Lathrop GPM hires eight-strong tech team from rival firm
Expansion of the IP team in Dallas follows growth in firm’s Denver and Kansas City offices | Team has strong ties to Texas and California markets.
Lathrop GPM has appointed more than half a dozen IP professionals from Ferguson Braswell Fraser Kubasta to its IP practice group in Dallas, Texas.
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.
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 added: “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.”
Kate Tompkins, leader of the firm’s IP 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.”
Team backgrounds
Lord has more than 30 years of legal and 25 years of patent prosecution experience. He focuses on portfolio management, IP aspects of due diligence, client counselling, licensing, patent prosecution, and handling contested matters before the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), US Federal Courts, and the International Trade Commission. His expertise lies primarily in the fields of software engineering, business methods and computer engineering.
As a software developer before practising law, Lord worked on programming projects for the Internal Revenue Service, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Baylor University, and Apple.
Vicere has developed worldwide patent prosecution strategies, drafted licence agreements, counselled clients on software copyright registration, and conducted infringement and invalidity analyses.
She has successfully obtained both utility and design patents for clients in a wide range of technologies. Vicere has experience selecting appropriate classes and descriptions for clients’ goods and services, filing and prosecuting trademark applications with the USPTO.
Ben King’s practice focuses on patent preparation and prosecution, plus portfolio management and client counselling in the fields of communication technology, software engineering, electrical engineering, computerised 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.
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.
He specialises 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.
