Hon. Alan Albright (District Judge, W.D. Tex.). Prior to taking the bench, Judge Albright was a partner in the Austin office of Bracewell, LLP. He practiced IP litigation and handled trials in both federal court and the ITC. Judge Albright earned his BA in Political Science from Trinity University in San Antonio and a J.D. from The University of Texas School of Law in Austin. Following law school, Judge Albright clerked for The Honorable James R. Nowlin in Austin, Texas. Judge Albright later served as a United States Magistrate Judge from 1992–99. He carries one of the largest patent dockets in the nation.
David Almeling is a partner at O’Melveny, where he focuses on trade secret law and patent law. He also teaches trade secret law at University of California, Berkeley School of Law. He earned his B.A. at the University of Florida and his J.D. at Duke University. Mr. Almeling is active in many trade secret organizations, including The Sedona Conference, Working Group 12 on Trade Secrets, where he is Vice Chair. He frequently lectures and write on trade secret issues, including his book, Trade Secret Law and Corporate Strategy, now in its third edition. He is co-author of the Trade Secret Case Management Judicial Guide.
Peter Anderson is a partner at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, where he specializes in copyright and entertainment litigation. He has handled many high-profile music copyright cases. Peter earned his B.A. and J.D. from UCLA.
Marc Avsec is a partner and Vice-Chair of the Innovations, Information Technology & Intellectual Property (3iP) Practice Group of Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff, LLP, where he specializes in copyright, trademark, and media law litigation and transactional work. Mark focuses his practice on “old” and “new” media issues, consumer products, technotainment (including music and other entertainment-related technology licensing matters), and general mobile commerce. Before becoming a lawyer, Mark earned a living as a studio musician, producer and songwriter, writing over 500 songs and producing or performing on more than 35 albums for, among other artists, Carlos Santana (“Angel Love”), Bon Jovi (“She Don’t Know Me”), Donnie Iris (“Ah! Leah!” and “Love Is Like A Rock”), Mason Ruffner (“Gypsy Blood”) and Wild Cherry (“Play That Funky Music, White Boy”). Mark is an American Music Award winner and has been nominated for two Grammy Awards. He was a member of Wild Cherry and is the founding member of Donnie Iris and the Cruisers. Mark regularly teaches and is a frequent speaker on entertainment, intellectual property, and media topics. Mark earned his B.A. and J.D. from Cleveland State University.
Shyamkrishna Balganesh is the Sol Goldman Professor of Law at Columbia Law School where his scholarship focuses on copyright law and common law theory. He has written extensively on understanding how intellectual property and innovation policy can benefit from the use of ideas, concepts, and structures from different areas of the common law, especially private law. He earned his B.A. and LL.B. (Hons.) at the National Law School of India, his B.C.L. and M.Phil. at Oxford University (Rhodes Scholar), and his J.D. at Yale Law School.
Megan K. Bannigan is a partner and member of the Litigation and Intellectual Property & Media Groups at Debevoise & Plimpton, where she focuses on trademarks, trade dress, copyrights, false advertising, design patents, rights of publicity, licensing and other contractual disputes. Megan is also an adjunct professor, teaching Advanced Trademark and False Advertising Law at NYU School of Law and Fashion Law at Rutgers School of Law. She received her J.D. from Rutgers University and her B.A. from Rutgers College in 2002. She clerked for Hon. Mary Little Cooper of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.
Hon. Scott Boalick (Chief Administrative Patent Judge, Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), USPTO) leads the PTAB as it conducts post-grant trials and hears appeals from adverse examiner decisions in patent applications and reexamination proceedings. Prior to becoming the Chief Judge, he served as an Administrative Patent Judge, Lead Judge, Vice Chief Judge, and Deputy Chief Judge. Before joining the USPTO, Judge Boalick served as a patent attorney with the Department of the Navy, where he advised clients concerning a wide range of intellectual property issues, including patent, trademark, copyright, technology transfer, administrative claims, and rights in technical data and computer software. He prepared and prosecuted patent applications and assisted the Invention Evaluation Board to select and prioritize inventions for patenting. Before that, he practiced with Fish & Richardson in Washington, D.C., where he counseled clients on all aspects of protecting intellectual property, including patent acquisition, portfolio management, and litigation. He litigated claims of patent infringement in the International Trade Commission, district court, and the Federal Circuit, and also prepared and prosecuted numerous patent applications in a variety of technology areas. Prior to his time at Fish & Richardson, Judge Boalick served as a law clerk to the Hon. Alvin A. Schall of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Judge Boalick earned a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and an M.S.E. in Systems Engineering and a B.S.E. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.
Hon. Colm Connolly (Chief Judge, D. Del.). Prior to his judicial appointment, Chief Judge Connolly served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware for seven years before becoming a partner at Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell and then U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware. He then became a partner at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. He joined the District of Delaware bench in 2018, and became Chief Judge in 2021. He has one of the largest patent dockets in the nation. Chief Judge Connolly earned his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Notre Dame, his Master of Science from the London School of Economics, and his Juris Doctor from the Duke University School of Law.
Victoria A. Cundiff was a partner at Paul Hastings LLP for thirty years, and before that at Milgrim Thomajan & Lee P.C., focusing on trade secret and intellectual property law. She is an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania where she teaches trade secret law and a Visiting Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School, teaching intellectual property law. Ms. Cundiff earned her B.A. at the University of Denver and her J.D. at Yale Law School. She is the Chair of the Sedona Conference Working Group 12 on Trade Secrets Law. She is co-author of the Trade Secret Case Management Judicial Guide, has lectured extensively on trade secret law, and has a leadership role in a number of intellectual property organizations.
Hon. Jeremy Fogel serves as Executive Director of the Berkeley Judicial Institute, whose mission is to build bridges between judges and academics and to promote an ethical, resilient and independent judiciary. Prior to his appointment at Berkeley, he served as Director of the Federal Judicial Center in Washington, DC (2011-2018), as a United States District Judge for the Northern District of California (1998-2011), and as a judge of the Santa Clara County Superior (1986-1998) and Municipal (1981-1986) Courts. He received his B.A. from Stanford University in 1971 and his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1974.
Hon. Beth Freeman (District Judge, N.D. Cal.). Prior to her judicial appointment, Judge Freeman worked at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver and Lasky, Haas, Cohler and Munter. From 1983 to 2001, she served as deputy county counsel at the San Mateo County Counsel’s Office. From 2001 to 2014, she served as a judge on the San Mateo County Superior Court. Judge Freeman received her B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley, and her J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Kathryn J. Fritz is General Counsel and Partner at Fenwick, where she previously served as Managing Partner. Her practice concentrates on business and intellectual property litigation, with particular emphasis trademark, trade dress, advertising, right of publicity, trade secret, and unfair competition matters. She co-teaches Trademark Practice, a simulation-based trademark course, at Berkeley Law. Kate received her undergraduate education at U.C. Santa Barbara and her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.
Esther Galan is an associate at Fenwick, where she advises clients in the technology and life sciences industries on a broad variety of matters. She earned her B.A. from University of San Francisco and her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.
Hon. Rodney Gilstrap (Chief Judge, E.D. Tex.). Prior to his judicial appointment, Chief Judge Gilstrap practiced law in private practice. He joined the bench in 2011, and became Chief Judge in 2018, where he has had one of the largest patent dockets in the nation. He received his B.A. and J.D. from Baylor University.
Azra Hadzimehmedovic is a partner at Tensegrity Law Group, where she specializes in patent litigation in U.S. district courts and the International Trade Commission. Prior to practicing law, Azra worked as a scientist and technical editor for the United States Pharmacopeia, an official standards-setting authority for medicines and other health-care products. She earned her B.S. in Chemistry at Florida International University and her J.D. at the University of California at Berkeley.
Jingyuan Luo is a senior associate at Orrick, where she focuses on patent litigation across a wide range of technologies. Following law school, she clerked for the Hon. Raymond T. Chen at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Jing earned her B.S. in Biochemistry and Cell Biology, and her B.S. Political Science at Rice University. She earned her M.S. in Biosciences, Stem Cell & Developmental Biology at University College London as a Marshall Scholar, and her J.D. at University of California at Berkeley.
Sonal Mehta is a partner at WilmerHale, where she specializes in patent and technology litigation. She earned her B.A. and J.D. at U.C. Berkeley. Following law school, she clerked for the Hon. Paul R. Michel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Sonal co-teaches Patent Litigation at Berkeley Law.
Professor Peter S. Menell is Koret Professor of Law at the University of California at Berkeley School of Law. He co-founded and serves as a Director of the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology and the Berkeley Judicial Institute. After graduating from law school, he clerked for the Hon. Jon O. Newman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He has written extensively in the intellectual property field, including serving as lead author of the most widely adopted casebooks (Intellectual Property in the New Technological Age, Volumes I and II), the Patent Case Management Judicial Guide (now in its third edition), and the Trade Secret Case Management Judicial Guide. Peter served as one of the inaugural Thomas Alva Edison Visiting Professionals at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 2012-13, and is currently advising the USPTO as an Edison Distinguished Scholar. Since 1997, he has organized more than 60 intellectual property education programs for the Federal Judicial Center. Peter received his S.B. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ph.D. (economics) from Stanford University, and J.D. from Harvard Law School.
James Pooley advises clients and provides expert testimony regarding trade secret and patent matters. He served from 2009 through 2014 as Deputy Director General, Innovation and Technology Sector, at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Prior to that appointment, Mr. Pooley was a partner at Morrison and Foerster, where he specialized in intellectual property and technology-related commercial litigation. Mr. Pooley is co-author of the Trade Secret Case Management Judicial Guide, and author of the treatise Trade Secrets (Law Journal Press), Secrets: Managing Information Assets in the Age of Cyberespionage (Verus Press 2015), and numerous other professional publications in the field of intellectual property. He is a past president of the American Intellectual Property Law Association and the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Mr. Pooley has taught as an adjunct professor of law at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. Mr. Pooley earned his B.A. from Lafayette College and his J.D. from Columbia Law School.
Matthew Powers is the lead partner at Tensegrity Law Group, LLP. He is one of the nation’s most experienced patent trial lawyers. He is a co-author of the Patent Case Management Judicial Guide and Chair of The Sedona Conference Working Group 10 on Patent Litigation Best Practices and Vice-Chair of Working Group 9 on Patent Damages and Remedies. Matt received his B.S. from Northwestern University and J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Nicholas A. Santos is an associate at Fenwick, where he advises clients in the technology and life sciences industries on a broad variety of matters. He earned her B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley and his J.D. from Duke Law School.
Allison Schmitt is Fellow and Director of the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology’s Life Sciences Project. Prior to co-founding this project, she specialized in pharmaceutical and biological patent litigation and counseling. Following law school, Allison clerked for the Hon. Stanley R. Chesler in the District of New Jersey and the Hon. Kathleen M. O’Malley of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Allison is co-author of the Patent Case Management Judicial Guide. She earned her B.S. in Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Washington, her Ph.D. in Chemistry from Duke University, and her J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley.
Hon. Leonard P. Stark (Federal Circuit). After serving in private practice and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Wilmington, Delaware, Judge Stark served as a magistrate judge. He was appointed to the District of Delaware in 2010 and became Chief Judge in 2014. He joined the Federal Circuit in March 2022. Judge Stark earned B.A. degrees (history, political science) and an M.A. (history) at the University of Delaware, a D. Phil (politics) at Oxford University (Rhodes Scholar), and his J.D. from Yale Law School. He clerked from Judge Walter King Stapleton on the U.S Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Hon. Kathi Vidal serves as Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Prior to her appointment, she served as managing partner in Winston Strawn’s Silicon Valley office, which she specialized in patent litigation. Ms. Vidal received her B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering before attending the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She clerked for Judge Alvin A. Schall of the U.S Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. She worked for five years as a systems and software design engineer with General Electric, where she graduated from the Edison Engineering Program and designed one of the first leading edge expert systems (neural networks, fuzzy logic) for aircraft. She is co-author of the Patent Mediation Guide.