Font Size:

Verathon Inc. designs and makes medical devices. Its key products are an ultrasound machine used to evaluate bladder and urinary tract functions and a video laryngoscope called the "GlideScope," used by anesthesiologists to quickly and correctly insert breathing tubes in surgery patients. Verathon has about 400 employees worldwide, half of them at company headquarters in the Seattle suburb of Bothell, Wash. Annual revenues are about $125 million.

General Counsel Rick Koske is responsible, he said, for "everything a company deals with," including labor law, contracts, license reviews, regulatory matters, intellectual property issues, litigation and working with Verathon's board and management team on governance issues.

"When you're the only attorney, there's only one door they can knock on," he said. "Sometimes it's a lot of traffic in and out."

Koske joined Verathon in July 2008 to found a law department after 19 years at Fluke Corp. He was enticed, he said, by the opportunity to join a midsize company where he could establish and hone procedures and help grow the business. He also was drawn to Verathon's business mission. "These are products that really make a difference; these are products that save lives," he said. "That's kind of cool."

Koske reports to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Gerald McMorrow. They meet at least once each week for updates that may include the way Koske is combating threats to the company's intellectual property or his research and opinions on potential acquisitions.

The company often is on the prowl for potential acquisitions. In 2006, it acquired Saturn Biomedical Systems Inc. of Vancouver, British Columbia, the original developer of the GlideScope.

One of Koske's first tasks when he joined Verathon was to evaluate the quality of outside counsel work. He was pleased with what he found, noting that, although Verathon had been in business for 25 years, the company faced no burning legal issues.

"As a generalist, I can't be on top of everything in all matters," Koske said. "It's not just the scope of the work; it's also the volume. Over the years, I've developed some pretty solid relationships with some critical outside partners. I use outside counsel quite a bit, both as a sounding board and also for real substantive work."

Koske taps Seattle-based Perkins Coie for general matters, mergers and acquisitions, agreements and contracts. He'd used the firm for litigation work before joining Verathon. He continues to use Seattle intellectual property boutique Black Lowe & Graham, which provided patent preparation and prosecution work before Koske came aboard. The Seattle office of Palo Alto, Calif.'s Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati also has enjoyed a long-term relationship with Verathon.

Despite the support Verathon receives from law firms, Koske cautioned: "You can't run to outside counsel for everything." He often obtains helpful sample agreements, white papers and forms from the Association of Corporate Counsel.

Koske earned an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from Ohio University in 1976. He spent 11 years as a power systems engineer with Owens Corning in Toledo, Ohio, during which he began taking night classes at the University of Toledo College of Law. The day after he graduated in 1987, he drove to Seattle to start work at Christensen O'Connor Johnson Kindness, an intellectual property firm. After two years there, he followed a recruiter's suggestion and interviewed for a position as a patent attorney at Fluke Corp. in Everett, Wash. Fluke's niche—manufacturing and servicing electronics test tools and software—proved a comfortable fit for an engineer-turned-attorney.

During Koske's long tenure at Fluke, revenues tripled from $400 million to $1.2 billion. Fluke made several acquisitions and, in 1998, was in turn acquired by Danaher Corp. Koske was promoted to chief IP counsel, handling contracts, litigation and IP matters. To further round out his skills, he spent four years as a business manager in a $5 million division at Fluke. He found that the experience helped him bring a business perspective to legal issues and better understand businesspeople.

He was happy at Danaher, but when a recruiter contacted him about an opportunity to become the first in-house GC at Verathon, Koske jumped at the challenge. He knew that his IP skills would be put to good use and that he'd be tapping his backgrounds in engineering and business as he joined the management team.

Koske expects to continue evaluating company procedures to help Verathon adhere to regulatory requirements as well as best practices. Specifically, he'd like to see more in-house training and formalized processes to help employees better understand how to maintain proper relationships with doctors. Verathon no longer provides gifts to doctors—not even trade-show trinkets—to avoid the appearance of undue influence. Koske said that Verathon "made a conscious decision to stop [this practice] so that there was not even a hint of any impropriety in those relationships" and that the move was not in response to fraud and anti-corruption laws and regulations.

"Generally, if people understand why they are to do something a certain way, or not do something, it makes so much more sense," he said. "And that makes controlling those issues that much easier."

Koske especially likes the intellectual challenges of advising a thriving company and the opportunity to resolve a variety of complex questions and problems as part of a team. He's found that his most effective work results from prioritizing, developing a clear set of goals, listening carefully and putting what he hears into perspective.

Koske, originally from Toledo, is the divorced father of two children: Sarah, 27, and Ben, 23. His hobbies include golf, photography and hiking and climbing; he's reached the peak of Mount Rainier three times.

The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling and Julie and Julia.

Subscribe to The National Law Journal