Heather Dembert Rafter has been providing legal and business development services to the audio, music technology and digital media industry for over twenty-five years. As the principal counsel at RafterMarsh US, she leads the RM team in providing a wide variety of services to small and medium-sized companies. For fourteen years, she was the lead counsel for Digidesign, the audio division of Avid Technology, beginning as Director of Legal Affairs and rising to the role of General Counsel. During her time at Digidesign, the company expanded to include M-Audio and Sibelius Software. She began her legal career as a litigation attorney at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, focusing on intellectual property and commercial matters. Heather has served in a variety of leadership roles in the American Bar Association, including Chair of the ABA Section of Science & Technology Law. She is a graduate of Princeton University (A.B., Woodrow School of Public & International Affairs, magna cum laude) and Columbia University School of Law (J.D., Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar). When not focusing on work, Heather often can be found at a music festival or on a yoga mat. She�s especially proud of her three children, two of whom work in Silicon Valley (Square, Google) and her daughter who�s starting college. *currently not practicing in that capacity