WOOD PHILLIPS - Key Persons

Cheryl focuses her practice on biotechnology-related intellectual property matters with a particular emphasis on diagnostics, immunology, genetics, and veterinary health. She has many years of experience with both U.S. and foreign patent prosecution, client counseling, and the preparation of freedom-to-operate, patentability, validity, and infringement opinions. She particularly enjoys working directly with inventors in the creation of commercially valuable patent portfolios. Specifically, she has personally drafted and prosecuted several hundred patent applications for issuance.

Job Titles:

• Partner
• Member of the Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago

Christian is a Partner and has been with the Firm since 2011. He specializes in the mechanical arts. Currently, he focuses on all aspects of patent prosecution of both domestic and foreign patent applications, including PCT applications and preparing instructions for foreign associates. His experience extends to providing freedom-to-operate, non-infringement, and patent validity opinions. While attending law school, Christian helped teach Chinese patent examiners at the China Intellectual Property Training Center in Beijing. In addition, he was a legal extern for several boutique intellectual property law firms in the Chicago area. Christian was an Articles Editor for The John Marshall Review of Intellectual Property Law, received a Certificate in IP Law, and was a multiple CALI award recipient. Christian is a member of the Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago. He has been admitted to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office and the Northern District of Illinois.

Jeff represents clients in all phases of intellectual property, particularly in counseling clients regarding intellectual property law matters and in prosecuting patent applications and trademark registration applications. His focus is on protecting clients' interests, including recognizing overlooked valuable rights and helping his clients to avoid intellectual property problems. He has worked with clients to protect their rights in their inventions by obtaining over 1,000 patents around the world on a wide variety of subject matters, in virtually all mechanical fields.

Job Titles:

• Board Member of the Arizona College of Trial Advocacy

Jim focuses his practice on providing counsel for all the ways that intellectual property and artificial intelligence issues can and will impact your business, in the following primary areas: 1. providing IP and AI audits for your business, assessing areas of potential improvement for your policies, procedures, and contracting on these issues; 2. developing your comprehensive IP protection and AI implementation strategies; and 3. representing you in your noncompete and trade secret misappropriation disputes centered on IP and AI issues. Before joining the firm, Jim opened one of the first practices in the U.S. focused on substantive artificial intelligence law. Jim continues to write one of the first legal blogs focused on artificial intelligence issues. Prior to that, Jim managed The Sedona Conference's Working Groups 9 and 10 on Patent Litigation and Working Group 12 on Trade Secrets for nine years, managing the drafting of consensus, non-partisan commentaries providing guidance of immediate, practical benefit to the bench and bar, with teams drawn from leading judges, in-house counsel, and practitioners. Jim also has a wide range of additional legal experiences, including serving as a patent litigation associate with a former AmLaw100 firm in D.C., as sole in-house counsel for a multinational technology company headquartered in Taiwan and with offices in the U.S. and the Netherlands, and as co-founder and general counsel for a startup company. Jim is a board member of the Arizona College of Trial Advocacy, an intensive, five-day workshop that provides practical hands-on training for trial lawyers, culminating in a half-day mock trial with live jurors and judges in a Maricopa County Superior Court courtroom. Jim is also a board advisor for Artificial Intelligence Venture Network, a nonprofit 501(c)(6) organization dedicated to realizing the promise of artificial intelligence in business and society.

Joel specializes in a full range of domestic and foreign patent and trademark matters in the mechanical and chemical fields. He has extensive experience in patent reexamination and patent reissue matters. He has also been involved in negotiating and drafting license, distribution, and research and development agreements throughout the world, bringing business knowledge to the practice of law to meet the real-world needs of his clients.

John regularly counsels clients in all areas of intellectual property, primarily in the mechanical arts. He has represented them in litigation in both the State and Federal Courts as well as before the International Trade Commission.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Firm 's Life Sciences Group

Mark is a member of the Firm's Life Sciences Group. He focuses his practice on intellectual property matters in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology fields. He has extensive experience with many aspects of intellectual property law, including U.S. and foreign patent and trademark procurement and the preparation of freedom-to-operate, invalidity, and infringement opinions. Mark has also provided clients with strategic advice aimed at maximizing the value of their IP portfolio. Mark's primary technical expertise is in the areas of biochemistry and pharmaceuticals.

Steve provides strategic advice on the development, acquisition, maintenance, and licensing of patents and related intellectual property for the firm's chemical and biotechnology clients. He has extensive experience in patent practice, licensing, and mergers and acquisitions in the U. S., as well as in Europe, Japan, Canada, and Brazil.

Thomas focused his practice in his formative years on business litigation in a large law firm setting in Chicago. His practice evolved to concentrate on business counseling and intellectual property matters, including helping clients resolve management and business trade issues cordially, but without fear of resorting to litigation or alternative dispute resolution when necessary. His broad experience representing banks, publishing companies, transportation companies, large and small manufacturers, insurance companies, state and federal governmental agencies, and private entrepreneurs, as well as hospitals and other not-for-profit charitable organizations, provides him a holistic edge in crafting practical solutions for business, intellectual property or personal matters efficiently and effectively.