Nine McAndrews, Held & Malloy Attorneys Recognized by their Peers as 2016 Illinois Super Lawyers and Rising Stars

02.08.16

CHICAGO – February 8, 2016 – McAndrews, Held & Malloy, Ltd., one of the nation’s most distinguished law firms focusing on intellectual property and complex technology law, announced today that six of the firm’s shareholders have been named Illinois Super Lawyers and three attorneys have been selected as Illinois Rising Stars.

The annual selections are made using a patented multiphase process that includes a statewide survey of lawyers to create the candidate pool; an independent research evaluation of the candidates; and peer reviews by practice area. The nine selected McAndrews attorneys were featured in the February issue of Chicago magazine, in addition to the stand-alone 2016 Illinois Super Lawyers publication.

McAndrews chairman and shareholder Timothy J. Malloy and shareholder Sharon A. Hwang were selected as Illinois Super Lawyers for Intellectual Property Litigation, and shareholders Patrick J. Arnold, Jr., Christopher V. Carani, Nabeela Rasheed, Ph.D., and George Wheeler were selected as Illinois Super Lawyers for Intellectual Property. No more than five percent of the state’s total lawyers are selected as Super Lawyers each year.

McAndrews attorneys selected as Rising Stars for 2016 in intellectual property litigation are shareholders David Z. Petty and Christopher M. Scharff and associate Michael S. Tomsa. Rising Stars are the state’s best attorneys who are 40 years or younger, or have been practicing law for 10 years or less, according to the publication. No more than two-and-a-half percent of the lawyers in the state are selected as Rising Stars each year.

Nationally recognized for his intellectual property litigation successes, Timothy J. Malloy has been involved in numerous multi-million dollar verdicts, awards and settlements and has served as lead counsel in trials throughout the country. He has also engaged in numerous, highly successful arbitrations and mediations. Malloy has been listed in Best Lawyers since 1999, and was featured in the inaugural IAM 1000: The World’s Leading Patent Practitioners. He was also listed by Chambers USA as one of the top IP trial lawyers in Illinois and characterized as an “Outstanding Trial Lawyer,” and has been designated a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, an honorary society comprised of less than one-half of one percent of American trial lawyers. In 2014, Malloy received the “Mentor Merit Award” from LINK Unlimited Scholars for 28 consecutive years of service.

Patrick J. Arnold, Jr. provides intellectual property counsel to a diverse lineup of clients ranging from one of the world’s leading manufacturers of motorized wheelchairs to one of the world’s leading television programmers. His practice concentrates on patent, trademark and copyright litigation, and he also assists clients in prosecution, counseling, licensing and developing and managing IP portfolios. Arnold has worked on a variety of technologies, including complicated materials handling systems, automated chemical additive systems and mail sorting systems. He has been lead trial counsel on many lawsuits; has extensive experience with all pretrial, trial and post-trial activities in the federal courts; and has tried cases to both judgment and jury verdict in federal court. Arnold has also tried several cases before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, and recently won an appeal there for a client in the automotive aftermarket industry.

For more than 15 years, Christopher V. Carani has been a leading voice in the field of design IP, which regards the intersection of design rights, trade dress and copyright law. Carani counsels clients on strategic design enforcement and protection issues; he is often called upon to render infringement, validity and design-around opinions and serve as a legal consultant/expert in design-related IP cases.  Carani has extensive experience litigating design IP cases, including representations before U.S. district courts, the Federal Circuit, the ITC and the U.S. Supreme Court. In the landmark design patent case Egyptian Goddess v. Swisa, he authored amicus briefs on behalf of the AIPLA at both the petition and en banc stages. In Calmar, Inc. v. Arminak & Assoc., Carani authored a brief on behalf of the Industrial Design Society of America in support of a petition for writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court. Carani is a frequent contributor to CNN on IP law issues, and is often called upon to provide commentary to other major media outlets. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Northwestern University School of Law, where he teaches intellectual property law.

Sharon A. Hwang practices in all areas of IP law with particular emphasis on patent litigation and intellectual property counseling.  With a degree in electrical engineering, her practice spans such diverse technologies as medical devices, orthopedic implants, drug eluting stents, digital cellular telephones and complex communication systems.  Hwang has become a highly accomplished and sought-after IP litigator who has tried several multi-million-dollar patent litigation cases – the most recent of which was featured on National Law Journal’s “Top Verdicts of 2013” list. In October of 2015, the Supreme Court granted Hwang’s petition for writ of certiorari in Stryker v. Zimmer to consider the standard for enhancing damages in patent infringement cases.  In 2015, Hwang, a former President of the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Chicago Area, received the Sandra R. Otaka Leadership Award from the Asian-American Bar Association of Greater Chicago as well as an Advocate for Diversity Award from the Diversity Scholarship Foundation. Previously, she was selected as one of the “Best Lawyers Under 40” by the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. In January of 2016, Hwang joined the University of Illinois Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering’s (ECE) Alumni Board.

Nabeela Rasheed, Ph.D., is the legal counselor of choice for companies seeking to identify, protect and maximize the value of their intellectual property portfolios. Through effective patent prosecution and IP portfolio management, Dr. Rasheed helps clients secure the creative assets they have developed through their own research and development initiatives. She also advises clients in the acquisition and protection of intellectual property developed through joint ventures and strategic alliances, and conducts IP due diligence in relation to mergers, acquisitions and other transactions. Dr. Rasheed has extensive experience with opposition practice in the United States and Europe, and regularly represents clients in patent reexaminations, inter partes reviews and post-grant reviews. In addition, she serves as an independent consultant in matters involving inventorship and the prioritization of invention issues.

George Wheeler counsels corporate clients in a wide variety of patent matters involving diverse chemical, mechanical and medical technologies, including more than 25 patent post-grant proceedings, as well as appeals to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Patent Trial and Appeal Board and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. His specialty is patent analysis and prosecution, both for patent owners and alleged patent infringers. He has been named a Top Patent Prosecutor by PatentBuddy®, an honor achieved by only two percent of U.S. patent practitioners. Prior to McAndrews, Wheeler worked as an in-house patent attorney at The Procter & Gamble Company and Morton Thiokol, Inc.

David Z. Petty’s practice covers all areas of intellectual property law, including patent and trademark litigation, patent prosecution and portfolio management, licensing, and opinion work.  He also represents clients before the Patent Office in post-grant proceedings and reexaminations.  In his practice, he has dealt with many diverse areas of technology, such as contact lenses, lighting systems, electrotherapeutic devices, video poker machines, computer jukeboxes, medical devices, and powered wheelchairs, to name just a few.

Christopher M. Scharff works in all areas of intellectual property, with an emphasis on patent litigation through discovery, trial and appeal, as well as inter partes review proceedings before the U.S. Patent Office. He has represented clients in large-scale patent disputes on technologies as varied as orthopedic implants, spinal surgery devices, GPS hardware, chemical products, advanced materials, food processing and computer software.  He also has experience litigating Lanham Act, unfair competition, false advertising and antitrust disputes, and regularly counsels clients on all IP-related issues. Scharff represents both plaintiffs and defendants in disputes ranging from small cases to ones involving hundreds of millions of dollars. He is a regular contributor to InsideCounsel magazine.

Michael S. Tomsa concentrates on intellectual property disputes, including wireless communications, software, electrical devices, and consumer products. He has practiced before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, U.S. district courts, and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. As a registered patent attorney, Tomsa also drafts and has secured patents covering a wide range of technologies, including unmanned aerial vehicles, computer software, computer hardware, cell phones, and countless other technologies. In addition, he has substantial experience in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office procedures, such as ex parte and inter partes reexaminations, and inter partes review proceedings under the America Invents Act.

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About McAndrews, Held & Malloy

McAndrews, Held & Malloy boasts one of the most highly regarded teams of intellectual property attorneys, agents and technology specialists in the United States. Founded in 1988, the firm offers deep bench strength in matters relating to patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets and unfair competition. McAndrews attorneys have underlying scientific-based degrees and extensive prior experience in technology and IP-focused professions, and they routinely handle cases that involve innovative and cutting-edge technologies in specialized industries. While best known for their record of litigation successes, the firm also offers services in IP procurement, patent interferences, trademark oppositions and cancellations, IP/technology opinions and investigations, global portfolio management, development and licensing, M&A support, due diligence, design rights and joint ventures. Clients include multi-national corporations, Fortune 500 companies, startups and world-renowned universities. For more information, visit www.mcandrews-ip.com.