Perkins Coie Adds Former Lead U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Judge Jessica Kaiser to IP Practice

DENVER and WASHINGTON, D.C. (October 2, 2023)—Perkins Coie is pleased to announce that Jessica Kaiser, a former lead administrative patent judge at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), has joined the firm's Intellectual Property and Patent Litigation practices as a partner in the Denver office.

During over seven years at the USPTO, Jessica decided hundreds of cases before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) in both ex parte appeals and America Invents Act (AIA) trials. She also worked on PTAB and agency reforms, including implementing new agency rulemaking and a pilot program for motions to amend patent claims during AIA trials.

"As inter partes review proceedings have become an increasingly high-stakes element of patent litigation, Jessica's high-level experience at the USPTO will significantly benefit our technology sector clients," said Christopher Hanewicz, firmwide co-chair of Perkins Coie's Intellectual Property practice. "We're thrilled to welcome a highly accomplished patent litigation lawyer of Jessica's stature to the firm and our thriving national practice. We built our industry-leading team to handle our clients' most important matters before the PTAB. Jessica is a fantastic addition to that team."

Jessica joins Perkins Coie from Arnold & Porter, where she was a partner and co-chair of the firm's Post-Grant Patent Proceedings practice. She has extensive experience managing complex intellectual property disputes in the technology, telecommunications, and life sciences sectors, as well as high-profile patent litigation matters in both district and appellate courts.

"Jessica's experience on the front lines of national patent litigation matters will provide significant depth to the effective counsel we provide to our clients," said Dave St. John-Larkin, the managing partner of Perkins Coie's Denver office. "As we continue to expand our capabilities across key practice areas, Jessica's addition complements our strong, nationally recognized team of patent and technology transactions lawyers in Colorado."

"I'm excited by the opportunity to join Perkins Coie and its formidable IP practice and platform serving innovative technology companies and industry leaders," said Jessica. "Successful patent litigation more often requires a strategic and coordinated legal strategy for both IPR proceedings and district court litigation, and I'm looking forward to bringing my experience to bear for clients."

Before joining the USPTO, Jessica was a staff attorney for the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, where she was responsible for providing legal advice to the court on all types of motions filed before an appeal was assigned to a merits panel.

Jessica received her J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology, and her B.S. from the Colorado School of Mines.

The internationally recognized Intellectual Property practice at Perkins Coie consists of more than 275 lawyers and agents in the United States and Asia, more than 80% of whom have STEM degrees, including 60 with STEM master's degrees and 30 with Ph.Ds. Perkins Coie's IP lawyers provide innovative, holistic counsel at every stage of IP protection and development. The firm's PTAB practice is one of the largest in the country, and has handled more than 800 IPRs, including for seven of the 10 most active IPR petitioners. The firm also has one of the country's best records on behalf of its IPR clients, as evidenced by Intellectual Asset Management's recognition for the best record on behalf of PTAB respondents from 2013 to 2022.