Paul Coletti – Johnson & Johnson

The pages of Vanguard magazine are filled with stories about experienced in-house attorneys with long careers, often bouncing around from company to company as they rise through the legal ranks. Many follow a similar trajectory: several years at a law firm followed by junior in-house roles before ultimately ending up as a general counsel or chief legal officer as their careers reach their apexes.

But not Paul Coletti. His path has been unlike most of the other lawyers featured in Vanguard. And being unique and different suits him just fine.

Paul Coletti | Johnson & Johnson | Vice President MedTech IP Strategy and Associate Patent Counsel

“Early in my career, I found the right fit, and I’ve been with the company ever since,” Coletti tells Vanguard during an interview in late July.

Johnson & Johnson is a global pharmaceutical, biotech and medical technologies behemoth founded in 1886 and headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Coletti just observed his 37th anniversary with the company in September.

“My time here has been marked by good fortune and steady progression, allowing me the chance to grow in my roles in a constantly evolving company,” says Coletti, J&J’s vice president for MedTech IP strategy.

Navigating innovation & growth

When Coletti first joined J&J in 1987, the company had a relatively small legal department, especially for an organization its size. Coletti recalls a team of about 40 attorneys, of which only 12 focused on intellectual property. At that time, Johnson & Johnson was a $12 billion company; the size of its law department should have been much more substantial, says Coletti. In those early days, the company outsourced much of its legal work to outside counsel, rarely handling cases in-house. Over the years, however, J&J’s legal department has expanded into a global team with hundreds of attorneys worldwide. With this growth, Coletti’s responsibilities shifted frequently, allowing him to take on new challenges and consistently refresh his role.

Coletti’s career at J&J has spanned numerous facets of intellectual property law. Early in his tenure, he focused heavily on patent preparation and prosecution. Over time, he became more involved in acquiring medical device companies, took on litigation work and eventually moved into management. For the past eight years, Coletti has worked closely with policymakers in Washington and patent offices worldwide, advocating for policies that would benefit J&J and the wider medical technology industry.

“This career evolution has kept the work interesting and challenging, and it ensured that I was never stuck doing the same thing for too long,” he recalls.

From Brooklyn to boardrooms

When asked about his most proud accomplishment during his tenure, Coletti could have focused on individual achievements. For instance, at one time or another during his career, he has represented virtually every one of the dozens of past and present entities in the Medical Devices (now MedTech) division of J&J. Or, he could have cited his involvement as the lead in-house patent attorney in the so-called “stent wars,” a series of patent litigations around the world involving coronary stents. These litigations netted J&J over $5 billion in combined damages and royalties when all was said and done, still one of the largest recoveries in IP law history. Yet, Coletti cites his collaboration with the other department employees in J&J.

Until transitioning to his current role, the Brooklyn-raised Coletti served as the lead patent attorney for J&J’s entire medical device division, overseeing a staff of approximately 60 attorneys and over 100 patent professionals. Despite the weight of his title, Coletti has always remained grounded.

“My title never mattered to me,” he says. “If I could, my business card would’ve just said ‘Attorney at Law.’”

This humility and focus on collaboration have been a key part of Coletti’s leadership style. Drawing from his background as an athlete and member of sports teams, Coletti approached leadership at J&J the same way.

“Everyone has a role and a part they play, and success comes from understanding how to contribute to the collective effort,” he explains.

Throughout his career, Coletti has been driven by the same guiding principle that has shaped J&J’s mission for over 135 years and cited in J&J’s Credo: the first duty is always to the patient. For him, everything starts with how to improve lives through innovative medical techniques.

“I have believed that if you focus on doing good for the people, you’ll do well for your shareholders, and that belief has allowed me to stay committed to both the work and J&J for nearly four decades,” Coletti says.

The next phase

Coletti’s path into law wasn’t what he had planned from the beginning. After earning a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University, he started his career at AT&T Bell Laboratories — but soon realized something was missing. Surrounded by engineers with an intuitive grasp of technology, Coletti says he felt out of place, believing they had some inherent skill that he lacked. A conversation with his father, himself an engineer, helped him see things differently.

“My dad said that while engineers may be skilled in technology, they often struggle to translate their ideas into writing, a skill that came naturally to me,” Coletti remembers.

That fatherly advice led Coletti to consider patent law, a field where his engineering background and writing abilities would intersect. Taking his father’s advice, Coletti earned a Juris Doctor from Notre Dame Law School and spent two years as an associate at a law firm before joining Johnson & Johnson as a patent attorney in 1987.

Moving in-house to J&J was a natural step, Coletti says. Raised in one of this country’s biggest cities—if Brooklyn wasn’t a borough—Coletti wanted to return to the East Coast. After a call from a headhunter, he found himself interviewing with the company in New Brunswick, the home of Rutgers University and the birthplace of the actor Michael Douglas. What drew him to J&J wasn’t the company’s prestige or the corporate environment but rather the people. A team player at heart, Coletti recognized the value of working with a strong team and found that sense of collaboration at Johnson & Johnson.

Coletti reflects on the challenges facing the medical technology industry today. He notes that while large companies like J&J are often viewed with suspicion by some, the truth is that their goal is always to innovate in ways that benefit patients. Balancing the interests of different stakeholders—from consumers to governments to smaller companies—is no easy task, especially in a highly regulated field like medical devices and pharmaceuticals. Coletti acknowledges the importance of protecting patents and emphasizes the need for fairness in granting and enforcing these rights. Protecting intellectual property is essential to fostering innovation, but it should be done in a way that balances the interests of all parties involved.

Ultimately, when Coletti looks back on his career, he hopes to be remembered as a good colleague with whom people liked working and positively impacted the company. ”I hope my legacy is one of teamwork, mentorship and a commitment to doing what’s right—for J&J, for its employees and most importantly, for the patients whose lives are touched by the company’s innovations,’ Coletti says.

Yet, whenever Coletti does retire from J&J, he sees himself staying closely associated with IP Law, at least in some fashion.

“My dad was right,” he says, harkening back to that conversation all those years ago. “This was the career for me.”