McAndrews Shareholder Deborah A. Laughton Honored with the 2013 University of Illinois Nuclear, Plasma and Radiological Engineering Advocate Award

04.26.13

CHICAGO, IL – April 26, 2013 – McAndrews, Held & Malloy shareholder Deborah A. Laughton has been selected as a recipient of the 2013 University of Illinois Nuclear, Plasma and Radiological Engineering (NPRE) Advocate Award. According to the university’s website, Debbie and her husband, Terrill, are being honored for their “dedicated leadership in the grassroots efforts to build NPRE endowments, thereby promoting NPRE programs, honoring NPRE’s faculty and staff, inspiring fellow alumni, and rewarding outstanding students.”

The Laughtons were instrumental in establishing and building support for the Catherine Pritchard Scholarship Fund and the Barclay G. Jones Endowed Fellowship Fund, the first fellowship held entirely within NPRE. They also worked to fund the Alumni Constituent and Advisory Board Lecture Series. Their next goal is a campaign for building the Roy A. Axford Scholarship Fund.

Debbie graduated from the University of Illinois’ NPRE department in 1995, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in nuclear engineering. She holds a J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law. At McAndrews, she counsels clients on a wide range of intellectual property areas, with an emphasis on patent litigation. She has deep experience in the industry of medical devices, and has worked with such diverse technologies as orthopedic implants and components, and surgical suction irrigators, to name a few. She has also been heavily involved with due-diligence investigations and appeals before the Federal Circuit.  Prior to McAndrews Held & Malloy, Debbie worked as a nuclear engineer in ComEd’s Nuclear Fuel Management group.

Debbie currently serves on the University of Illinois NPRE Advisory Board. She previously held positions on the American Nuclear Society (ANS) Executive Board and on the national ANS Committees for Public Policy, Professional Women in ANS, and Scholarship Policy and Development.

About McAndrews, Held & Malloy
Founded in 1988, McAndrews, Held & Malloy is one of the nation’s preeminent legal resources on intellectual property, antitrust and technology matters, serving institutions ranging from major multinationals and start-ups to world-class colleges and universities.  The firm’s technically trained attorneys have built a record of litigation successes in jury trials, bench trials and ADR proceedings.  In addition, McAndrews offers its clients services in the following areas:  patent and trademark procurement and portfolio management, patent interferences, trademark oppositions and cancellations, design rights, international practice, intellectual property/technology opinions and investigations, due diligence and M&A support, technology licensing and joint ventures, and technology transfers and donations.  Additional information can be found at www.mcandrews-ip.com.

CONTACT:     
Amy Magro
Finn Partners
312/329-3903
amy.magro@finnpartners.com