Shilpa Prem is a resident of Kirkland's South Rose Hill Neighborhood.  She is a mom of (adorable) identical twins, is a tech lawyer, advising on cutting-edge AI/ML technology, and is an undergraduate in engineering.  Outside of work, she is passionate about her community and making the world a better place, one step at a time.

Early Beginnings

Shilpa was born and grew up in the Pacific Northwest.  She is the daughter of two immigrants who migrated from India in the 1970s and early 80s.  The first place both her parents stepped foot in from India was beautiful Seattle, where her father attended the University of Washington in the 1970s.  Shilpa grew up in a small town of Corvallis, Oregon and moved to the east coast for work and law school, living in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia before venturing back to her Pacific Northwest roots.  She is now a Senior Corporate Counsel/Attorney at Amazon and has lived in Kirkland with her husband and twins for 3 years, becoming a fixture in her community.    

Making the world a better place

Shilpa has been involved in community service for many years.  Shilpa is on the board member of Washington CeaseFire, where she has worked to reducing gun violence in schools by advocating for in-school education of high school children on the public health emergency surrounding gun violence in schools.  Shilpa is also on the cabinet of Emerge Washington, which is a training program for women to help them run for political office.  Shilpa has represented children who suffered from child abuse and neglect in court, testifying on their behalf to ensure their safety, health, education, and family permanency was established.   She was also a board member of the South Asian Bar Association. 

Her passion for government has always been a part of upbringing from an early age.  She was elected as the American Legion Auxiliary Girls Nation Representative of Oregon in high school, where she was awarded by meeting President Bill Clinton (2000) at the White House.

Education

Shilpa has a Bachelor of Science degree in Bioengineering from Oregon State University, a Juris Doctor degree from Suffolk University Law School and a Masters in Liberal Arts in extension studies from Harvard University.  She worked full time while attending law school and while obtaining her masters in the evenings and completed her degrees with honors.  She is a licensed member of the bar in Washington and New York.  She has been a guest speaker at the Seattle University School of Law (2024), University of Pennsylvania (2017),  and national conferences including the BIO International Convention (2023) and the Regulatory Affairs Professional Society Convergence (2024) conference on the regulations surrounding AI/ML enabled medical devices. 

Professional Life

For over 17+ years, Shilpa Prem has been advising senior leaders on regulatory and legal issues at law firms, medical device, and pharmaceutical companies.  She is currently a Senior Corporate Counsel at Amazon, where she advises on new-to-world products and services used in the healthcare industry, including products that use AI/ML technology, from early-stage ideation through general availability.  Shilpa advises on legal, commercial, and operations issues, including negotiating contracts to support development and commercialization as well as ensuring high privacy and data protection standards are followed.  Before joining Amazon, Shilpa was a senior attorney at some of the top law firms in the country, including Hogan Lovells and Epstein Becker and Green in New York and Philadelphia followed by becoming in-house counsel at Merck.