Fish & Richardson Stands Above Crowd in IP Applications
Fish & Richardson has been ranked among the top 10 firms in the country with the greatest year-over-year increase in the number of patent applications filed at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), based on research conducted by Juristat. Fish also stood out for filing more patent applications than any other firm for 10 consecutive years. In 2013, the most recent year included in the study, Fish filed 2,219 patent applications.
Last month, Fish was also named one of the busiest firms at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), according to a recent Lex Machina report that analyzed all of the America Invents Act (AIA) reviews filed through 2015. Fish represented clients in a total of 380 AIA post-grant review cases, including 234 cases in which it represented the petitioner – the most of any firm – and 146 cases in which it represented the patent owner. Fish was among only three firms that handled over 350 PTAB cases. Related, Fish received Tier 1 IP rankings in every national category – patent prosecution, patent litigation, bio/life Sciences, and PTAB litigation – in Managing Intellectual Property (MIP) magazine’s annual ranking of the top IP law firms in the U.S.
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George A. Foster has joined Mulvaney Barry Beatty Linn & Mayers LLP, expanding one of San Diego’s finest firms. Foster meets a need among current clients for employment and contract legal work, according to Managing Partner Everett Barry. “Personality is an important aspect of adding staff, and George is a perfect fit for our office, Barry said. Foster worked as a deputy district attorney between 1976 and 1984 in the San Diego County District Attorney’s office. He began his civil practice in 1984 with the law firm of Schall, Boudreau & Gore, Inc. In 1997, he joined Joan Walsh in opening Foster Walsh, LLP, where he practiced until joining Mulvaney Barry earlier this year.
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Latham & Watkins LLP is advising Zhone Technologies in its merger with Dasan Network Solutions. Zhone, a global leader in fiber access transformation for service provider and enterprise networks, announced a definitive agreement to merge with Dasan in a stock transaction recently. Latham & Watkins represented Zhone in the transaction with a corporate team led from the firm’s San Diego office by partner Craig Garner, counsel Ann Buckingham and associate Denis Griffin. Advice has also been provided on benefits and compensation matters by counsel Holly Bauer and on securities law matters by partner Colleen Smith.
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CaseyGerry partner Thomas Luneau has been elected to the American Board of Trial Advocates, a national association comprised of the country’s leading judges and trial lawyers.
CaseyGerry’s managing partner David S. Casey Jr., also a member of ABOTA, said Luneau is continuing a longstanding CaseyGerry tradition of ABOTA involvement. “We are now the only plaintiffs firm in San Diego to have four partners who are members of ABOTA, one of the country’s top trial lawyer associations,” Casey Jr. said. Other firm partners who are members include Casey, Frederick Schenk and Robert Francavilla.
Luneau started his career as a state-licensed private investigator, joining CaseyGerry in 1982 as a staff investigator. Currently, he is putting his investigative training to work, focusing on serious injuries caused by commercial truck collisions – difficult cases that involve the interplay between state and federal laws and regulations and complex fact patterns.
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Jacko Law Group, PC has hired David Sobel as its Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) specialist. Sobel joins Jacko with more than 30 years of experience in broker-dealer compliance and regulation, securities litigation, including arbitration and mediation, and disciplinary and enforcement matters at the SEC, NYSE and FINRA. He will be responsible for working alongside the firm’s counsel during FINRA regulatory examinations and investigations.
“His knowledge and experience with broker-dealer regulatory examinations is unparalleled in the industry,” said Michelle L. Jacko, managing partner and CEO of the firm.
Sobel currently serves as the executive vice president, general counsel and chief compliance officer of Abel/Noser Corp., a FINRA and NYSE member broker-dealer. Prior to joining Jacko Law Group, he served as a partner at The Goldstein Law Group, PC, where he concentrated in the areas of broker-dealer compliance and regulation and securities litigation.
He has been a FINRA arbitrator since 1998 and was chairman of the FINRA Small Firm Advisory Board
in 2013.
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Seltzer Caplan McMahon Vitek has three new shareholders: Brian Katusian, Andrea Myers and Matthew Seltzer.
Katusian joined Seltzer Caplan as an associate in 2011. His practice emphasizes tax law, ERISA/employee benefits, and tax-exempt organizations. He is certified by the State Bar of California as a legal specialist in taxation law.
Myers began her legal career as a summer associate at Seltzer Caplan in 2007. Her practice focuses on complex business litigation, real property disputes, professional liability defense and employment litigation.
Seltzer began his legal career at Seltzer Caplan in 2007. His practice encompasses real estate and business transactions. His work has been recognized in the San Diego Business Journal’s Top Real Estate Deals special report and awards program.
Randy Frisch is vice chancellor of business administration at National University and a former publisher of the San Diego Business Journal. He is licensed to practice law in California, Nevada and Idaho. He can be reached at rcfrisch@msn.com.
