Patent Attorney. Biosystems Engineer. Government & University Counsel.

Science, under contract.

I work with researchers, inventors, and companies on the agreements that determine who owns the work and what happens to it next.

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Patent drawing — Diving Dress, 1891

Experience

15+ years in government, academia & private practice

15+
Years of experience
USPTO
Registered Patent Attorney
5,000+
Research agreements negotiated

The Work

Where I can help you.

Most research delays aren't scientific. They're contractual. I work at the intersection of law, science, and institutions to keep research moving forward.

01

CRADAs, Sponsored Research & Consortia

For companies and institutions navigating research collaborations with universities and federal agencies.

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02

IP, Licensing & Inventor Rights

For faculty, inventors, and founders navigating IP ownership, licensing, and institutional claims.

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Patent drawing — Air Ship, 1890

The Approach

Built from the inside out.

I didn't learn this work from the outside. I spent 15 years inside government agencies, university counsel offices, and private practice, seeing the same problems from every angle before starting CRADA Law.

USPTO Registered Patent Attorney
Clinical Research & IP Counsel, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (6 years)
University Counsel, IP & Tech Transfer, University of Arizona (4 years)
B.S. Biosystems Engineering, University of Minnesota
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“

I believe in the work researchers do, and I want their contributions to make it through the legal machinery intact.

Sarah Hestad — Founder, CRADA Law

Discuss your agreement.

Describe your matter briefly and I’ll follow up.

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My Practice

Government Research
Agreements

Most research delays are not scientific. They are contractual. I represent companies in complex government research collaborations where multiple parties, competing interests, and difficult terms all have to line up before the work can move forward.

For Faculty, Inventors
& Founders

You are building something valuable inside an institution with policies, templates, and committees. Universities have teams of attorneys. They do not work for the inventor. I do.

Common Questions

This question comes up constantly. University involvement may be triggered by institutional policy, appointment terms, use of facilities or personnel, background rights, or prior agreements. Sometimes the university’s claim is stronger than the inventor expects. Sometimes it is weaker. The point is to sort the facts early and understand options before positions harden.

These agreements are not just administrative paperwork. They shape control, future flexibility, economic viability, diligence obligations, and the long-term value of the technology. If a company may be built around the asset, the license becomes one of the core documents shaping what that company can and cannot do.

That instinct is often right. Consulting and sponsored research agreements routinely reach further than they need to, especially around assignment, option rights, improvements, background technology, and future work. Small drafting choices in these documents can quietly give away leverage that is very hard to recover later.

This is where old ambiguities stop being theoretical. Investors, partners, and acquirers want a clean story about ownership, institutional claims, government rights, and the documents behind them. If those issues were never sorted properly on the front end, diligence is usually when they surface in the most painful way.

Have an agreement or ownership issue?

Describe your matter and I’ll let you know how I can help.

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Start a Conversation

Start a conversation.

If you have a research, ownership, or commercialization matter, describe it briefly below. I will follow up to assess whether I can assist.

Or email directly: sarah@cradalaw.com

Sarah Hestad

Sarah Hestad

Founder, CRADA Law — Sarah Hestad Law, PLLC

Patent attorney, engineer, and former government and university counsel. I founded CRADA Law after 15 years working on research and IP agreements from inside the institutions that shape how science moves.

Sarah Hestad

Sarah Hestad

Founder, CRADA Law — Sarah Hestad Law, PLLC

I founded CRADA Law after more than fifteen years working on technology, intellectual property, and clinical research matters across the federal government, academia, and private practice. I started this firm because I am deeply aligned with builders, innovators, and creators. I like helping to build things, protect things, and move important ideas into the world. The ideas are never the problem. The challenge is the system: the institutions, constraints, and processes the work has to pass through. My role is to help clients navigate that process.

My practice focuses on the agreements and ownership issues that shape whether research can move forward and on what terms. I advise on CRADAs, sponsored research, licensing, and intellectual property matters where science and institutions intersect. These are not simple deals, and I do not pretend they are. What I offer is a practical understanding of how they function inside real organizations, with real tradeoffs, review processes, and incentives.

Before founding CRADA Law, I served as counsel within the federal government, where I drafted and negotiated thousands of CRADAs, license agreements, and multi-site research collaborations. I built a reputation for moving difficult deals forward and finding workable paths through institutional friction, competing priorities, and structural constraints. My approach has always been practical and solutions-oriented: helping clients understand the options, the tradeoffs, and the best path forward.

I also served as counsel at the University of Arizona, where I worked closely with the technology transfer team and advised on research, licensing, and commercialization matters. I valued the opportunity to support the people bringing new technologies out of institutions and into the world.

Earlier in my career, I practiced as a patent attorney, including at a boutique intellectual property firm, representing clients in academia, technology, and medicine. I also spent several years based in the Middle East at a top international law firm, where I worked on matters involving oil and gas, intellectual property, and free trade.

Before law, I trained and worked as an engineer and spent part of my early career living and working in Latin America. I have always been drawn to systems, language, culture, science, and the people trying to build something real within them.

I am based in Tucson, Arizona.

Education

  • J.D., Creighton University School of Law
  • B.S., Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, University of Minnesota

Admissions

  • Arizona
  • USPTO Registered Patent Attorney
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