Malisheia Douglas

Overview

Malisheia is Counsel in McDonald Hopkins’ Intellectual Property Department. With over 16 years of experience spanning in-house counsel and private practice, she has developed a global practice guiding companies through complex intellectual property challenges at the intersection of innovation, business strategy, and evolving legal frameworks.

Malisheia’s practice centers on IP due diligence and post-acquisition IP integration, patent and trademark portfolio strategy, trade secret protection, IP licensing, and technology partnerships. She works closely with clients to structure, negotiate, and implement IP-driven transactions that maximize value, mitigate risk, and ensure seamless transitions during mergers, acquisitions, and strategic collaborations. Her experience spans diverse industries, including manufacturing, e-commerce, industrial and consumer products, automotive, oil and gas, and energy management.

She also advises clients on branding protection and global IP strategy, helping businesses strengthen market positioning through strategic trademark management and technology commercialization. Malisheia routinely counsels innovators on the interplay between trade secret and patent protection, particularly for emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML).

Her work includes advising on IP rights in the context of government contracts, including ownership and use rights for technologies and products developed under federal R&D initiatives. As former in-house counsel, she led cross-functional teams focused on cybersecurity, digitization, and diversity and inclusion—experience that informs her collaborative, business-aligned approach to legal counsel.