Alumni Spotlight: Casey Campbell

Before becoming a lawyer, Casey was an electrical engineer at a defense company working on missile defense systems for the US millitary. Patent law gave Casey a way to combine his technical aptitude with a new kind of problem-solving, allowing him to stay close to engineers and the technologies they were developing.

At Barnes & Thornburg, Casey built a practice around what interested him most: helping clients develop and protect their complex technologies and innovations in countries across the world. Among them was Figure AI, a client he brought to the firm and later joined in-house. It was a natural continuation of a career spent focused on engineering, emerging technologies, and now intellectual property.

Barnes & Thornburg (BT): Tell us about your current role.

Casey: I serve as acting general counsel for three companies: Figure AI, Hark and Cover.

Figure AI is focused on humanoid robotics and bringing general-purpose robots into commercial and home environments. Hark is building agentic AI through both hardware and software, with the goal of creating more personal and useful interfaces to artificial intelligence. Cover is focused on AI-powered weapons detection technology designed to help make schools and public venues safer.

The common thread across all three companies is developing and protecting core technologies necessary to quickly commercialize products with those technologies for real-world use. My role is to help the teams navigate the legal, business and operational challenges and questions that come with developing, sourcing, and commercially launching product where the technology, the market and the legal landscape are all developing at the same time.

BT: What drew you to a career in law?

Casey: I was an electrical engineer by training, and before law school, I worked at General Dynamics on missile defense systems. I liked engineering, and I wanted to stay close to technical work.

Patent law appealed to me because it brought together two ways of thinking that interested me: the engineering process and the legal process. It gave me a way to work with smart engineers, understand what they were building, and help move those technologies forward.

That has been a consistent theme throughout my career. I started with work involving cell phone technology and patent litigation, then moved into patent prosecution and counseling, and eventually into AI and robotics. The industries have changed, but the core of the work has stayed the same: helping technical teams protect, develop and commercialize what they are building.

BT: What originally brought you to Barnes & Thornburg, and how did your role evolve while you were at the firm?

Casey: I came to Barnes & Thornburg in 2018 as a midlevel associate with a good-sized team that lateraled from a large multi-national  GP firm. My role evolved quite a bit during my time at the firm, but I mostly focused on the three main areas of patent practice – patent enforcement/litigation, portfolio development and patent licensing/counseling. I started by supporting existing clients and working with partners across the intellectual property group. Over time, I became a partner, began bringing in my own clients and built a team around that work.

One of those clients was Figure AI. I brought Figure into Barnes & Thornburg and as the company grew, the work continued to grow with it. At one point, I had a large group of associates working on matters for Figure, and eventually I was spending nearly all of my time focused on that client. The move in-house became a natural next step.

What stands out from my time at Barnes & Thornburg is how much the firm evolved. I saw a real increase in talent, sophistication, client service and the firm’s ability to compete for complex work. Now, as a client, I feel comfortable turning to Barnes & Thornburg because I know the people, I know the quality of the work, and I know the firm has the experience and drive to handle sophisticated matters.

BT: How did your experience at Barnes & Thornburg prepare you for the role you are in now?

Casey: By the time I came to the firm, I had a strong technical and legal foundation. The biggest growth area for me was learning how to provide top-tier service to on a consistent and efficient basis.

In my current role for three start-up companies, the legal answer is rarely the only answer. You have to understand the human component, the business reality and the legal risk, and then figure out how those pieces fit together. That is especially true in the AI and robotics space, where you are working with people operating at the edge of their fields.

Barnes & Thornburg helped me grow in that way. I learned how to navigate different personalities, different offices, different client needs and different internal dynamics. That experience matters now because part of my job is helping put both the company and its employees in the best position to succeed.

The legal work is important, but the people side is often the hardest and most important part of the role.

BT: What advice would you share with attorneys who are building their careers and developing client relationships?

Casey: Early on, the most important thing is to become excellent at the work. Find a specialty, learn as much as you can about it and expose yourself to different types of work within that area. In patent law, that might mean litigation, prosecution, counseling, licensing or other areas. You may not know right away which part fits you best, so get experience and pay attention to what you enjoy.

You also have to be honest with yourself about what you want. Look at the people who are 10 or 20 years ahead of you and ask whether that is the path you want. If it is, work backward and figure out what you need to do to get there. If it is not, that is important to know too.

Mentorship matters in that process. A real mentor or champion is someone who believes in you, understands the dynamics around you, and is willing to go to bat for you. There are meetings you will not be in and decisions you will not hear about. You need someone who will say your name in those rooms. But people can only help you if they understand what you are trying to build. Be clear about your goals and find work you care about.

Client development comes later, and it starts with trust. As a young attorney, you learn how to serve clients well. As you grow, you learn to identify opportunities within existing relationships by listening closely, understanding the client’s business and looking for ways to create value. Over time, your peers move into roles where they can hire counsel or influence those decisions. If you do strong work, understand the business and invest in relationships, people will come to you because they know you are focused on solving problems.

BT: Now that you are on the client side, what do you value most from outside counsel?

Casey: I value lawyers who bring more than the obvious answer.

If a problem has a simple solution, the client may already know it. What I need from outside counsel is judgment, creativity and a willingness to think through options that may not be the standard path. That does not mean ignoring risk. It means identifying the risks, explaining them clearly, and helping the business understand what options are actually available.

I also value lawyers who use the tools and data available to them. Whether it is examiner statistics, court information, technical drawings or other resources, those tools help support the recommendation. Clients want to know that you did the work and that the advice is grounded in something real.

The best outside counsel does not just say, “This is how it has always been done.” They dig in, understand the business problem and help build a path forward.

BT: Outside of work, what are you passionate about or love spending time doing?

Casey: My wife and kids. They take up almost every minute I have outside of work.

I love my work, and I work a lot. But when I am not working, I focus on my family. We read, go to bookstores, play soccer and spend time together. That is what I focus on outside of work.