Law Briefs

Fish & Richardson has been named the top intellectual property law firm in the world in Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) application filings, according to Managing Intellectual Property's first-ever worldwide PCT rankings. Fish filed 839 PCT applications in the 14 biggest markets in the world, far exceeding the second-ranked firm with 687 applications. Fish also was ranked No. 1 in the U.S market.

The law firm has 11 offices in the U.S., including San Diego, and one in Germany. The PCT is an international treaty, administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), between more than 125 Paris Convention countries. The PCT makes it possible to seek patent protection for an invention simultaneously in each of a large number of countries by filing a single "international" patent application.

Developed in 1970, and most recently modified in 2001, PCT was intended to streamline the patent application process and thus save time and cost for the applicant and patent offices around the world.

The San Diego Superior Court will close all courtrooms and business offices on Wednesday as well as the third Wednesday of each subsequent month through June 2010.

The California Judicial Council approved the unprecedented one-day-a-month closures for all state courts due to the ongoing statewide financial crisis and the legislature's reduced state funding to the courts.

Court closure days will not count as official court days for purposes of calculating statutory or filing deadlines. The court will re-set hearings currently scheduled for these dates. As with all non-court days, judges will be on duty to handle emergency matters.

The public is urged to visit the court's website at sdcourt.ca.gov to handle traffic tickets or obtain court information. A recorded message regarding the court closure is available at 619-450-7400.

Court facilities housing county operations such as the district attorney's office, probation and child support will be open for county business, but all court operations will be closed.

Higgs, Fletcher & Mack attorney Sarah T. Schaffer has been selected for promotion to lieutenant colonel in the United States Marine Corps Reserves. A 15-year military veteran, she served on active duty for six years and has been in the reserves for nine years.

While on active duty serving as a logistics officer, Schaffer was stationed in Okinawa, Japan, and in Virginia. She served for a year on active duty as a Judge Advocate at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in the Joint Legal Center, assisting service members with family law, estate planning and tax issues. She currently serves as a reservist with the Western Area Counsel Office aboard Camp Pendleton.

With her father having been a Marine, Schaffer is the next generation to carry on the tradition of military service. She is a part of the family law and tax practice groups at Higgs, Fletcher & Mack.

Winton Larson & Solecki LLP partner Peter K. Solecki has been named general counsel and risk manager for the San Diego Association of Realtors. In that capacity, he will provide legal counsel on an as-needed basis to SDAR, which has approximately 10,000 realtor members and affiliates.

SDAR's history dates to 1878, when the first real estate board of San Diego was organized. The designation "Realtor" was adopted in 1916 by the San Diego Realty Board. Through the efforts of the San Diego Realty Board, California was the first state to enact real estate and examination licensing law. Others soon followed and today all 50 states have such laws.

Solecki is a legal expert in the areas of real estate, real estate disputes, risk management, litigation management, corporate legal and business operations and compliance issues.

He served as the former general counsel of Prudential California Realty prior to joining Winton Larson & Solecki. He also practiced for eight years in the litigation department of the San Diego real estate law firm Hecht Solberg Robinson Goldberg & Bagley LLP, and 20 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, from which he retired as a Lieutenant Colonel Judge Advocate.

San Diego attorneys Janice P. Brown and Stacy L. Fode, partners at Brown Law Group, have become new chapter members of the Women Presidents' Organization. The WPO is a nonprofit membership organization for women presidents of multi-million-dollar companies. Members of the WPO take part in professionally facilitated peer advisory groups in order to coax the "genius out of the group" and grow their businesses to the next level.

"We're excited to become members of this prestigious organization," said Brown. "The WPO's charter is absolutely consistent with Brown Law Group's culture of mentorship and achievement based on the highest standards of ethics."

Brown has earned an outstanding reputation in the field of law for her legal acumen, fierce and successful client advocacy and her skills in preventive law, stated to a press release announcing the appointments. Brown specializes in employment law and in general civil litigation.

Fode has established herself as a smart, hard-working, accomplished and optimistic force, the release also stated. She focuses her practice on business litigation with an emphasis on employment litigation and advisement.