Andrea Loshin Colby, Esq. is a patent and intellectual property attorney with more than 35 years of expertise working on behalf of major firms and international corporations. Since 2016, she has been a professional coach and the principal of Pro Se, LLC. Initially hoping to work in environmental law, Ms. Colby earned a Bachelor of Science in environmental engineering from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, graduating cum laude in 1977. With few job opportunities in the specialty, she refocused her aspirations to patent law, reasoning that she would still be able to help artists and content creators by specializing in intellectual property. She was awarded her Doctor of Jurisprudence in 1980 by the Albany Law School of Union University after a legal internship with the New York Public Service Commission and began her career as a patent attorney for the Union Carbide Corporation.
Between 1982 and 1987, Ms. Colby was an associate of Morgan & Finnegan, departing to join Johnson & Johnson as a patent attorney in 1988. In 1991, she was named an associate of Johnson & Johnson’s patent council, and in 2002, she began consulting for the company in addition to her role on the legal team. Ms. Colby began to develop an interest in professional coaching and development in the early 2000s, earning a Master of Arts in organizational management at Fielding Graduate University in 2004 and pursuing certified professional coach and Myers-Briggs type indicator certified practitioner credentials. She retired from Johnson & Johnson in 2016 to begin coaching and establish her own firm, and joined the faculty of the Practicing Law Institute in 2017.
Ms. Colby continues to help new attorneys as a lecturer for the New Jersey Institute of Continuing Legal Education and sits on the board of the Albany Law School of Union University. She hopes to work to reduce the stigma of mental illness among attorneys, noting that practicing lawyers have higher rates of depression, substance abuse, and suicide, and hopes to devote the next several years to working to improve awareness and access to peer support resources for those in the legal field. Outside her work in law, Ms. Colby is a passionate supporter of the arts, a longtime trustee and board member of Young Audiences of New Jersey and former member of the board of the New Brunswick Chamber Orchestra and the Theatre and Dance Alliance Children’s Theatre.
Ms. Colby is the recipient of the 2020 New Jersey Governor’s Award for Distinguished Service in Arts Education in appreciation of her service to the New Jersey arts community. She is a member of the Mid-Atlantic District Council of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and former president of Congregation Neve Shalom, who honored her for her longtime commitment to the synagogue community and participation in numerous councils and committees in 2013. In her free time, Ms. Colby is a talented pianist and ceramicist, and enjoys spending time with her family and dog.