Lathrop GPM Adds 8 Member Veteran IP High Tech, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Team to Dallas Office
DALLAS (Feb. 6, 2024) — Lathrop GPM LLP is proud to announce the addition of eight IP professionals to its Intellectual Property practice group in Dallas. Robert Lord joins as a partner along with attorneys Annemarie Vicere, Ted Fay and Ben King. In addition, Roxana Malladi joins as a patent agent, Jaime Hathaway joins as a paralegal, Kate Ohale joins as a foreign filing specialist, and Hannah Ochoa as an IP docketing specialist. All eight come from Ferguson Braswell Fraser Kubasta PC. The expansion of the IP team in Dallas came just a week following growth in the Denver and Kansas City offices.
Lathrop GPM Managing Partner Cameron Garrison said, "This team of exceptional patent attorneys are well-known in the high tech and engineering industry and have strong ties to both Texas and California markets. This strategic move aligns with the firm’s national growth objectives and bolsters our substantial influence in the intellectual property sector." Garrison continued, "As the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex continues to expand, the IP and transactions work will also grow, and Lathrop GPM will be there to help companies compete in business and protect their interests."
Lathrop GPM’s Intellectual Property group has grown to include practitioners in offices across the country including California, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri and Texas. Over half of the team practitioners hold Ph.D.s, and other advanced degrees in engineering or life science. According to Lord, "We chose to join the Lathrop GPM team because they have developed a sophisticated intellectual property infrastructure and truly understand the business side of IP law. This will allow us to expand the services that we can provide our clients and focus on what we do best, helping clients achieve their business goals."
Kate Tompkins, leader of the firm’s Intellectual Property Practice Group said, "We are excited to welcome these attorneys and IP professionals who are ideally suited to our culture of client service. We look forward to working with them on the continued development of our high tech, electrical and mechanical engineering practice."
Overall, Texas is home to 95 Fortune 1000 corporations that are headquartered in the state. Dallas has an economy that has grown markedly faster than three of its largest competing cities; New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Demographers project that the Dallas/Ft. Worth area will climb to over 10 million people sometime in the next decade, passing Chicago to become America’s third-largest metro area. To align itself with the city’s growth the addition of the IP team is a step forward in building the Dallas office to be a national hub with attorneys from all practices who collaborate to serve the legal needs of clients across the U.S. and internationally.
Having over 30 years of legal and 25 years of patent prosecution experience, Robert Lord relies on a wealth of legal and business-savvy approaches to solve clients’ intellectual property issues. He focuses on portfolio management, intellectual property aspects of due diligence, client counseling, licensing, patent prosecution, and handling contested matters before the United State Patent and Trademark Office, U.S. Federal Courts, and the International Trade Commission primarily in the fields of software engineering, business methods and computer engineering. As a software developer before practicing law, Lord worked on programming projects for the Internal Revenue Service, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Baylor University, and Apple Computer Company. Lord earned a J.D. and his bachelor's degree from Baylor University.
With a wealth of experience in intellectual property counseling, Annemarie Vicere has developed worldwide patent prosecution strategies, drafted license agreements, counseled clients on software copyright registration, and conducted infringement and invalidity analyses. Vicere has successfully obtained both utility and design patents for clients in a wide range of technologies. Concerning domestic trademark prosecution, Vicere has experience selecting appropriate classes and descriptions for clients’ goods and services, filing and prosecuting trademark applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Vicere earned a J.D. from the University of Houston, her master’s degree in computer science from the University of California, San Diego, and a bachelor's degree from the University of Montana.
Ben King’s practice focuses on patent preparation and prosecution, plus portfolio management and client counseling in the fields of communication technology, software engineering, electrical engineering, computerized business methods, computer engineering and web applications. For more than 15 years, King has prepared and prosecuted countless applications before the USPTO with subject matters ranging from high-tech electronics and software to low-tech mechanical devices. King earned a J.D. from the Texas Wesleyan School of Law (now Texas A&M School of Law), an M.B.A. from Southern Methodist University and two bachelor's degrees from Texas Tech.
Ted Fay has more than 20 years of patent prosecution experience in the fields of computer hardware, software, and storage systems, as well as business enterprise systems, with 15 years of experience in technologies related to aerospace, including software, communication systems, electronics, aircraft construction and design, aircraft operation, composite materials, rocketry and others. Fay specializes in patent application preparation and prosecution before the USPTO. In addition to domestic prosecution, Fay has extensive experience working with foreign associates on foreign prosecution matters, especially before the European Patent Office, but also before the Indian, Japanese, and Chinese patent offices. He earned a J.D. from the University of Denver College of Law and a bachelor's degree from the University of California, San Diego.