Magazine Compiles Top 50 List of Young IP Lawyers

Intellectual Property Law

Magazine Compiles Top 50 List of Young IP Lawyers

Posted May 6, 2008, 07:12 am CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss

A list of the top 50 intellectual property lawyers under the age of 45 includes big-firm partners, boutique litigators and in-house lawyers.

IP Law & Business (reg. req.) has compiled the list, starting with Oliver Ashe, who was a sixth-year associate when started his own firm, to William Zimmerman, who recently opened a Washington, D.C., office for Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear.

The magazine spotlighted several of its picks with separate articles. They include:

--John Dragseth, a partner at Fish & Richardson who “lives and breathes patent appeals, along with prosecution and opinion work.”

--Carl Horton, chief IP counsel at General Electric Co., who has developed “a reputation for being friendly, generous, inspiring, hardworking, and smart.”

--Jane Love, co-chair of the intellectual property group at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, who helped build the firm’s IP group in New York from five lawyers to about 30.

--Laurie Self, co-chair of the trademark and copyright group at Covington & Burling, who has spearheaded antipiracy and anticounterfeiting efforts abroad.

--Brian Siff, a partner at Dickstein Shapiro, described as offering sensitive and pragmatic advice to clients on business issues.

--Charles Verhoeven, a partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges known for his skills as a trial lawyer. He successfully represented cell phone maker Nokia in a dispute with Qualcomm.

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Posted by mike rotch - 2 days, 16 hours, 40 minutes ago

Is it any wonder why these people were picked - all of these firms and businesses have a PR department. These lists are total garbage.
Posted by associate - 2 days, 16 hours, 9 minutes ago

I’ve always wondered about these lists.

It’s not like we have an invitational tournament where you submit a breif on a hypothetical case to a panel of judges and take a multiple choice test (multi-state bar exam style).

With thousands of IP lawyers out there, exactly how do you narrow it down? Just make some arbitrary picks, profile them, and then watch the traffic and ad revenue it generates on your magazine/site? People wouldn’t think I was very honest if I did things like that (arbitrary unreasoned decisions).
Posted by onthelist21 - 2 days, 16 hours, 2 minutes ago

You’re just jealous that you were not selected.
Posted by Mike - 2 days, 15 hours, 49 minutes ago

On the one hand, it’s obvious that the lists are subjective. Their PR departments can spend their money anywhere they like.

On the other hand, the one guy who I recognized on the the list IS quite an amazing speaker and has a sterling reputation in his (and my) local IP community. I’m sure that none of the 50 are sub-par attorneys.
Posted by JULIE - 2 days, 15 hours, 41 minutes ago

Does anyone know whether they do this every year? What was the nomination process and/or nomination period? I work with some pretty great lawyers and would love to recognize them.
Posted by mike rotch - 2 days, 15 hours, 40 minutes ago

I’m not saying that these attorneys aren’t deserving, nor am I jealous onthelist21. Rather, I merely point out that chances are there are 40 or so more deserving attorneys, their firm just didn’t happen to have a big PR department or inside connections. Most of these things are big circle jerks - I vote for you for one thing and you vote for me for another.
Posted by big firm - 2 days, 13 hours, 39 minutes ago

jealous, jealous, jealous. Why stop at 40… Mayube you should go get a job at one of the firms so you can get on the list if you are so smart.
Posted by Happens Here - 2 days, 13 hours, 27 minutes ago

#6—those “circle” instances definitely happen. In our state, the Super Lawyers publication is, for some reason, the one the attorneys locally try to get themselves into. My boss at my old firm actually took a day to cold-call around the area to ask people to nominate him. I was pretty disgusted, especially when it worked.
Posted by jose - 2 days, 13 hours, 19 minutes ago

Mike Crotch should go get a real job and stop complaining.
Posted by Li Yuan - 2 days, 12 hours, 8 minutes ago

Why fussy? Is not honor to be on list? Men on list first get promoted. Women on list get honor and promoted. I think Iist good.
Posted by dts - 2 days, 10 hours, 34 minutes ago

I’m so dumb I always thought “intellectual property’ had something to do with Susan Sontag’s house on L.I.

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