Brinks Gilson & Lione, one of the largest intellectual property law firms in the U.S., recently announced that Ann Arbor office managing partner Steven L. Oberholtzer and shareholders Lawrence (L.G.) Almeda, William R. Boudreaux, James K. Cleland and Eric J. Sosenko have been named by their peers as Leading Lawyers in intellectual property in Michigan for 2014-2015, as was Detroit office managing partner Kelly K. Burris. This is the first year Leading Lawyers has covered Michigan.
Leading Lawyers, a division of the Law Bulletin Publishing Company, surveys thousands of attorneys statewide to identify lawyers most often recommended by their peers. Lawyers cannot nominate themselves or anyone at their own law firm. Fewer than five percent of all lawyers licensed to practice law in a given state can be named a Leading Lawyer.
Oberholtzer's practice focuses on patent and trademark counseling, corporate intellectual property policy development and administration, technology licensing, joint development and joint venture relationship agreements. He also has experience in United States Patent and Trademark Office administrative proceedings including interferences, re-examinations, re-issues, trademark oppositions and patent application preparation and prosecution. He provides opinions regarding infringement risks; design-around projects and patentability; litigation; and handling intellectual property issues involved in merger and acquisition transactions.
Oberholtzer, who earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from General Motors Institute (now Kettering University), and his J.D., from Detroit College of Law at Michigan State University, has extensive experience and expertise in the intellectual property legal issues of the automotive industry. He has a lifelong interest in the industry and products, and was employed as a senior project engineer with a domestic OEM manufacturer and as in-house patent counsel for a Tier 1 supplier. In private practice, he has acted as primary outside counsel for a number of Tier 1 and lower Tier suppliers. These engagements included worldwide responsibility for all intellectual property issues and management of teams of attorneys handling all facets of these matters.
Oberholtzer has extensive experience in many mechanical and electro-mechanical disciplines. He has additional significant experience in technology areas including medical devices, lasers, fiber optics, optical devices and heavy industrial equipment. In addition, he has acted as trial counsel in a number of patent infringement litigation cases.
A shareholder who chairs the Brazil Task Force and the Nanotechnology Practice Group, Almeda focuses his practice on patent opinions and prosecution in the medical, chemical, nanotechnology and mechanical arts. His practice has an emphasis on medical devices, nanomaterials, micro and nanodevices, petroleum and chemical processes, polymers, fuel cells, hybrid engines and polycarbonate glazing systems. He holds significant experience in counseling clients on patent infringement and validity evaluations.
Almeda is currently the Chair of the State Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Prior, he has held a number of elected and appointed offices which include Secretary for the Michigan Asian Pacific American Affairs Commission, Secretary for the Governor’s Advisory Council on Asian Pacific American Affairs, President of the Michigan Asian Pacific American Bar Association, Board of Directors for the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, and Board of Directors for the Washtenaw County Bar Association.
Almeda received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University, a J.D. from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, where he was a published member of the Law Review, and an LL.M. in Intellectual Property from The John Marshall Law School.
Boudreaux, who earned a B.S. in Biochemistry and his J.D. both from Louisiana State University, serves as co-chair of the Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical practice group. Practicing as a patent attorney specializing in pharmaceuticals and chemicals since 1992, his practice includes client counseling for strategic patent portfolio development, global patent prosecution, IP diligence, and opinions for patentability, validity and freedom to operate.
Boudreaux’s experience includes close to 15 years as in-house counsel in the pharmaceutical industry, including roles as patent counsel at Pfizer, Inc. and Eli Lilly and Co. He was primary patent counsel for several late-stage and post-launch drug products including four blockbuster drugs. In addition to his counseling roles, he has extensive experience in global patent portfolio creation, legal opinions, product life-cycle planning and IP diligence. His experience also includes Hatch-Waxman litigation strategy and support, prosecution of patent reexamination and reissue applications, transactional work, appellate brief writing and international patent procurement and enforcement. He represents a broad range of biotech and pharma clients ranging from large companies to start-ups.
Cleland has represented large multinational corporations, as well as small corporations and individual clients, and specializes in patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret and unfair competition litigation in a broad range of technologies including the chemical, materials science, mechanical and medical device arts, as well as in client counseling, opinion and licensing work in those same areas.
His litigation experience includes trials, preliminary injunction hearings, Markman hearings summary judgment proceedings and all aspects of fact and expert witness discovery, spanning federal courts across the county. His patent prosecution experience includes preparation of patent applications in the United States and foreign countries.
Cleland earned a B.S., cum laude, in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan, and a J.D., cum laude, from Indiana University School of Law.
Sosenko's intellectual property law practice focuses on the procurement, enforcement and licensing of patents and trademarks in all industrial fields, including the mechanical, electro-mechanical, medical and material arts. He counsels on the strategic implementation and management of domestic and international intellectual property portfolios for various multinational clients and deals with a wide range of intellectual property issues.
In addition to his U.S. practice, Sosenko has an extensive international practice with significant experience in international protection, both directly with all major foreign intellectual property offices and under various multinational treaties, including the Patent Cooperation Treaty, and has presented at seminars in both China and Japan.
Sosenko earned a B.S., in Mechanical Engineering from West Virginia University, and a J.D. from West Virginia University College of Law.
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