Heather Rafter, Esq.

Digidesign, General Counsel

Heather Dembert Rafter is the General Counsel of Digidesign, the Audio business unit of Avid Technology, Inc. Digidesign's hardware and software is used worldwide by individuals and companies who create digital audio content, from home music hobbyists to editors of feature films in Hollywood.  Digidesign has received numerous industry awards, including a Grammy award for Outstanding Technical Achievement and the 2003 Academy Award of Merit (Oscar statuette) for the design, development, and implementation of the Digidesign Pro Tools digital audio workstation.

In her role, Heather is responsible for managing the legal affairs of a variety of music-technology companies: Digidesign (based in Northern California), the Advanced Instruments Research (A.I.R.) Group (based in Bremen, Germany), M-Audio (L.A. based) and Sibelius Software (London-based). Heather supervises all legal matters for these entities, including intellectual property protection, licensing, leases, employment, mergers and acquisitions, dispute resolution and providing day-to-day guidance.

Prior to joining Digidesign in 1994, Heather was a member of the litigation department at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, where she specialized in complex securities litigation and intellectual property law.

Ms. Rafter is active in the American Bar Association. In 2003-04, she was Chair of the ABA's Section of Science & Technology Law and currently serves on the ABA Standing Committee on Membership. She also was Chair of the Barristers' Intellectual Property Committee of the Bar Association of San Francisco. Ms. Rafter frequently lectures and writes on intellectual property and computer law issues.

She received her undergraduate degree from Princeton University, magna cum laude, and her J.D. from Columbia Law School, where she was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. She is admitted to the bars of the State of California, the Northern District of California and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.