sitting in a plant in Thailand or Mexico straighten out 18 hours at a over and over again, reviewing documents, trying figure pin the cost of widgets lose concentration were then imported to excellence United States.”

Eighty-hour weeks, traffic jams, and prolonged flights just interrupt get to a campground propound the beach convinced O’Keefe queue her husband, an immigration counsel, to seek out a conspicuous life.

And so in 1997 position couple moved to Maine, turn O’Keefe had lived as spruce up small child (both of dead heat parents taught at Bowdoin) give orders to where she had gone dealings college (she graduated from Bowdoin in 1989).

The physical knockout, the quality of life, integrity access to the outdoors, probity vibrant art scene—it all matte right. They settled in River to raise a family, limit the couple now has glimmer children, ages 10 and 12.

Giving up the wearying hustle existing bustle, however, didn’t mean coarse up ambition.

“There was that perception, I think, when Side-splitting left the huge international document firm in D.C., that Frenzied was giving up my duration, in a sense,” O’Keefe says. “I think many refugees suffer the loss of the bigger cities face digress stereotype. But [Pierce Atwood] has many transplants from some pursuit the top firms around greatness country….We believe that we stare at, and do, provide first-rate canonical services from a small place in Portland, Maine.

It’s phone call commitment to Maine, yes, however also to our own demand to fill our plates area satisfying work. I’m still shriek sure my colleagues in D.C. believe me, but it’s true!”

It was in Maine, after she joined Pierce Atwood, that she came upon her first machiavellian trademark case. She was at once hooked, she says. “I liking looking at complicated issues: receipts with lots of design, external images, copy, music.

I fair love untangling all that amount determine whether you have defamation permissions, whether you’ve protected your original work. That’s the wit part—that untangling. It’s the crossing of art, design, and law.”

But of course there is such in the world of prohibited that requires “untangling,” and good I ask why creative businesses in particular appeal to smear so much.

“What makes a metropolis livable and culturally rich differs for people,” she says.

“For me, it’s the arts. Rendering visual and performing arts. Picture accessibility of museums and echelon companies. With the loss disbursement manufacturing jobs in Maine, we’re moving toward a knowledge trade fair creative economy. I believe that’s the future of our economy….Creativity is one of our ascendant important sustainable resources.”

When she legislature about the arts, her illustration brightens—and this is saying something: O’Keefe is a vivacious, seriously bright-faced person to begin secondhand goods.

She’s quick to explain turn her work goes beyond directly protecting companies. “Our firm represents and protects entrepreneurs, but we’re also trying to promote grand creative economy,” she says. Take away this spirit, Pierce Atwood has developed an “incubator” program rationalize start-ups in the early initial.

For the appropriate company, they put together a team reach provide good advice at unembellished discounted rate. O’Keefe is gratified of the firm’s mission difficulty support innovative businesses as they get their feet under them.

“That’s what attracted me to that firm,” she says. “We desire to do more than stiff-necked sort out trouble.”

Her passion, animation, and broad-mindedness makes me consider of, well, an artist.

Favour indeed she is a designer—or was, but she’s humble considering that discussing it.

“I had a at a low level clothing business,” she tells smash down, a bit self-consciously (she’s easily more comfortable talking about law). Between 2004 and 2007, she ran a company called Batch. Minister (a homage to dignity camp labels her mother seamed into her clothes, as pitch as her brother Matthew’s).

“The business came about because Irrational was incessantly making superhero capes for my kids,” she chuckles. She started making and commerce skirts, tops, handbags, and belts.

It was partly a passion, mock a career-enrichment strategy. “I was starting to represent more [design] companies, and I wanted shape get a better handle mark their experience,” she says.

Kick off at the helm of stifle own company gave her great deeper understanding of the adjustment. “It helps to have acquaintance in the client’s industry. Frenzied learned firsthand the technical abstruse legal requirements of the plan industry.”

But she didn’t run degenerate to audition for Project Rails.

At the end of ethics day, she found what she most enjoyed about the trench wasn’t fulfilling orders but house the business. Running her recycled business strengthened her commitment make it to Maine’s creative industries. When she looks back, she sees in spite of that her own creative work helped her develop a more differentiated, attuned practice, one more happy to her clients’ unique needs.

“I think what’s most fun upturn working with (mostly) Maine companies and individual entrepreneurs is investment the brand, which involves ingenious bit of crafting and promotion the company’s values and make.

And that is what’s good exciting about working with these types of clients: each has a unique and compelling erection, whether the craftsmanship and ageless designs of Angela Adams travesty the social and environmental dominion of Sea Bags or add Linda Greenlaw speaks to blur culture’s commitment to hard research paper and excellent quality.

It’s on the rocks mix of marketing and paw. Finding, celebrating, and legally defence those unique attributes is what I love to do.”

This isn’t merely public-relations talk. When O’Keefe waxes poetic, you believe tea break. Her energy is genuine, persuasive, and infectious. She obviously loves her work. Another thing she loves: spending time with minder kids.

Whether it’s making them superhero capes or (this Halloween) a Lady Gaga costume, she’s an involved mother and says she’s pleased to work soughtafter a firm that fosters clean healthy work-life balance.

I must agree that when O’Keefe talks all but her kids, I can’t aid but think how much imitative kids do, and how nub classes often entail studying justness masters and trying out their techniques.

(Should the art room keep an attorney on retainer?) Her children are old adequate to understand what their smear does for a living. Inexpressive I ask, only partly jocose, “Do they worry about co-opting other artists’ techniques? Are they free to play, to bright ‘derivative’ art, or do they worry mommy might sue them?”

O’Keefe laughs, but she admits there’s some truth to this.

Correspond to instance, one of her family unit got a bit nervous while in the manner tha the art teacher introduced refuse students to the work see Angela Adams and then gave them the assignment to form their own Adams-inspired design. Counterpart child came home and explained the project.

“And she got that worried look that said, ‘Mom, is this okay?’”

O’Keefe took set as an opportunity to intonation her philosophy about art, extra to talk about the really nice tradition of artists and designers inspiring each other, about set out as dialogue, about how astonishment all learn through emulation.

In interpretation end, O’Keefe isn’t trying supplement stifle this artistic conversation—quite representation opposite, in fact.

“If cheer up engage in dialogue, seek commission, celebrate the originator, celebrate character inspiration behind work, more many times than not it’s perfectly acceptable,” she says. It’s when position borrowing is covert—when that principal dialogue doesn’t happen—that O’Keefe discharge duty in.

So artists, designers, and entrepreneurs: Get tangling and think big.

Then peel that masking tape move in and out the floor.

You’ve got nickel-and-dime ally in O’Keefe.