ABA Annual Meeting to feature elections for ABA-IPL Section officer and council positions for 2024-2025 ABA year
The ABA-IPL Business Session with Elections will be held in Chicago on Friday, August 2, 2024 from 3:30-4:00 pm CT at the law offices of Sidley Austin, 1 South Dearborn St., Chicago. All section members are invited to register and attend the ABA Annual Meeting and Section events and participate in the elections.
June Besek, Chair of the Section’s Nominating Committee, reports that the committee has selected the nominees for elective officer and council positions for the 2024-2025 Association year.
Chair-Elect: Robert Lytle, Redmond, WA. Mr. Lytle is the current Vice Chair of the Section. Prior to becoming Vice Chair, he served as Revenue Officer for one year, as Financial Officer for two years, and as Financial Officer-Elect for one year. He served as a Vice Chair of the Patents Division. He has served on the Books Editorial Board for eight years, the Revenue Committee for four years, and the Investments Committee for four years. He was co-chair of the Trade Secrets and Interferences with Contracts Committee for two years. He has served on the Policy Development Advisory Committee for two years, and has served on the In-House Counsel Task Force and the AIA Task Force.
Vice Chair: Joshua Simmons, New York, NY. Mr. Simmons has served as Section Secretary for three years. He has also served as the Chair of the Policy Advisory and Development Committee for two years. He is also the current chair of the House of Delegates Resolutions Committee and has served as a member of that committee for three years. He has chaired the Copyright Law Reform Task Force for five years. He served as a member of the Section Council for four years. He was both Chair and Vice Chair of the Copyrights Division. He served as Chair and Vice Chair of the Copyright and Social Media Committee. He currently serves as a member of the Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Task Force.
Secretary: Paul Morico, Houston, TX. Mr. Morico has served as the Financial Officer for two years, and served as the Financial Officer-Elect for a year prior to becoming Financial Officer. Prior to becoming the Financial Officer-Elect, he served as Chair of the Patents Division for two years, as Vice Chair for two years prior to that, and as Special Advisor to the Patents Division for two years before that. He has been a member of the Continuing Legal Education Board since 2010. He has served as Chair and Vice Chair of the Patent Litigation Committee. He has served on the Investments Committee and the Revenue Committee, and was a member of the Section 101 Task Force for four years.
Revenue Officer: Tammy Pennington Rhodes, Houston, TX. Ms. Rhodes is the current Revenue Officer. She served as a member of the Section Revenue Committee for five years. She has also served as a member of the CLE Board for eight years. She served as Chair of the International Patent Laws Committee, and served as Chair of the USPTO Ex Parte Patent Practice and Policy Committee for two years. She served as Vice Chair of the Patent Litigation Committee for two years and Chair of the High Tech and Software Patent Committee.
Publications Officer: Adrienne Fields, New York, NY. Ms. Fields is the current Publications Officer for the Section. She previously served as Vice Chair of the Content Advisory Board for two years. She has been a member of the Content Advisory Board for ten years. She has served as a member of the Magazine Editorial Board for 14 years, and was Editor-in-Chief, Vice Chair and Intake Editor of that Board. She also served as a member of the former Annual Review Editorial Board for two years. She served as Chair of the Standing International IP Task Force for one year.
Continuing Legal Education Officer: Christopher Ponder, Palo Alto, CA. Mr. Ponder has been the Vice Chair of the CLE Board for two years. He served as a member of the CLE Board for six years prior to that. He has been a member of the Revenue Committee for five years. He served as a member of the Membership Board for five years. He also served as a member of the AIA Task Force for one year.
Membership Officer: Rivka Monheit, Atlanta, GA. Ms. Monheit was elected as Membership Officer in January of this year to fill the balance of the term left by the departure of former Membership Officer Sharon Israel. She had been serving as the Vice Chair of the Membership Board, and served as a member of the Membership Board for three years prior to that. She served a four-year term as a member of the Section Council. She was Chair of the International Patent Treaties and Laws Committee for two years, Chair of the Patent Legislation Committee for two years, and Vice Chair of that committee for two years. She has served as a member of the Patent Section 101 Task Force for five years. She has also served as a member of the In-House Counsel Task Force and the Standing International IP Task Force.
Diversity Officer: Nicole D. Galli, Philadelphia, PA. Ms. Galli was elected last year as the first Diversity Officer of the Section, after that new Officer position was created by the Section in 2022. She served as Liaison to the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession for two years. She served as a member of the Section’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force and as a member of the In-House Counsel Task Force. She was the CLE Officer for the Section for two years and served on the CLE Board for five additional years. She has served as the Liaison to the LES Supply Chain Committee. She was chair of the former CLE Teleconference Committee for one year. She has also served on the Section Membership Board.
Section Delegate to the ABA House of Delegates: (for a three-year term expiring in 2027)
William LaFuze, Houston, TX. Mr. LaFuze is a current Section Delegate to the ABA House of Delegates, with a term expiring in 2024. He has served as a Delegate since 2014. He is a Past Chair of the Section, and has served as its Chair-Elect and Vice Chair. He served four years as a member of the Section Council. Mr. LaFuze has chaired the Patents Division, Information Technology Division and the Litigation, ADR, and Related Issues Division, as well as numerous committees within the Section over the past 35+ years including the Amicus Briefs Committee. He also served as a Trustee of the Foundation for Advancement of Diversity in IP Law (FADIPL).
At-Large Council Members: (for a four-year term, ending in 2028)
Jonathan Bowser, Washington, DC. Mr. Bowser has served as Chair of the Patents Division for a year. He was Vice Chair for two years prior to that. He has served as a member of the Patent Section 101 Task Force for five years and as a member of the Policy Development Advisory Committee for two years. He was Chair of the USPTO Post Grant Patent Practice and Policy Committee for two years, and Vice Chair of that Committee for one year. He has served on the Section Nominating Committee and the AIA Task Force.
Keith Kupferschmid, Washington, DC. Mr. Kupferschmid serves as Co-Chair of the Copyright Office Affairs Committee. He was Chair of the Copyright Legislation Committee for two years, and Vice Chair of that committee for a year prior to that. He has served as the Section Liaison to the Copyright Alliance for six years. He has been a member of the Copyright Law Reform Task Force for five years and currently also serves as a member of the Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Task Force.
Eric Perrott, Washington, DC. Mr. Perrott has served as the Chair of the Trademarks Division for two years, and as Vice Chair for two years prior to that. He has served on the Revenue Committee for five years and the Membership Board for four years. He was Chair of the USPTO Trademark Practice and Policy Committee for a year, and Chair of the USPTO Operations Relating to Trademarks Committee for two years. He has been a Liaison to the IP Associations on TM Issues for five years. He served on the Trademark Modernization Act Task Force for two years. He has been a member of the Nominating Committee and currently serves on the Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Task Force. He was a Young Lawyer Fellow of the Section for three years.
S. Christian Platt, San Diego, CA. Mr. Platt currently serves as Vice Chair of the High Tech and Software Patent Committee. He was Chair of the USPTO Post-Grant Committee for two years. He served as Chair of the Patent Litigation Committee for two years and Vice Chair of that Committee for two years, where he co-chaired the Subcommittee on Damages.
Young Lawyer Council Member: (for a one-year term expiring in 2025)
Caleb Green, Las Vegas, NV. Mr. Green has been Chair of the Young Lawyers Action Group for two years. He served as Chair of the Law Student Action Group for three years. He was a Young Lawyer Fellow of the Section for two years and currently serves as Chair of the Young Lawyer Fellows Advisory Committee. He served on the Membership Board for three years and the CLE Board for one year.
Section Chair: According to Section bylaws, Susan McGahan, Bedminster, NJ, current Chair-Elect, automatically assumes the office of Chair for 2024-2025. Ms. McGahan previously served as Vice Chair of the Section. She served as the Revenue Officer for the Section for three years. Prior to that she was Vice Chair of the Revenue Committee and served as a member of that committee (formerly the Sponsorship Committee) for five years. She served as Secretary of the Section for two years, Membership Officer for four years, and Financial Officer for three years. She was a member of the Section Council for six years. She has also been a member of the CLE Board, the Membership Board, the FADIPL Board of Trustees, the Content Advisory Board, the Nominating Committee, the former Newsletter Committee, and the In-House Counsel Committee. She has chaired the Professional Issues Division, the former Publications Division, the former Membership Committee, and the former Young Lawyers Committee.
Financial Officer: According to Section bylaws, Richard Stockton, Chicago, IL, current Financial Officer-Elect, automatically moves to the position of Financial Officer for a term of two years. Mr. Stockton served as Vice Chair of the Patents Division for two years. He was Chair of the Standing International IP Task Force for two years, and served as Vice Chair for two years. He was Vice Chair of the Patent System Policy Planning Committee for two years, Chair of the Patent Litigation Committee for two years, and Vice chair of the Patent Litigation Committee for four years.
The Section’s Nominating Committee, appointed by Section Chair Steve Caltrider, is composed of:
June M. Besek, New York NY, Chair
Kim Jessum, Philadelphia, PA
Joseph Falcon, Malvern, PA
Tracy Kepler, Chicago, IL
Phil Swain, Boston, MA
Additional nominations for this new position or for any position may be made by petition signed by not less than 100 members of the Section, listed by their ABA ID number. The 100 names must be representative of at least three states and must indicate that the individual has agreed to the nomination. The petition must be sent to the Chair and the Secretary of the Section and must be received by these individuals not less than four months before the elections held at the Annual Meeting.
Visit the ABA-IPL Section website for more details on program sessions and section events at the ABA Annual Meeting.
