Firm's IP Practice Gains Four in Century City

For more information, contact Jamie Moss, newsPRos, 201-493-1027

(October 25, 2006, Century City, CA)—Steptoe & Johnson LLP’s rapidly growing Century City office garners a premier intellectual property group of four lawyers headed by patent lawyer Robert Kovelman.

Robert Kovelman and his team join Steptoe today as part of its expanding Intellectual Property practice.  He was a partner in and chair of the Intellectual Property Department in the Los Angeles office of Brown Raysman Millstein Felder & Steiner, a 275-lawyer firm headquartered in New York City.

Other members of Mr. Kovelman’s team joining Steptoe include of counsel Brooke Quist and associates Vanessa Owen and Andrew Chen.

Steptoe opened its Century City office in July, and now will have 15 lawyers there.  It is scheduled to move into permanent quarters early next year that will be able to accommodate more than 50 lawyers.

“Robert is an exceptionally well-qualified addition to our rapidly growing Century City office,” said Roger Warin, Steptoe’s chairman.  “His strong IP capabilities are well-aligned with our overall strategic plan to serve our existing clients and add new clients on the West Coast, a region with a strong base of companies engaged in computer and information technology and knowledge, content, and idea creation. His skills give Steptoe a strong foundation upon which to build a California practice that complements our existing high-profile intellectual property capabilities in trademark, trade secret, and copyright counseling, enforcement, and litigation worldwide.”

Mr. Kovelman’s experience includes patent prosecution, opinions, licensing and counseling, and litigation, with an emphasis on Internet, multimedia, and computer technologies, as well as electrical, mechanical, and biomedical arts in a practice that extends to counseling clients in all aspects of patent law, trademark law, copyright law, trade secret law, and other technology matters.  He has experience in drafting and negotiating technology agreements and licenses and providing advice to clients about both offensive and defensive strategies related to their intellectual property, as well as in preparing non-infringement, validity, and right-to-use opinions.

“Robert and his team help expand our national intellectual property practice,” said Alfred Mamlet, the leader of Steptoe’s Intellectual Property practice group.  “In particular, they will increase our ability to serve our clients’ patent acquisition and enforcement needs on the West Coast.”

“Steptoe provides my colleagues and me with an exceptional platform from which to grow and extend the reach of our intellectual property practice,” said Mr. Kovelman.  “We are looking forward to being part of such a dynamic and forward-looking firm and to have an opportunity to be part of advancing Steptoe’s identity and IP prowess on the West Coast.”

“Adding Robert and his team of patent lawyers is consistent with our plan to recruit Los Angeles’s top lawyers to an internationally known firm,” said Mike Heimbold, one of Steptoe’s earlier recruits.  “Like me, Robert found the attraction of Steptoe’s reputation for legal excellence and its strong core value of collegiality irresistible.”

A 1991 graduate of Southwestern University School of Law, Mr. Kovelman is a frequent guest lecturer at the University of Southern California, where he teaches a graduate course in the strategic management of technology in the school’s Department of Engineering. He also frequently lectures to client groups regarding the fundamentals of intellectual property to explain how IP is defined, protected, and can be used to provide a competitive business advantage. Mr. Kovelman is registered to practice before the US Patent and Trademark Office and is a member of the Patent Standing Committee of the State Bar of California. Further, Mr. Kovelman is a three-time recipient of the Southern California Super Lawyer Award.

Mr. Quist concentrates his practice in the areas of patent law, including patent preparation and prosecution, preparation of patent invalidity and non-infringement opinions, client counseling, strategic portfolio development, and due diligence investigations.  Other capabilities include license drafting and infringement litigation, as well as other transactional intellectual property protection.

A 1992 engineering graduate of University of Southern California, Mr. Quist has substantial patent experience in computer systems, including hardware components; computer networks; software; operating systems; peripheral devices; user interfaces; telecommunications technology, including satellite systems; cryptography; film processing and post-processing technologies; mechanical devices, including sporting equipment and medical instruments; casino gaming technology; material processing and structures, including semiconductors, composites and advanced metallic materials; and business methods.  He earned his law degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1997.

Ms. Owen earned a B.S. degree in chemistry at Georgia State University in l994 and received a master's degree in electrical engineering from California State Polytechnic Institute in Pomona, California, in 2001. She is a 1996 law graduate of Ohio Northern University.

Mr. Chen majored in biology and chemistry at the University of California earning a B.S. degree in 1994 and later received a master's degree in physiology and biophysics from Georgetown University. He graduated from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles in 2000.

Steptoe’s Century City office is the firm’s fifth US office, joining those in Washington, DC, Phoenix, New York City, and downtown Los Angeles.  Steptoe also has offices in London and Brussels.  Steptoe currently has over 430 attorneys.  The Century City office was launched in July 2006 by partners from the litigation practice of Alschuler Grossman Stein and Kahan LLP of Los Angeles—including Mark A. Neubauer, Katessa Charles Davis, Rebecca Edelson, Meredith Moss and Michael Heimbold—and Seong Hwan Kim, formerly a partner in the litigation practice at Christiansen, Glasser, Fink, Jacobs, Weil & Shapiro, Los Angeles.