Interview with:
Julie Fraser
VP & Deputy General Counsel
Julie Fraser joined Protos in 2022 and serves as the Vice President and Deputy General Counsel. Prior to joining Protos, Julie gained extensive experience in commercial practice at law firms in both Massachusetts and Connecticut. She also worked on the commercial teams at a market leading legal research and publishing company as well as the largest global alternative legal service provider for several years.
At Protos Security, Julie Fraser Puts Legal Where the Risk Lives
Corporate legal departments are far more integrated into business strategy than they were a decade ago. Julie Fraser, who joined Protos Security as its first in-house attorney and built the legal function from the ground up, shows what that evolution looks like in practice—and why it starts with knowing every piece of the company.
Days before Julie Fraser walked into Protos in September 2022, the company acquired four businesses.
Fraser was its first in-house attorney. The job, on paper, was to review commercial contracts. What awaited her was an integration “hailstorm”: multiple operating entities, eight master services agreements, a sprawling licensing burden and revenue that had grown roughly 300 percent since 2020.
“It was hit the ground running at 90 miles an hour,” says Fraser, now vice president and deputy general counsel.
Her experience since then reflects a broader shift in corporate law. As companies face increasingly complex regulatory, technology and operational challenges, legal leaders are working alongside finance, operations and executive leadership to help drive growth while managing enterprise risk. At a private equity-backed company growing through acquisition, that means a lawyer who can distinguish material risk from acceptable risk—at deal speed.
