Speakers
Hear from experts at companies like:
Former General Counsel of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (retired)
Former General Counsel of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (retired)
Benjamin Okeke is Senior Corporate Counsel, IP at Amazon.com. He is responsible for intellectual property legal counsel provided to Amazon’s Selling Partner Services business unit, including its Brand Protection team. His counsel covers a range of trademark, copyright, anti-counterfeiting and corporate policies, including online enforcement, potential litigation, licensing, and trademark infringement and prosecution issues. Benjamin also serves as An Amazon Legal DEI Ambassador to its Diversity Leadership Team, he also serves on AfricanAmerican-Legal@ Amazon, an affinity group aimed at addressing the unique issues that Black attorneys face at Amazon and in the greater-Pacific Northwest region. Benjamin received the National Bar Association award for promoting Diversity in Tech & IP. Prior to joining Amazon, Benjamin was Associate General Counsel for Nike, Inc. There he also served on the DEI committee within the Office of the Chief Administrator. Mr. Okeke began his career at Fish & Neave PC (now Ropes and Gray LLP) in 2004. He has also practiced as an Interlocutory Attorney on the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the USPTO.
Mr. Okeke received his law degree from Howard University School of Law, where he was awarded the Luke Charles Moore Moot Court Competition Outstanding Oral Argument. He holds an undergraduate degree in Political Science from Northwestern University. Mr. Okeke serves on the Board of Uplift Northwest and is active in several bar associations.
Micheal Binns is Head of Patent Portfolio Strategy for Meta’s Family of Apps and an Associate General Counsel on the Patent, Licensing, and Open Source team at Meta, formerly Facebook. At Meta, Micheal is a subcommittee co-chair within the Black@Legal group, focused on ensuring an equitable experience for diverse employees in the Legal department. He also promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion in the legal field by providing opportunities for lawyers within tech, mentoring future and current law students, and working to increase the diversity pipeline for college and law school students looking to enter the intellectual property field.
Micheal is also actively involved in his community and sits on the board of three non-profits. He is the board chair of Page Turners Make Great Learners in Atlanta, which is focused on providing books to low-income students in order to foster a love of reading; a board member on the National Council on Patent Practicum, which is working on establishing certification standards for patent professionals; and a board member with the Georgia Wildlife Federation, focusing on the intelligent management of the life sustaining resources of the earth.
Before joining Facebook, Micheal was the Atlanta Office Development Partner at Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP, where his experience included the litigation, counseling, and prosecution of all forms of intellectual property related to a variety of industries and technologies. He was also the chair of the Pro Bono Committee and a co-chair and founder of the Racial Justice Task Force of the Diversity & Inclusion Committee.
Juanita R. Brooks is a nationally recognized trial and appellate attorney who focuses on complex intellectual property, product liability, and mass tort litigation. She is an innovative, formidable litigator with a demonstrated, near-perfect winning record in complex, high-stakes lawsuits that few trial attorneys can match.
A master storyteller, Ms. Brooks paints pictures with words to explain the complex technologies at the center of her matters to judges and juries in a way that is both understandable and compelling and will be remembered throughout the trial. Law360 named her an “Icon of IP” for her “skill at trying complicated patent cases without getting bogged down in the technical weeds” and said she is a “jury whisperer.” She has also been heralded by the American Lawyer as “a titan of the patent bar” upon receiving its “Litigator of the Year” honors.
Her skill at connecting with courtroom audiences has made her a go-to litigator when the stakes are high for companies that range from startups to Fortune 10 corporations. Ms. Brooks’ successes in patent litigation have protected billions of dollars in sales for her clients and have helped define the ever-evolving landscape of patent and IP law. Her clients represent a cross-section of cutting-edge industries including software, medical device, pharmaceutical, and electronics.
Having handled more than 150 trials during her career, Ms. Brooks is highly skilled at cases that rest, in large part, on expert analysis, testing, and testimony. Utilizing Fish’s science and technology-intensive expertise, she crafts novel, outside the box legal strategies. Her ability to present and challenge expert testimony in court has been a decisive factor in courtroom victories. In one case the trial judge noted that the opposing expert’s “credibility was eviscerated on cross-examination” by Ms. Brooks.
As a Latina, Ms. Brooks has shattered gender and ethnic barriers to become one of the U.S.’s top IP litigators, having received numerous honors for her courtroom successes and her devotion to the practice of law. In October 2018, she received a National Women In Law Lifetime Achievement Award from Corporate Counsel. In 2017, Ms. Brooks was inducted into the California Bar Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame, the first Latina honoree and only the third inductee from San Diego to receive this honor.
After graduating from Yale Law School, Ms. Brooks returned to San Diego and worked for Federal Defenders Inc. She eventually opened her own practice, the first Latina to become a criminal defense solo practitioner in the community. She went on to be a partner in a preeminent international law firm before joining Fish in 2000.
Caren Ulrich Stacy is the Lead Advisor on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility at the United States Patent and Trademark Office, working with senior leaders to shape practices and policies that support and sustain inclusive hiring, development, and advancement systems at the agency.
Ms. Ulrich Stacy is a talent and behavioral science expert with more than 20 years of experience as the head of recruitment, development, and diversity for several of the world’s top law firms including Weil Gotshal, Cooley, and Arnold & Porter. After co-founding Lawyer Metrics, which pioneered a data-driven approach to talent recruitment and development, she created Diversity Lab and currently serves as its CEO.
Diversity Lab focuses on cultivating inclusivity and diversity in the leadership ranks of law firms, legal departments, and government agencies through the use of data, science, technology, and design-thinking. Some of the Lab’s recent projects include the Mansfield Rule, OnRamp Fellowship, Inclusion Blueprint, OnTrack Sponsorship, and the Diversity Dividends Collective.
In addition to her work with the Lab, Caren currently serves on the Legal Advisory Committee for the Silicon Valley Urban Debate League. Other recent leadership roles included serving on the Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice’s Commission on Improving the Legal Profession and as a Judicial Performance Commissioner to evaluate judges. She also previously served as Vice President of Policy in San Francisco and then as President in Silicon Valley for the UN Women Board of Directors. In 2019, she was selected by members of Congress to assist with the Congressional Black Caucus task force on increasing diversity in law and tech.
As a result of her leadership, Ms. Ulrich Stacy has received many national honors including the National Association of Legal Professionals Mark of Distinction, the InnovAction Award by the College of Law Practice Management, the Corporate Counsel Innovator Award, the American Bar Association Golden Hammer Award, and Legal Momentum’s Women of Achievement Award. She was also elected as a Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management and selected as one of the inaugural 10 Tory Burch Foundation Fellows.
Ms. Ulrich Stacy has contributed to over 250 presentations and publications on talent management and authored several highly regarded books, including “Loyalty by Design: A Practical Guide for Developing an Effective Attorney Integration Program” (National Association for Law Placement Inc., 2005).
Braxton Davis is Associate General Counsel at Meta (formerly Facebook) on the Patents, Licensing, & Open Source Team. Previously, he was Partner at Amin, Turocy & Watson where he focused primarily on patent prosecution in the telecom industry. Prior to becoming Partner at Amin, Turocy & Watson, Braxton evaluated inventive ideas, patent portfolios, and patent monetization opportunities based on business strategies as a member of AT&T’s Intellectual Property Patent Development Team.
Braxton received his J.D. from Georgia State University and his B.S. degrees in Physics and Electrical Engineering from Morehouse College and the Georgia Institute of Technology, respectively. Braxton also founded the National Council on Patent Practicum, a non-profit focused on increasing quality and diversity within the patent profession.
Elaine hosts Driving Diversity, a weekly vlog sharing diversity-related tips and FAQ’s, as well as quarterly webinars in a series called Diversity Dialogue as part of Harrity’s Diversity Channel. She also co-chairs Harrity’s Diversity Committee and is dedicated to improving diversity in the field of patent law through her numerous diversity leadership roles. She is vice chair of IPO’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, and co-chairs the IPO D&I Outreach Subcommittee. She also serves as chair of AIPLA’s Women in IP Outreach Subcommittee and is a member of AIPLA’s Women in IP Executive Team.
Ms. Anderson joined the firm as a partner in the Seattle office in January 2008. Ms. Anderson has extensive experience in comprehensive, strategic client counseling in all aspects of intellectual property. She has been very active in the procurement of patent assets in the computer science and ecommerce fields since 1993, and thus, is a thought leader in the intellectual property field with respect to patent subject matter eligibility.Ms. Anderson has extensive experience in developing patent and trademark portfolios and developing patent and trademark assets for a diverse group of clients, i.e., from startups to Fortune 100 companies. Accordingly, Ms. Anderson has guided numerous clients from the earliest rounds of financing through initial public offering, and beyond. Ms. Anderson also provides patent and trademark search analysis and advice for a wide variety of products and services, including medical devices, food and beverage products and cloud computing services. She also counsels clients on patentability and infringement matters and develops comprehensive intellectual property programs for pre-litigation, licensing and enforcement purposes.
Missy Jeje joined the Just The Beginning-A Pipeline Organization (JTB-APO) team in November 2018. A life-long lover of learning, she believes in the power of education to transform the lives of underserved, low- income youth. Missy graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago where she received her Bachelor’s in Sociology and her Master’s in Education. Missy was born in Chicago but grew up in Lagos, Nigeria. Missy knew at a young age that she wanted to work in the field of Youth Development. She started her career as a youth mentor, working with low-income students in the Chicagoland area. Prior to joining the organization Missy spent eleven years in college readiness, college access and college success. A highly effective community organizer, her true passion is demonstrated in her unwavering efforts to help young underserved youth find their spark! Missy believes that you must always be willing to exceed expectations and go beyond the call of duty.
As Program Manager for JTB-APO, Missy is looking forward to helping young scholars understand the need for diversity in the legal field. Missy loves cooking and trying foods from all over the world.
DAY 1
Half-day diversity, equity and inclusion workshop from ADAPT, a consortium of IP leaders from Amazon, Cruise, Disney, Google, Meta, Microsoft and others.
| 12:00 PM | Lunch/registration |
| 1:00 PM | CEO Opening Remarks |
| 1:15 PM | Keynotes: Perspectives from DEI Program Participants |
| 1:35 PM | Session 1: How will you ADAPT? |
| 2:00 PM | Networking Break |
| 2:15 PM | Keynote: USPTO Diversity Initiatives Molly Kocialski, Director of the Rocky Mountain Regional United States Patent and Trademark Office |
| 2:30 PM | Session 2: Take Action: Perspectives from DEI Organizations |
| 3:20 PM | Networking Break |
| 3:35 PM | Session 3: DEI: Reflections and Results |
| 4:35 PM | Networking Break |
| 4:50 PM | Session 4: Roundtable Discussions |
| 5:35 PM | Adjourn |
DAY 2
| 9:00 AM | Breakfast / registration |
| 9:30 AM | Opening Remarks
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| 10:05 AM | Keynote – Fireside Chat
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| 11:05 AM | Networking Break |
| 11:30 AM | The Future of Crypto: Fact vs Fiction
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| 12:15 PM | Lunch Allied Transportation Association and Prior Art Archive
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| 1:45 PM | IP Issues in the Metaverse Shayne O’Reilly, Head of Licensing & Open Source at Meta Platforms, Inc. (formerly Facebook, Inc.) |
| 2:30 PM | Networking Break |
| 3:00 PM | Patent Monetization for Operating Companies: The Investor Perspective
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| 3:45 PM | Closing Remarks |
| 4:00 PM | Cocktail Hour |