Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Page 3
DLA Piper Adds Six Partners to Technology Practice
By a MetNews Staff Writer
DLA Piper announced yesterday that six former Hogan Lovells attorneys are joining its Intellectual Property and Technology practice as partners in the firm’s Los Angeles office.
The attorneys include Richard de Bodo, the former practice area leader of Hogan’s Intellectual Property Practice Group; Siegmund Gutman; Robert Benson; Christopher Broderick; Troy Schmelzer; and Lawrence McClure.
John Allcock, global co-Chair of DLA Piper’s Intellectual Property and Technology practice, said the new partners would be “integral to the regional, national, and international growth of the firm’s Patent Litigation practice,” adding:
“Rich and his colleagues bring sophisticated intellectual property litigation, counseling and prosecution capabilities with particularly extensive global experience in the pharmaceutical, high technology electronics, imaging and Internet space.”
De Bodo litigates and tries patent, trade secret, and other intellectual property cases before trial courts, appellate courts, arbitration panels and the U.S. International Trade Commission. A graduate of college and law school at Harvard University, he joined the California State Bar in 1987 and is also admitted to practice in Pennsylvania, before the Ninth and Federal U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals, and before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Gutman, who holds a master’s degree in molecular and cell biology from UC Berkeley, was previously senior counsel for patent litigation at biotechnology corporation Amgen Inc. before joining Hogan. He attended college at UC Santa Cruz and law school at the University of Illinois, and became a member of the State Bar of California earlier this year.
Benson focuses his practice on patent litigation, and has experience in international aspects that arise in the context of foreign manufacturing, communications and the Internet. He is also the founder and president of Arms of Love International, a charity that establishes and operates children’s homes in less developed countries around the world.
A graduate of college at San Jose State University and UC Berkeley School of Law, Benson was admitted to the State Bar in 1991.
Broderick practices in intellectual property law with an emphasis on litigation, and has also practiced in the Eastern District of Texas. He attended the University of Cincinnati and Loyola Law School, and joined the State Bar in 1995.
Schmelzer concentrates on U.S. patent prosecution, international patent portfolio management and strategic counseling, and has experience with electrical, computer and communications technologies, particularly wireless communications systems. He graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and attended the University of Illinois College of Law before becoming a member of the State Bar in 2000.
McClure focuses his practice on patent prosecution and assisting in the litigation of patent disputes, and has experience in the preparation and prosecution of patent applications in various technological areas.
He holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California and graduated from Clemson University and UC Hastings College of the Law. McClure joined the State Bar in 1995.
Copyright 2010, Metropolitan News Company