Barnes & Thornburg Adds Leading IP Attorney Team in Chicago

CHICAGO – Barnes & Thornburg LLP announced today that a team of four leading intellectual property partners from Brinks, Gilson & Lione has joined Barnes & Thornburg’s Intellectual Property Department. This seasoned group of IP litigators brings depth and breadth of experience in all phases of trademark litigation, including preliminary injunctions, judge and jury trials, federal appeals and trademark trial and appeal board proceedings. They build on Barnes & Thornburg’s thriving IP practice.

The team includes Christopher M. Dolan, who chaired Brinks’ Trademark & Unfair Competition practice and brings more than 16 years of trademark litigation and client counseling experience; John T. Gabrielides, a prominent trademark and copyright litigator with more than 25 years of experience; Philip A. Jones, a first-chair litigator and past chair of Brinks Gilson & Lione’s U.S. Trademark Prosecution group in Chicago with 22 years of experience; and Michelle M. Mikol, a rising star with nearly 10 years of trademark litigation and counseling experience in Washington, D.C. Each served their former firm in administrative leadership roles, including on the board of directors and executive committee. Their arrival, which follows on the heels of two new IP partners in Minneapolis, underscores Barnes & Thornburg’s increasing IP bench strength across the country.

The new additions concentrate their respective practices on trademark, unfair competition, and copyright law, as well as social media and advertising issues. Their litigation experience spans proceedings around the country in federal District Courts, federal Courts of Appeal, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board and the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as trademark disputes in nearly every country around the globe. They provide counsel on both litigation and non-litigation matters, including complex licensing agreements, complex trademark counseling issues, filing and enforcement strategies, management of intellectual property portfolios, and prosecution of trademark and copyright applications. Their work touches on a wide range of industries, from consumer products, food and beverage, entertainment, ecommerce, banking and finance, hospitality, technology, healthcare and more.

“Bringing over this remarkable group of attorneys is a testament to the firm’s dynamism in the intellectual property space and our confidence in where we’re headed in 2016,” said Felicia Boyd, co-chair of Barnes & Thornburg’s IP Department. “This team represents some of the world’s most famous brands, and between them encompass nearly every facet of trademark and copyright law – they’ll undoubtedly serve as invaluable resources for our clients and internally.”

Each attorney brings a uniquely nuanced knowledge of current issues in trademark and copyright law to bear in their work for clients. For instance, Dolan co-authors Trademark Practice Throughout the World, a West Group treatise on international trademark issues and the trademark chapters of West’s Corporate Compliance Series; Gabrielides co-authors the treatise Trademark Litigation Practice; Jones has spoken on a number of trademark topics to, among other audiences, the Association of Corporate Counsel and the Practising Law Institute; and Mikol has extensive experience with hot-button ecommerce and Internet-related issues, and has been included on the Super Lawyers magazine “Rising Stars” list in Washington, D.C., and the “Super Lawyers” list in Illinois.

Dolan earned his law degree from The George Washington University Law School, and his master’s degree and bachelor’s degree from Illinois State University.

Gabrielides earned his law degree from DePaul University College of Law, and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois.

Jones earned his law degree from Boston University School of Law, and his bachelor’s degree from Princeton University.

Mikol earned her law degree from Boston University School of Law, and her bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University.

With more than 600 attorneys and other legal professionals, Barnes & Thornburg is one of the largest law firms in the country. The firm serves clients worldwide from 13 offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Delaware, Indiana, Los Angeles, Michigan, Minneapolis, Ohio, and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit us online at www.btlaw.com or on Twitter @BTLawNews.