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As an associate general counsel at Lockheed Martin, Joseph Keller has the unique opportunity to serve those who serve the country and to contribute to their mission in his own way. It’s the perfect role for Keller, who grew up surrounded by loved ones who answered the call to protect and defend.
“Even though I didn’t serve, pretty much everyone else in my family did,” shares Keller, a Chicagoland native. “My grandfather was in World War II. My dad and my uncle were in Vietnam. My stepdad, a former Navy officer, is career military and very passionate about it to this day, always keeping his gear around the house. I view myself as having a small role in that bigger picture. I’m passionate about working with Lockheed Martin, knowing that our efforts directly contribute to supporting our military customers and ultimately defending our nation. It helps motivate me to get out of bed each morning.”
Since 2019, Keller has supported missile warning satellite efforts, missile defense programs, and more. Currently, he is lead counsel for the Lockheed Martin Space business area’s sensing and warning mission segment, a vital business that supports critical national security missions. His support of the company’s national security space and strategy and business development includes investment pursuits, business capture activities, and M&A initiatives.
“When you’ve been in court room battles, the little things don’t matter. I’ve been in situations where opposing counsel are attacking my witness. I’ve learned to stay calm by remembering the kind of behavior that will and won’t hurt my team.”
Joseph ‘Joe’ Keller
Giving Back Through Leadership
Beyond Keller’s responsibilities as an advisor to the business and its clients, he makes an effort to be a mentor and an effective leader to the attorneys he works with. This often takes the form of helping early career professionals advance and getting opportunities to promote themselves, even if they come from outside the company.
One piece of advice Keller often imparts to aspiring or young attorneys is to specialize early in their career.
“If I could go back, I would have tried to specialize in a particular industry. That’s the key,” Keller emphasizes. “If you have that niche or that area of expertise, then you will be in demand.”
When Keller isn’t pushing others toward growth through mentorship and advice, he’s doing it through his leadership style. He places an emphasis on leading by example, and he inspires his colleagues to do the same.
“Leadership is a matter of showing your own personal responsibility for everything you do in the workplace, owning each project,” he shares.
From Research to the Courtroom
Keller’s interest in law began with a proclivity toward researching and writing. When he began to study law at the University of Michigan, he grew fond of litigation. That passion deepened during a federal clerkship at the Eastern District of Virginia. His studies and his clerkship gave him the legal chops he’d need to become a litigation associate at O’Melveny & Myers in New York, where he focused on global investigations and white-collar defense matters.
After three years in that role, Keller became a trial attorney for the Department of Justice in Washington, DC. As part of his practice as a government contracts litigator, he represented federal entities, like the US Army and the Department of Energy. From there, he moved to the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA), a Department of Defense agency. Keller says those roles helped him become more poised and confident under pressure.
“When you’ve been in court room battles, the little things don’t matter,” Keller says. “I’ve been in situations where opposing counsel are attacking my witness. I’ve learned to stay calm by remembering the kind of behavior that will and won’t hurt my team.”
“I’m passionate about working with Lockheed Martin, knowing that our efforts directly contribute to supporting our military customers and ultimately defending our nation. It helps motivate me to get out of bed each morning.”
Joseph ‘Joe’ Keller
An Interest That Leads to National Service
Throughout that journey, Keller became more and more interested in defense contracting.
“It’s a really fascinating area of law,” he says. “It’s a highly regulated industry with a lot of rules, and the industry itself is so important to our nation.”
Keller’s interests took him back to Chicago, where he became chief counsel for the DCMA office in the city and took his government contracts law expertise even further.
Soon after, Lockheed Martin tapped him to join its ranks. Keller was drawn to the role, not only because of the company’s reputation as the top aerospace and defense organization in the world, but also because of the opportunity “to be embedded in the business.”
“In my current role, I collaborate with program managers, program finance, contracts, and supply chain experts. That’s what I really like about being in-house versus at a law firm,” Keller says. “In a law firm setting, you’re basically just a hired gun and you kind of parachute in, do what they ask you to do, and then leave. At Lockheed Martin, I’m part of the team, and we’re supporting customers that are doing important things for national security.”
