Alumni Spotlight
Sarah Ramuta
Describe your history with Husch Blackwell.
I started as a summer associate in the St. Louis office in summer 2013 before joining as a full-time associate in the Commercial Litigation group that December. I worked mostly with the Transportation, Manufacturing and Technology SBU and really enjoyed serving as national coordinating counsel for a few companies, which I credit as my first taste of the in-house experience. After about three years in St. Louis, I transferred to the Chicago office.
What part of your work do you find most enjoyable?
Simplifying complex legal issues into creative business solutions. I’ve always enjoyed legal writing for this reason – the challenge of breaking down complicated rules into clear arguments. In my role as general counsel at Ursa Major, I get to do this in real time in a rapidly growing company with new challenges each day. The best part? Our cohesive team. My work is particularly fulfilling because I feel valued as a strategic teammate, even when addressing difficult legal obstacles affecting the business.
Share any interesting and emerging trends that you’re seeing in your industry.
The global climate has a direct effect on our industry. Rocket engines, Ursa Major’s product, are heavily regulated by U.S. export laws. In short, this means that Ursa Major (and other companies like it) cannot easily participate in international sales. With Russia’s recent posture on the sale of rocket engines to the states, it will be very interesting to see if these regulations evolve.
With which Husch Blackwell attorneys/staff are you still connected, and how?
I’m still very close with Brittany Lomax and enjoy keeping in touch with Bryan Hopkins. Our summer class is also pretty close. While we don’t talk regularly, I could definitely call any of them and feel like no time has passed.
On the work front, outside of Brittany I work closely with Nida Shakir Ghaffar, Jeff Miller, Kris Kappel, Cortney Morgan and Dustin Taylor.
With March being Women’s History Month, name a woman in history or your personal life who inspires you, and explain why.
My grandma, Joan Nahas Ramuta. I was very fortunate to grow up with a strong woman as a role model and matriarch. As the first computer science professor at the College of St. Francis, she showed me that success was not necessarily determined by gender. While I ended up taking the non-math/science route with law school, she’d certainly get a kick out of me working with actual rocket scientists. Fittingly, her birthday is on International Women’s Day.