A recognized leader and registered patent attorney, Jim taps his four decades of experience providing tailored intellectual property (IP) counsel across industries and companies of all sizes to bring value to a client’s bottom line.
Jim seeks to understand a client’s business, goals, and appetite for risk, then calibrates his advice accordingly. Through patent prosecution, licensing, IP portfolio management, IP monetization, dispute mediation or litigation, as well as the appointment of responsive internal service teams, he ensures clients’ strategic objectives are achieved while protecting their most important assets.
Jim represents solo inventors to global Fortune 100 corporations in myriad industries including medical devices, defense, electronics, plastics, and mechanical equipment. He has taken cases to trial in state and federal courts and has served as an expert witness in U.S. and European cases.
Following his partnership at a large, international law firm, Jim founded an IP boutique with the goals of providing exceptional client service and a welcoming work environment. Thirty years later, in 2024, Jim and his team joined Husch Blackwell, a firm with shared values and a larger platform with which to address client needs beyond IP.
Jim is passionate about assisting the disadvantaged and believes it is every lawyer’s responsibility to help ensure all inventors have access to high-quality legal representation. Chief among his contributions, he was a founder of the USPTO’s Patent Pro Bono Program, which has provided patent prosecution advice to thousands of under-resourced inventors across the country and, in turn, has issued hundreds of patents. His leadership and pro bono endeavors support and promote innovation worldwide and have led to contacts and working relationships within senior levels of the U.S. and international patent offices, awarding him professional insight attractive to clients.
Prior to his legal career, Jim served six years of active duty with the U.S. Navy as an anti-submarine warfare officer on the USS Marvin Shields, and as an ocean watch officer at an acoustic research station in Wales, United Kingdom. He also served in the U.S. Naval Reserve for 21 years and attained the rank of Captain.