Patent-Relations with the USPTO Charles E. Van Horn, Chair (left photo) Gregory D. Allen, Vice-Chair (right photo) ___________________________________________ Please see Patent Agents Committee for report.
Young Lawyers
Alyson Barker, Co-Chair (left photo) Michael A. Valek, Co-Chair (right photo) ___________________________________________
T
he Young Lawyers Committee had a very productive meeting in Miami. Thanks to the organizational efforts of Ehab Samuel, the YLC hosted a Joint Meeting with the Law Student Committee on what young lawyers need to know if interested in a future career in-house. Ehab lined-up an all star group of panelists, including Manny Schechter (IBM), Guy Donatiello (Endo Pharmaceuticals), Wayne Sobon (Accenture), Timothy Meigs (Becton, Dickinson & Co.), and James Carruth (Shell Oil Company). Ehab served as moderator and had a series of probing questions for our panelists that led to an interesting and informative discussion. The YLC also announced plans to increase opportunities for YLC members to interact with members of the Electronics and Computer Law Committee. The ECLC requested YLC volunteers to help coordinate a program on green technologies at the 2009 Annual Meeting and over 30 YLC members answered the call. The YLC and ECLC will continue to find opportunities for all of our interested volunteers. Thank you to Michael Nguyen and David Potashnik, our liaisons to the ECLC, for being proactive in reaching out to the ECLC. We encourage all of our liaisons to follow Michael and David’s lead and reach out to committee chairs to identify opportunities where you and other members of the YLC can get involved. 2009 mid-winter institute issue
The YLC is currently in the grading period for the Annual Giles Rich Moot Court competition. Special thanks to Kimberly Van Voorhis for graciously volunteering to continue her tenure as National Director of the competition. With Kim at the helm the competition is always a great success. In addition, thank you to all of our regional directors and graders for taking time to participate in the competition. Plans are already underway for next year’s moot court competition. If you are interested in helping to co-author the problem for next year, please contain Alyson Barker (barkera@howrey. com) or Michael Valek (mvalek@velaw.com). The Watson Writing Competition is just around the corner and we have two new co-chairs, Jen Kuhn and Janet Gongola, for the YLC subcommittee that oversees the judging of submissions. Thanks Jen and Janet for volunteering to head this up. As we move into Spring, the YLC has an exciting line-up of programs at the Spring Meeting in San Diego. Following a plenary session on Best Practices in Taking and Defending Depositions (moderated by YLC member Stephen Stout), the Young Lawyers Committee and the Education Committee will hold a joint-meeting to provide a hands-on opportunity for improving your deposition skills. We will have mock witnesses and a mock set of facts and YLC members will have an opportunity aipla bulletin
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