Oberholtzer recognized as 'Lawyer of the Year' in patent law for Ann Arbor

Steven L. Oberholtzer, managing shareholder of the Ann Arbor office of Chicago-based  Brinks Gilson & Lione, was selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America 2020 in the area of patent law. 

Oberholtzer has appeared on Best Lawyers 10 times since 2007 and joins 11 of his colleagues firm-wide on the 2020 list. Oberholtzer also received geographic “Lawyer of the Year” honors in patent law for Ann Arbor for the third time. Only one lawyer annually receives "Lawyer of the Year" recognition for each specialty and location.

 Preciously a senior project engineer with a domestic OEM manufacturer and  in-house patent counsel for a Tier 1 supplier, at Brinks, Oberholtzer has acted as primary outside counsel for a number of Tier 1 and lower tier supplier engagements that include worldwide responsibility for all intellectual property issues and management of attorney teams..

Co-chair of Brinks’ Automotive Industry Group,  Oberholtzer was recognized for his automotive industry knowledge in IAM’s 2018 summary of Brinks’ strength in serving the intellectual property needs of the automotive sector and for his prosecution work in the 2019 IAM Patent 1000: The World’s Leading Patent Professionals.

Oberholtzer is the principal author and original editor of The Basic Principles of Intellectual Property Law, originally published by Brinks in 2006 and released in its fourth, Centennial Edition to reflect ongoing changes in intellectual property law and coinciding with the firm’s 100th anniversary in 2017.

He is also the principal author of the Brinks IP Toolkit, a resource binder of information for dealing with routine intellectual property legal matters including IP agreements, IP policies and procedures for companies, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets and IP for information technology and social media.

He holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Kettering University, formerly known as the General Motors Institute, and received his J.D. from the Detroit College of Law at Michigan State University.