IP Innovators

In this episode of IP Innovators, host Steve Brachmann sits down with Scott Kelly, Founding Partner and Head of Practice at KellDann, to explore what happens when a patent attorney decides that "good enough" AI-drafted patents aren't good enough. Drawing on nearly 17 years in the field, including three years as a USPTO examiner and 13 years at Banner Witcoff, Scott brings a practitioner's skepticism to the AI boom reshaping his industry.

Scott walks through the founding story of KellDann, a firm he built from scratch with longtime mentor Ross Dannenberg specifically to be AI-forward from day one, and why that's proven more nimble than retrofitting AI onto an existing practice. 

But the real thread of the conversation is what he calls "AI slop": the flood of thin, LLM-generated patent applications he expects to flood the system, and why he thinks a lot of them will be vulnerable to abstract idea and written description attacks down the road.

His AI approach is to spend the time up front, often over an hour on a single disclosure call, building the roadmap himself before handing anything to the AI to execute.

👨‍💼 About the Guest: Scott Kelly is founding partner and head of practice at KellDann, an AI-forward patent firm he co-founded alongside Ross Dannenberg. A former USPTO patent examiner and 13-year veteran of Banner Witcoff, Scott has been recognized as a top PTAB attorney by Managing Intellectual Property, with a specialty practice in video games and interactive entertainment law.

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In this episode of IP Innovators, host Steve Brachmann sits down with David Hyams, Co-Founder and Chief Business Development Officer of Longship Legal, to explore what happens when a patent attorney stops asking, "Is this patentable?" and starts asking "What is this business actually worth?" Drawing on a career that spans big law in Boston, in-house roles at Bose and AOL, and a CleanTech start-up, David brings an unusually holistic lens to IP: one that treats patents, trade secrets, contracts, and copyright not as separate disciplines, but as a matrix of legal tools in service of a company's real intangible assets.

David walks through the founding philosophy behind Longship Legal: that too many companies are spending serious money getting patents granted without ever connecting those documents to actual business value. He explains why the first conversation with any client has to start well before IP, with questions about how the business makes money, who its customers are, and what truly differentiates it in the market. 

On AI, he's clear-eyed: it's a powerful accelerator of business processes, but it cannot replace the strategic human judgment an IP department needs. He also draws a sharp distinction between general LLM tools and proprietary legal AI built on restricted data sets, and why that difference matters enormously in practice.

👨‍💼 About the Guest: David Hyams is Co-Founder and Chief Business Development Officer of Longship Legal, a digitally native, AI-forward IP firm he co-founded in 2023. With a career spanning big law, in-house roles at Bose Corporation and AOL, and IP boutiques, David brings a uniquely holistic perspective to intellectual property, one built on understanding the business before the patent. 

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In this episode of IP Innovators, host Steve Brachmann sits down with Emily Teesdale, Founder of Pivot IP, to explore what fractional IP leadership actually looks like, and why smaller engineering companies are leaving serious value on the table without it. Drawing on more than 20 years in the field, including senior in-house roles at Airbus and GKN Aerospace, Emily makes a compelling case that IP strategy and patent prosecution are not the same thing, and that confusing the two can cost companies far more than they realize.

She walks through the real risks hiding inside collaboration agreements—from confidential information that lingers on company servers long after a project ends, to IP ownership structures that can leave a business permanently beholden to a former partner. Emily also unpacks the three silos she sees most often—within companies, between in-house and external counsel, and across collaborating organizations, and explains why the biggest one is also the hardest to fix. On AI, she's pragmatic: use it, but know what it can't do. Human judgment, she argues, is still the thing no contract review tool can replicate.

👨‍💼 About the Guest:
Emily Teesdale is the founder of Pivot IP, an IP strategy consultancy serving small and mid-sized engineering companies. A UK Chartered and European Patent Attorney with over 20 years of experience, Emily has held senior in-house IP roles at Airbus and GKN Aerospace. At Pivot IP, she works on a fractional or project basis, helping engineering companies build and protect IP strategy without the overhead of a full-time hire.

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In this episode of IP Innovators, host Steve Brachmann sits down with Drew McElligott, Counsel at Crowell & Moring, to explore what AI actually looks like inside a modern law firm—and why, as McElligott puts it, “writer’s block is pretty much dead.” From litigation and Hatch-Waxman strategy to medical device innovation and firmwide AI rollouts, Drew shares a grounded, practical view of how artificial intelligence is reshaping legal work without replacing legal judgment.

He reflects on AI as a drafting partner—one that turns lawyers into editors rather than first-drafters—while also digging into the realities of trust, training, and governance. From vetting tools for confidential use to comparing AI’s evolution from a “summer associate” to a “fourth-year,” Drew offers a candid look at what’s working, what still needs refinement, and why the genie isn’t going back in the bottle.

👨‍💼 About the Guest:
Drew McElligott is Counsel at Crowell & Moring, where he focuses on patent and trademark litigation for leading pharmaceutical, medical device, and consumer products companies. He was recognized in The Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® – Intellectual Property Law (2021). He has extensive experience in federal court litigation and inter partes reviews before the USPTO. Prior to practicing law, Drew conducted cardiovascular research at Loyola University.

🔧 Sponsored by DeepIP — your patent intelligence platform, from idea to enforcement.

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In this episode of IP Innovators, host Steve Brachmann sits down with Stephanie Curcio, CEO and co-founder of NL Patent, to explore how AI has evolved from concept-based prior art search to touching every stage of the patent lifecycle. Stephanie reflects on her journey from patent prosecution to legal tech founder and what she’s learned from being an early mover in AI for IP.

She also digs into the real ROI of AI tools, why efficiency isn’t the only metric that matters, and how firms should think about ethics, security, and the quiet comeback of the build vs. buy debate. From sneaky “AI features” in legacy tools to modular tech stacks and in-house workflows, Stephanie shares a candid view of where AI in patent practice is today—and where it’s headed next.

👩‍💼 About the Guest:
Stephanie Curcio is the CEO and co-founder of NL Patent, an AI-native platform for searching and analyzing patent data. A former patent attorney, she has held leadership roles within the American Intellectual Property Law Association’s Emerging Technologies Committee and serves on the advisory board of IP Watchdog.

🔧 Sponsored by DeepIP — your patent intelligence platform, from idea to enforcement.

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In this episode of IP Innovators, host Steve Brachmann sits down with Phil Harris, Equity Partner and Patent Practice Group Leader at Holland & Hart, to trace his journey from mechanical engineering to leading one of the most tech-forward IP teams in the Mountain West. 

Phil shares how his firm built custom automation and AI tools to streamline prosecution—from managing IDS filings to analyzing office actions—and how in-house innovation has transformed the way patent professionals work. 

👨‍💼 About the Guest:
Phil Harris leads Holland & Hart’s Patent Practice Group, focusing on cutting-edge technologies like AI, wireless communications, and medical devices. With over a decade at the firm, he’s helped shape how automation and AI are integrated into patent law practice.

🔧 Sponsored by DeepIP — your patent intelligence platform, from idea to enforcement.

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In this episode of IP Innovators, host Steve Brachmann sits down with Mark Kesslen, Partner and Chair of the IP Group at Lowenstein Sandler, to trace his path from electrical engineering to chief patent counsel on Wall Street—and how that fintech vantage point shapes his practice today. We dig into LabMorgan’s early online payments bets, the ripple effects of State Street → Alice → Recentive, and where AI is already moving the needle in prosecution (IDS automation, office-action drafting, claim-charting) — plus the security and workflow realities firms must get right. 🚀

About the Guest:

Mark Kesslen advises venture-backed startups and iconic tech brands on patents, trademarks, and IP strategy, with deep expertise in fintech and proptech. Former Chief Patent Counsel at JPMorgan Chase.

🔧 Sponsored by DeepIP — your trusted AI patent assistant: https://www.deepip.ai/

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In this episode of IP Innovators, we sit down with Aaron Capron, partner and head of the Patent Office Practice at Finnegan, to trace his unconventional path from Lockheed’s GPS labs to leading one of the busiest patent prosecution teams in the U.S. 🛰️⚖️

Aaron shares how a cold call from a headhunter changed his career, what he learned as a USPTO examiner (think: video games and slot machines), and how he's helping clients navigate AI, quantum, semiconductors, and more in 2025. 🚴‍♂️💻🧠

👨‍💼 About the Guest:
 Aaron Capron leads Finnegan’s Patent Office Practice and is a seasoned IP attorney with experience across litigation, appeals, and high-volume portfolio management. He’s also a mentor, a finalist for California’s “Mentor of the Year,” and still hitting PRs in CrossFit at nearly 50. 🏋️‍♂️🧘

🔧 Sponsored by DeepIP – your trusted AI patent assistant: https://www.deepip.ai/
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In this episode of IP Innovators, host Steve Brachmann talks with Chris Agrawal, Managing Partner at Bookoff McAndrews, about his journey from sifting through stacks of physical patents at the USPTO to building a cloud-first, tech-forward IP practice. 📂➡️🤖

Hear how Chris navigated law school while working full-time, helped launch a lean, prosecution-focused firm, and is now piloting generative AI to make patent drafting more efficient. Discover what’s changed — and what hasn’t — in patent law over two decades.

👨‍💼 About the Guest:
Chris Agrawal is Managing Partner at Bookoff McAndrews, a boutique IP firm focused exclusively on prosecution and counseling. With a background in mechanical engineering and a deep appreciation for automation, Chris brings broad tech experience and a passion for client-focused innovation.

🔧 Sponsored by DeepIP – your trusted AI patent assistant: deepip.ai

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In this first episode of IP Innovators, veteran patent attorney Paul Hunter, Partner and Electronics Practice Co-Chair at Foley & Lardner, shares his journey from filing patents using fax machines to leading an AI-accelerated practice. A candid look at how real careers adapt—and thrive—as technology transforms the future of IP law.

👨‍💼 About the Guest:

Paul Hunter is a leading IP attorney with deep expertise in electronics, software, AI/ML, semiconductors, and more. As chair of Foley’s Electronics Practice and managing partner of the San Diego office, he helps companies protect cutting-edge tech through patents and trade secrets.

This podcast is sponsored by DeepIP – your trusted AI patent assistant. For more information, visit: deepip.ai

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