Sarah MorganWorld IP Review
Editorial Project Lead
Sarah Morgan is senior writer and editorial project lead at World IP Review, and its associated publications. As a journalist with more than five years of experience, she covers all aspects of IP around the world. Sarah has spearheaded the editorial aspects of WIPR’s Influential Women in IP.
Alison Torrillo FrenchAlto Solutions, LLC
Managing Director
Alison Torrillo French has led projects within the education, government, and private sectors for more than 20 years. Her accomplishments range from being rated as a top instructor for the Deloitte Consulting Milestone Program and launching a career mentoring program for BearingPoint, to building and deploying a comprehensive change plan for a major defence technology initiative. Prior to her work in Big Four consulting, Alison helped build the graduate marketing program for the College of Arts and Sciences at American University. She has an MBA from the Kogod School of Business at American University.
Hailey BureauBSKB
Registered Patent Agent
Hailey Bureau specialises in patent prosecution in the fields of chemistry and life sciences. Her graduate work focused on developing algorithms for the simulation of peptide dynamics. Bureau received her BS in chemistry from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and her PhD in chemistry from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is currently attending law school at the George Washington University.
Maryanne ArmstrongBSKB
Partner
MaryAnne Armstrong is a partner at Birch Stewart Kolasch Birch and focuses her practice on prosecuting patent applications and post-grant practice in the fields of pharmaceutical chemistry, organic chemistry, medical devices, biotechnology, and plants. She is also experienced in pharma and biopharma-related procedures such as requests for patent term extension. She has written for World IP Review and our sister publication Life Sciences IP Review. She was admitted to the Virginia Bar in 2000 and is registered to practise before the US Patent and Trademark Office.
Thomas SpahnMcGuire Woods
Partner
Thomas E. Spahn practices as a commercial litigator with McGuireWoods in Tysons Corner, Virginia. Tom was selected as the 2013 and the 2020 metro-Washington DC "Lawyer of the Year" for "Bet the Company Litigation" by The Best Lawyers in America (Woodward/White, Inc.). In 2018, Virginia Lawyers Weekly selected him for inclusion in the inaugural Virginia Lawyers Hall of Fame. Tom has served on the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility, and is a Member of the American Law Institute and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. He has spoken at over 1,800 CLE programs throughout the U.S. and in several foreign countries. Through links on his website bio, Tom has made available to the public: his summaries of over 1,600 Virginia and ABA legal ethics opinions, organized by topic; a 300 page summary of his two-volume 1,500 page book on the attorney-client privilege and work product doctrine; over 950 weekly email alerts about privilege and work product cases; materials for over 40 ethics programs on numerous topics, totaling about 10,000 pages of analysis. Tom graduated magna cum laude from Yale University and received his J.D. from Yale Law School.
Kristi SawertUnited States Patent & Trademark Office
Judge
Judge Kristi L. R. Sawert earned a law degree from George Washington University Law School, a Ph. D. degree in Biochemistry from Ohio State University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology from Berea College. Judge Sawert served as a Judicial Law Clerk to the Honorable Paul R. Michel, Chief Circuit Judge (Ret.), at the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Before entering service in the Federal Government, Judge Sawert worked in private practice as an associate with the law firms Birch, Stewart, Kolasch & Birch LLP, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, and Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP. Judge Sawert joined the Board from the Office of the Solicitor at the USPTO where she served as an Associate Solicitor.
Mariessa TerrellHoward Law School
Professor
Commissioner Mariessa Terrell is a native Washingtonian and Howard Law School Professor who has been practicing law for over 16 years. Through her firm, Innovation PI Law, Mariessa provides trademark, licensing and contract services to a variety of corporate, retail and business development clients. Mariessa also produces #DCisFashion, an episodic DCN channel 16 tv show profiling DC fashion leaders and educating them on ways to protect their creativity using intellectual property law.