GLOBAL IP LAW GROUP - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- PARTNER
- Co - Founder of Chicago Women
Alison has been helping inventors protect investments in their inventions for nearly 20 years.
She holds a law degree from Harvard Law School and has extensive courtroom and trial experience. She is a member of the Northern District of Illinois Trial Bar and has litigated cases in the Eastern, Western and Northern Districts of Texas, the District of Delaware, the Northern District of Illinois, and the Southern, Central and Northern Districts of California. She has successfully argued before the Federal Circuit. She has also successfully represented patent owners in multiple IPR proceedings and has won in PTAB IPR trials.
In addition to litigation, she has extensive expertise with patent licensing and negotiating technology agreements. She also advises litigation funding entities about financing investments in patent cases.
Alison frequently works to monetize patents in the mobile phone industry, including standard essential patents (SEPs) relevant to the LTE, 4G, 5G, and other standards. Alison has monetized technologies relating to automobile sensors, radio telephony, wireless navigation, antenna signaling, inertial sensors, cybersecurity, semiconductors, photolithography, integrated circuits, imaging systems, wearables, and medical devices.
Alison started her career as an analyst at Goldman Sachs after obtaining a B.S. (summa cum laude) in finance from the University of Illinois. Prior to joining Global IP Law Group, she served as a partner at Fitch Even Tabin & Flannery for six years and an attorney at Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago for five years. Alison began her legal career after law school at WilmerHale in Boston.
Alison has been repeatedly selected by Intellectual Asset Magazine as one of the IAM Strategy 300: The World's Leading IP Strategists. Alison was selected as a Super Lawyer for 2022 and 2021 and to the "Illinois Rising Stars" for Intellectual Property Litigation list published by Super Lawyers (2013 - 2017). She is licensed to practice law in the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern District of Texas, Western District of Texas, Illinois, Massachusetts, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Alison is a Co-Founder of Chicago Women in IP (ChiWIP). Alison spoke about "Licensing: Monetizing the Value of Your IP Assets" at the MIP International Women's Leadership Forum 2019. Alison was a panelist in IPWatchdog's June 2021 panel "Billion Dollar Patent Verdicts: How, Why and Will the Federal Circuit Let Them Stand?" and IPWatchdog's January 2022 panel "Discretionary Denials: Has the Western District of Texas Been Neutered?"
Graham is Global IP partner who counsels clients in a wide array of intellectual-property and technology-related matters. He represents clients in litigation in the district courts and before the U.S. International Trade Commission, as well as helping clients license their intellectual property without resorting to the courts. He also sells patents and trade secrets for his clients and, in one engagement, achieved possibly the highest per-family price ever paid in the industry ($37.5M/family). Graham also advises companies on patent strategy and financial firms considering investments in patent assets and patent enforcement.
As a result of his varied experience, Graham is often asked to speak on matters related to IP policy, including before the U.S. Congress, the U.S. Justice Department, and the Federal Trade Commission. He has served multiple times as an expert witness on matters involving patent enforcement and general monetization and is a frequent speaker, both at conferences and in the press, on IP issues. IAM Magazine recognized him on its list of the world's 300 leading IP strategists every year since 2012. He has been named one of the Top 100 Lawyers in Illinois and, for the last eleven years, designated as a Super Lawyer.
He is experienced with many technologies, including telecommunications, consumer electronics, digital imaging, data networking, optical transmission, computer architecture, circuits and semiconductors, software, textile manufacturing, and biotechnology.
Immediately before joining Global IP, Graham served as Senior Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice. In that position, he vice-chaired the Justice Department's Task Force on Intellectual Property and was appointed Deputy U.S. Coordinator for International Intellectual Property Enforcement, a body devoted to anti-piracy and anti-counterfeiting initiatives. He also managed a portfolio of technology-related and national-security issues for the Deputy Attorney General, including international data privacy regulation, computer forensics, information sharing, biometric data collection and management, and the Department's participation in the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS), the body that reviews foreign acquisitions of U.S. technology for national-security concerns. Graham held the U.S. government's highest level of security clearance. Finally, during his tenure, Graham was appointed Special Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Columbia and was lead counsel on multiple successful criminal jury trials.
Before that experience, Graham spent nine years in the Intellectual Property group at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, where he was a partner focused on IP litigation.
Graham received a J.D., cum laude, from the University of Chicago law school, where he was an editor on the University of Chicago Law Review. After law school, he clerked for Judge E. Grady Jolly on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Graham received his B.A., with honors and cum laude, from Williams College.
He is admitted to the bars of the U.S. Supreme Court, the Federal courts of appeals of the 5th, 7th and Federal Circuits, Illinois, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the Trial Bar of the Northern District of Illinois, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin and U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
Job Titles:
- Advisor
- FOUNDER
- PARTNER
- Principal
David Berten is a founder and partner of Global IP Law Group. He works on all aspects of monetizing clients' patent portfolios, and directs the firm's litigation efforts. Mr. Berten works out of Global IP's Chicago office.
Mr. Berten has been the principal IP advisor on several of the largest patent transactions in history, with transaction value in excess of $7.5 billion.
Mr. Berten led Global IP's representation of Nortel Networks regarding the monetization of Nortel's patent portfolio. Global IP's representation culminated in a record-setting sale of $4.5 billion for Nortel's important telecommunications patents to a consortium that included Apple, Ericsson, Microsoft, RIM, and other companies.
Mr. Berten was the primary IP advisor to Alcatel-Lucent regarding the companies successful $2.6 billion secured debt financing, which was secured in part by Alcatel-Lucent's more than 40,000 patent assets.
Mr. Berten advised the Unsecured Creditors' Committee on patent matters in the Eastman Kodak bankruptcy proceeding. Kodak's restructuring included a transaction involving more than 3,000 patent assets for approximately $525 million.
In addition to Fortune 500 clients, Mr. Berten also represents smaller companies and independent inventors in their patent monetization efforts and leads the firm's litigation efforts.
Prior to founding Global IP Law Group, Mr. Berten was an associate at Kirkland & Ellis, and a partner at Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott and Competition Law Group. His representations concentrated heavily in intellectual property matters including patent litigation involving medical devices, advanced thermal barrier coatings, financial products, vehicle navigation systems, genetic markers, machine vision systems, bar code systems, and cellular-based data entry devices. His litigation experience includes involvement in many European actions, including Oral and Opposition Proceedings with the European Patent Office and Dutch patent infringement actions and appeals.
Mr. Berten has received numerous peer-reviewed awards. He has been named one of the top IP Strategists in the world by IAM Magazine every year since 2011, and was selected as one of the 500 Leading Lawyers in America (and one of 15 in intellectual property) by Lawdragon. He is AV (highest) rated by Lexis-Nexis/Martindale-Hubbel and has been named as an Illinois "Super Lawyer" (top 5%) in intellectual property litigation every year since 2005. In 2009, he was elected a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. He is a member of Trial Bar for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Mr. Berten holds a JD (cum laude) from the University of Wisconsin Law School where he served as an Articles Editor for the Wisconsin Law Review, was awarded membership in the Order of the Coif, was a member of the National Moot Court team, and was chosen as Best Oral Advocate by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Mr. Berten attended the University of Virginia School of Architecture and holds a degree in Urban Planning.
Mr. Berten has devoted a significant amount of time to the pro bono representation of asylum seekers and is recognized for his expertise on that subject. He has served as a member of the Leadership Council of the National Immigrant Justice Center since 1997, and was a member of the Advisory Committee to the ABA Commission on Immigration from 2005 to 2009. Mr. Berten received a pro bono award from the ABA in 2000, the Midwest Light of Human Rights award in 2004, and the Chicago Bar Foundation's Edward J. Lewis II award in 2005.
Hannah Sadler joined Global IP in August 2015 as an associate in the Chicago office after previously working for the firm as a summer associate and school-year law clerk. She is involved with all aspects of patent monetization and enforcement, including infringement analysis, portfolio evaluations, agreement drafting, portfolio marketing, and litigation.
Ms. Sadler's clients range in size from individual inventors and small start-ups to large corporations with hundreds of patent assets. She has successfully monetized patent portfolios covering autonomous vehicle technology, social networking, virtual assistants, wireless beacons, Wi-Fi location services, Internet search features, imaging systems, digital content distribution and management, smartphone features, and haptic technology.
Ms. Sadler holds a J.D. (cum laude) from DePaul University College of Law, where she received a Certificate in Intellectual Property Law with a focus on Patent Law. She received a B.A. in Chemistry from the University of San Diego, Honors Program. She is licensed to practice law in Illinois and is admitted to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Ms. Sadler has litigated cases in the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the Eastern and Northern Districts of Texas, the District of Delaware, the Northern District of Illinois, and the Northern District of California, among others. She has also assisted patent owners in multiple IPR proceedings challenging the validity of their patents.
Job Titles:
- ASSOCIATE
- Associate in Global IP 's Chicago
Meagan Leslie is an associate in Global IP's Chicago office. Ms. Leslie is involved with all aspects of patent monetization and enforcement, including infringement analysis, portfolio evaluation, agreement drafting, due-diligence document generation, and litigation. She has experience with portfolios ranging in size from a single patent to hundreds of patent assets.
Ms. Leslie has successfully monetized patent assets covering technologies related to lasers, computer memory, autonomous vehicle technology, wireless navigation, mobile devices, social networking, and other Internet technologies, among others.
Ms. Leslie represents clients in all phases of patent infringement litigation at the district court level. She has litigated cases in the Eastern and Western Districts of Texas, the District of Delaware, and the Northern District of Ohio.
Ms. Leslie holds a J.D. from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. She received a B.Eng. in Mining Engineering from Queen's University. Ms. Leslie is licensed to practice law in Illinois and is admitted to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Job Titles:
- PARTNER
- Partner of Global IP
Ragnar Olson is a partner of Global IP, who works on all aspects of clients' efforts to monetize patents, including licensing, sales, and litigation. Mr. Olson has been named among the top patent strategists in the world by IAM Magazine and has been selected by Super Lawyers as an Illinois "Super Lawyer." Mr. Olson works out of Global IP's Chicago office.
At Global IP Mr. Olson advises numerous companies and individual inventors regarding the valuation and monetization of their patent portfolios. Mr. Olson has negotiated significant license and sale agreements with large corporations and non-practicing entities throughout the world.
Prior to joining Global IP, Mr. Olson was Director of Ocean Tomo's patent transactions group and oversaw more than $100 million in patent transactions through the public auctions. His work involved the review of thousands of patents in a wide spectrum of technical fields and the successful transfer of hundreds of patent assets.
Before Ocean Tomo, Mr. Olson worked professionally as a Chemist for Baxter Healthcare, Stepan Company, and the Drug Enforcement Administration. Through this cumulative experience Mr. Olson worked with a variety of chemical substances, including pharmaceutical compounds, soap complexes and controlled substances, among others. At the DEA, Mr. Olson testified numerous times in Federal Court and worked as a Law Clerk within the DEA's Office of Chief Counsel.
Mr. Olson holds a degree in Chemistry, with a minor in Economics, from Indiana University; he holds a JD from Chicago-Kent College of Law, as well as a certificate in Intellectual Property. Mr. Olson obtained a Masters Degree in Information Technology from Northwestern University where his course work consisted of wireless communications, computer networks, virtualization solutions, data mining, and network security.
Mr. Olson is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office and is licensed to practice law within the state of Illinois. Mr. Olson is a member of the American Chemical Society and the American Intellectual Property Law Association. His legal activities outside of the office include serving as a guest lecturer at various universities, including Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management, University of Illinois Law School, and Chicago-Kent College of Law.
Richard Dennerline is of counsel to Global IP Law Group, working on all aspects of analysis, enforcement, and monetization of clients' patents through licensing, sales, and litigation as well as defending patent rights.
He has represented clients with billion dollar patent assets and helped monetize and license them to many of the world's most profitable technology companies. He also routinely represents independent inventors and smaller patent ventures and helps them recover their damages and protect their patents against industry attacks.
His monetization efforts frequently include patents covering the mobile computing industry, including mobile handsets, smartphones, WiMAX (4G), LTE, 5G, radio telephony, wireless navigation, antenna signaling, integrated circuits, mobile payments, and mobile apps.
He has decades of experience negotiating and documenting settlements of patent disputes and licenses as well as a business advisor to start-up, venture-backed, and public companies. He has served as in-house and external general counsel and is experienced advising chief executives and board members on both patent and corporate strategies. In addition to patent transactions, he has led and handled numerous corporate acquisitions, mergers, divestitures, venture capital financings, and public offerings.
Mr. Dennerline holds an engineering degree from Purdue University Schools of Engineering where he received his B.S. in Industrial Engineering, with highest distinction. He is a registered patent attorney with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
He received his J.D., magna cum laude, from The University of Michigan Law School where he was awarded Order of the Coif, received the Saul L. Nadler Award for outstanding success in corporate law, and was an instructor of writing and advocacy.
Before Global IP, Mr. Dennerline was patent counsel to Competition Law Group, selling, licensing, and litigating patents. He started his legal career at Sidley & Austin, handling corporate finance deals and structuring work-outs and funding transactions for money center financial institutions. He also was a partner of Freeborn & Peters where he led, structured, and handled numerous intellectual property and corporate transactions.