We are thrilled to announce that Kristin Berdan is ISRG’s new General Counsel. With her unique and varied legal career and her passion for Internet security, she is a great fit for our organization.
Kristin's journey through the legal profession has been neither linear nor conventional. With an undergraduate focus on extremist politics and terrorism, she initially pursued law school to better understand the systems and institutions that such groups challenge. This led her to a deep interest in intellectual property and international law. She received her Juris Doctor from the University of California at Davis, whose proximity to Silicon Valley led Kristin to a succession of tech-related legal roles across government, academia, and private industry.
Reflecting on her achievements, Kristin views her career as a series of opportunities to contribute positively to the world, from supporting engineers at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab to researching digital threats at Citizen Lab and UC Berkeley, and helping build Internet infrastructure at Google.
When asked about her move to ISRG, Kristin shared: “I knew of ISRG and Let's Encrypt through my previous work in Internet infrastructure, and when the position for General Counsel became available, I knew it was the perfect opportunity for me. ISRG’s commitment to reducing barriers for secure communication over the Internet aligns seamlessly with my career goals and personal values.”
Kristin’s excitement about her role is palpable, especially when discussing the projects that energize her: “I’m always excited to learn new things about how the Internet works, and this job provides me with plenty of opportunities for that! Let’s Encrypt is fascinating as Certificate Authorities are such a core element of securing Internet communications. Divvi Up is at the frontier of a new way to collect and aggregate metrics in a privacy-preserving way. And having seen firsthand the danger that memory unsafe code poses to the global Internet, I’m happy to be part of the Prossimo work that is dedicated to promoting memory safety.”
As ISRG’s first General Counsel, Kristin is confident that her work will continue to be novel and fascinating, and beneficial to the Internet being global, free, and secure for everyone. We’re so glad to have Kristin on board!