Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Page 3
Veteran Trademark Lawyer Katherine McDaniel Joins Fulwider Patton
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Seasoned trademark attorney Katherine L. McDaniel has joined intellectual property boutique Fulwider Patton as counsel in its local office.
McDaniel, who was previously with the Santa Monica office of Bryan Cave, told the METNEWS her move to Fulwider Monday marked her first time with an intellectual property boutique in over 26 years of practice.
“I am very excited about this,” the 55-year-old attorney said. “These boutiques have really extensive experience in these areas of law that I just love. A firm like this will have a tremendous patent background, but they also have [several] trademark lawyers and people who litigate and practice in the copyright field. That way outstrips what I was experiencing in the general practice firms, where typically I would be the only IP person west of the Mississippi, and whenever I had a huge overflow of work, I would have to send it back to a midwestern office to be done by an associate there.”
McDaniel added that her clients were “thrilled” with her move because the billing rates at intellectual property boutiques are generally lower than those of general practice firms, while the quality of work is superior.
Jim Paul, managing partner of Fulwider’s Los Angeles office, said McDaniel would enhance the firm’s trademark practice both with her extensive experience and “tremendous and well-deserved reputation in the community.”
He elaborated:
“We think that there’s a lot to be gained by having expertise like that that was not previously in the firm, in interacting with other people who are patent and trademark lawyers and…seeing how we can better serve our clients.”
McDaniel began her legal career in 1980 as a corporate lawyer in the Century City firm of Memel, Jacobs, Pierno & Gersh. There her work included mergers and acquisitions, and hospital-physician contracts, licensing and reimbursement.
She handled her first trademark issue while working on a hospital-related matter, she said, and thereafter became the firm’s go-to person for both trademark and copyright questions.
In 1986, McDaniel moved to Alschuler Grossman & Pines in Century City, now called Alschuler Grossman and located in Santa Monica, known primarily for business litigation. Focusing her practice on corporate and partnership transactions, she also chaired the firm’s intellectual property group.
McDaniel took on her first full time intellectual property position in 1996 at The Times Mirror Company, where she was director of intellectual property and associate general counsel until 2000.
During her tenure, she established a five-member department that handled all of Times Mirror’s trademark, domain name and copyright matters, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and license for the company ant its affiliates. Her clients included the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, Matthew Bender and Sheppards.
From 2000 to 2005, McDaniel worked primarily on commercial, entertainment and international trade matters as the intellectual property lawyer in the Los Angeles office of Katten Muchin Rosenman. She moved to the international corporate law firm of Bryan Cave in 2005.
McDaniel said her background was “eclectic,” encompassing not only trademark but copyright, the right of publicity, and advertising matters.
“I’m hoping to bring my very broad expertise into a boutique that has been more narrowly focused in the past on patents and trademarks,” she said, adding that she hopes to be a resource for patent lawyers whose clients also need trademark representation.
McDaniel was admitted to the State Bar in 1980 after earning her law degree from UCLA.
From 1975 to 1979, she worked as a legislative analyst in the Office of the Chief Legislative Analyst for the Los Angeles City Council.
She earned her undergraduate degree in history from Occidental College in 1974.
McDaniel’s present professional affiliations include the Los Angeles Copyright
Society and the International Trademark Association. Her previous activities include chairing the State Bar’s Intellectual Property Section from 2001 to 2002 and serving on the section’s Executive Committee from 1996 to 2000.
Copyright 2007, Metropolitan News Company