Education

Law School/Year: Drake University, 1982

College/Year: Iowa State University, 1973

Bar Admissions

California; U.S. Supreme Court; U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit; U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit; U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit; U.S. Patent and Trademark Office; U.S. District Courts for the Southern, Central and Northern Districts of California

Practice Areas

Business Litigation; Intellectual Property; Patent, Trademark & Copyright; Technology

Major Cases

Exemplary patent litigation over wireless communications: InterDigital v. Qualcomm (EDPA); Ericsson v. Qualcomm (EDTX); BTG v. Qualcomm (EDPA); Nortel v. Kyocera Wireless (NDTX); Nokia v. Kyocera Wireless (EDTX); Kyocera International v. Nokia (SDCA). Exemplary patent litigation over biotechnology and life sciences: SIBIA v. Cadus Pharmaceuticals (SDCA); Gen-Probe v. Vysis (SDCA); Transonics v. NMT (DUT); Massimo v. Nellcor-Puritan Bennett (CDCA)

Professional Background

I graduated from college with a B.S. degree in Engineering Operations and then served four years in the U.S. Navy as a Surface Warface Specialist. After law school, I obtained admission to the California and PTO bars. For the first 10 years of my practice, I focused on general business litigation and served as lead trial counsel for a number of jury and bench trials. However, as San Diego’s technology business base expanded, I also expanded my professional focus to include patent litigation. I now enjoy the ability to combine my business litigation experience, technical background and patent training in a variety of patent litigations and trials.

Professional Affiliations

I am a member of the California and American Bar Associations, the Federal Circuit Bar Association and the American Intellectual Property Lawyers Association. I serve as a member of the ABA Intellectual Property Law Newsletter Committee and have spoken before the AIPLA and Southwestern Legal Foundation on patent trial matters. I also served as Chair of the San Diego County Bar Association Legal Ethics Committee and was appointed to a three-year term as a member of the California Bar Association Committee On Professional Responsibility and Conduct.

Personal Affiliations

I am particularly proud of my 11-year affiliation as a Trustee of local nonprofit group Family Literacy Foundation (FLF). The foundation’s mission is directed to facilitating supportive relationships for children through family and friends reading aloud to them. FLF sponsors an extremely important program that helps deployed military personnel (both moms and dads) read to their children via videotape and remain connected to their families even while gone for extended periods.

Personal Background

I grew up as a country kid in Iowa. I signed up with the Navy before I had even seen the ocean and I’ve followed that devil-may-care approach ever since. From my experiences in youth, the Navy, industry and now law, I’ve met a universe of really interesting people who have taught me a great deal.