Leadership Briefs

In this episode, we interview patent litigator Amanda Brouillette, a Senior Associate in the Atlanta office of Kilpatrick Townsend. Amanda has defended a wide range of clients accused of patent infringement through all stages of litigation, including at trial. Her cases encompass a variety of technical fields, including telecommunications, medical billing, pharmaceuticals, and mechanical systems. In 2022 and 2023, Amanda was recognized as one of the “Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch” for Intellectual Property Law by The Best Lawyers in America®.

Amanda has a B.S. in physics and a B.A. in English from the University of Georgia, where she graduated summa cum laude, highest honors. She earned her J.D. from Stanford Law School with pro bono distinction for her work with the Stanford Domestic Violence Pro Bono Project. During law school, Amanda served on the Stanford Technology Law Review, first as a Lead Editor, then as Editor In Chief.

From an early age, Amanda thrived on learning new things. Her decision to double-major in Physics and English proved a perfect recipe for never being bored or feeling like she was stagnating with her studies—and it turned out to be the perfect gateway to patent litigation, too.

Amanda is a firm believer in taking charge of her own professional destiny and creating her own opportunities, including by actively developing connections with other patent law practitioners. Her brilliance, can-do attitude, and sunny disposition, which she brings to any task set before her, have helped her build strong relationships with mentors and sponsors within the firm, with clients, and with more junior attorneys whom she now supervises.

In this episode, Amanda shares her insights about what it takes to build a successful career as a patent litigator. She also discusses the importance of communication and relationship-building for professional development. And she talks about the two-pronged approach that firms—and individuals—can take to accelerate the creation of a more diverse and inclusive workplace.

Highlights include:

• A chain of happy accidents leads to a career in patent law 
• Thriving on the feeling of success 
• The theater bug as translated into litigation 
• Taking deliberate steps toward more diversity in hiring 
• The cultural cues that may discourage women from pursuing a patent litigation career 
• Mentorship vs. sponsorship 
• How to find sponsors and build relationships with them 
• Bonding in a personal way for increased work productivity 
• Managing up and managing down 
• Developing a leadership style 
• A personal professional highlight that demonstrates the importance of sponsorship
• A collaborative approach to better serving clients through diverse teams 
• A two-pronged approach to diversity and inclusion 
• The paradox of emphasizing female mentoring for junior women 

Thanks for listening to Sidebars! Connect with us:

• Learn more about April Abele Isaacson
• Check out other insights from Kilpatrick
• Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
• Questions or feedback? Reach out at [email protected]
• Learn more about Kilpatrick

**The opinions expressed are those of the attorneys and do not necessarily reflect the views of the firm or its clients. This podcast is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal advice.

In this episode, we welcome Roger Wylie, the Managing Partner of Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton. Roger was the Co-Managing Partner of Townsend and Townsend and Crew prior to its merger with Kilpatrick Stockton. 

Roger is a registered patent attorney with over 20 years of experience in a variety of technologies, including software, business methods, consumer goods, complex machinery, and medical devices. He focuses his practice on patent prosecution and counseling, advising start-up and established corporations, venture investors and other intellectual property stakeholders with regard to all aspects of patent prosecution and acquisition, counseling, licensing, and litigation. He also counsels clients on a wide range of trademark, copyright, trade secret and other IP-related issues.

Roger has obtained or assisted in the procurement and management of hundreds of U.S. and foreign patents, many of which have been successfully litigated and enforced. Much of his current work involves product clearances and freedom to operate analyses, Inter Partes disputes in the patent office, infringement and validity analyses for litigation settlement evaluation, and acquisition due diligence.

Growing up in southern Georgia in a family of teachers, Roger was exposed to a diverse group of friends and acquaintances. From an early age, he internalized the values of equity and inclusion emphasized by his grandfather and his mother. As a patent attorney, Roger saw that others, including his wife—who is also a patent attorney—faced career obstacles that he did not have to overcome because he was a White male. His upbringing and his ability to see other perspectives have made him a determined leader in leveling the playing field in the legal profession.

In this episode, Roger tells us about his career path from studying material science to becoming a leader in the IP world and the Managing Partner of Kilpatrick Townsend, and he explains his philosophy of management and leadership. He also explores the strides made to date by the legal profession in general and Kilpatrick Townsend in particular to make the profession more welcoming to underrepresented groups as well as the work that still needs to be done to achieve greater diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Highlights include:

• Being married to a patent attorney and seeing the patent bar from a woman’s perspective
• The value of having women role models in management
• Seeing diversity in broader terms than just gender and race 
• Managing a successful legal practice sometimes requires getting out of the team’s way
• Examining the entire pipeline, from grade school to law-firm partnership for opportunities to encourage diversity, equity, and inclusion
• The chicken-and-egg problem of representation
• Making paternity leave more acceptable as a means of helping retain legal talent 
• Creating seats at the leadership table for diverse voices

Thanks for listening to Sidebars! Connect with us:

• Learn more about April Abele Isaacson
• Check out other insights from Kilpatrick
• Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
• Questions or feedback? Reach out at [email protected]
• Learn more about Kilpatrick

**The opinions expressed are those of the attorneys and do not necessarily reflect the views of the firm or its clients. This podcast is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal advice.

In this episode, we welcome Temple University professors Rachel Rebouché and Paul Gugliuzza, authors of a forthcoming paper in the North Carolina Law Review titled, “Gender Inequality in Patent Litigation” —a data-rich paper that touches on many of the central themes in Season 2.

Rachel is a leading scholar in feminist legal theory, reproductive health law, and family law. She is the Interim Dean of Temple University Beasley School of Law, the James E. Beasley Professor of Law, and a Faculty Fellow at Temple’s Center for Public Health Law Research. Rachel is an author of Governance Feminism: An Introduction and an editor of Governance Feminism: Notes from the Field, a co-author of the sixth edition of the casebook, Family Law, and the editor of Feminist Judgments: Family Law Opinions Rewritten. Rachel received a JD from Harvard law school, an LLM from Queen's University Belfast, and a BA from Trinity University. 

Paul is an award-winning scholar, a sought-after author, and a teacher who specializes in civil procedure, federal courts, and intellectual property law with a particular focus on patent litigation. He has testified before both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives on topics of patent law, and his scholarship has been cited in over a dozen judicial opinions across all levels of the state and federal courts.  A summa cum laude graduate from Tulane University School of Law, Paul clerked for Judge Ronald M. Gould of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and practiced in the Issues and Appeals group at Jones Day prior to his academic career.

In this episode, Rachel and Paul discuss the shocking gender disparity that continues to persist in private-practice patent litigation and the much more equitable distribution of legal work in government agencies. They also highlight the mechanisms that militate against greater equity in law firms.

Rachel’s and Paul’s paper shows unequivocally that gender disparity is neither a generational issue that will be resolved by the passage of time nor is it a pipeline issue due to insufficient female STEM lawyers. Through their research, we gain a greater understanding of how law firms must change their economic incentives and entrenched, unconscious cultures if they are to foster true gender equity. 

Further Reading:
• Overqualified and Underrepresented: Gender Inequality in Pharmaceutical Patent Law
• Extraordinary Writ or Ordinary Remedy? Mandamus at the Federal Circuit
• @TempleLaw
• @RRebouche
•

Thanks for listening to Sidebars! Connect with us:

• Learn more about April Abele Isaacson
• Check out other insights from Kilpatrick
• Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
• Questions or feedback? Reach out at [email protected]
• Learn more about Kilpatrick

**The opinions expressed are those of the attorneys and do not necessarily reflect the views of the firm or its clients. This podcast is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal advice.

This episode introduces the new co-host of the Sidebars podcast, Kate Geyer. Kate is an Associate in Kilpatrick Townsend’s Seattle office. Her practice focuses on patent litigation in federal court and at the ITC, as well as post-grant proceedings before the U.S. Patent Office.

Kate is a 2019 graduate of George Washington University Law School. She graduated with high honors, Order of the Coif, and won the Rothwell, Figg, Ernst & Manbeck Award. While in law school, in addition to being a research assistant and an articles editor for the George Washington Law Review, Kate also won the 2018 and 2019 AIPLA’s Giles S. Rich Memorial Moot Court Competition and served as a judicial intern for the honorable Kara Stoll Carto on the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and as a law clerk in the Office of Unfair Import Investigations at the ITC.

Prior to law school, Kate graduated from MIT with a BS in physics and minors in mathematics and political science, then followed her passion for the intersection of technology and policy to a position as a business analyst in Washington, DC, dissecting emerging technologies for the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community customers.

In this episode, Kate shares her journey to becoming the patent litigator and fierce advocate she is today. This journey also built her determination to break the barriers and institutional biases that still persist for women and minorities in patent law, and to create a more welcoming and inclusive profession - one in which there is a seat at the table for everyone.

Highlights include:

• Introducing the new co-host of Sidebars (0:38)
• Turns out, learning physics and doing physics are not the same thing (2:44)
• Finding practical ways to indulge a passion for tech and policy (3:44)
• Participating in the arena, expanding one’s horizons, finding law school (4:47)
• Breaking “it’s not what we do around here” institutional norms (8:33)
• A multigenerational perspective on gender barriers and mentorship (10:59)
• The unexpected dynamics of being a young and female litigator (14:40)
• New opportunities for younger attorneys (15:59)
• The importance of giving associates freedom from micromanagement (20:29)
• Taking ownership and handling mistakes (26:00)
• Finding a job you love (28:48) 
• Perfectionism and not being the smartest person in the room (31:13)
• Getting over fears with practice (37:22)
• Crushing arguments with preparation (43:35)
• The critical need to address the shortage of women and minorities in leadership (48:40)

Thanks for listening to Sidebars! Connect with us:

• Learn more about April Abele Isaacson
• Check out other insights from Kilpatrick
• Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
• Questions or feedback? Reach out at [email protected]
• Learn more about Kilpatrick

**The opinions expressed are those of the attorneys and do not necessarily reflect the views of the firm or its clients. This podcast is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal advice.

In this episode, hosts April Abele Isaacson and Kimberlynn Davis along with the podcast’s producer, Kristina Travaillot, reflect on the first season of the Sidebars podcast and provide a preview of Season Two. 

Sidebars, the first podcast released by Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP, grew out of April’s, Kim’s, and Kristina’s shared recognition that underrepresented voices in patent law had many valuable things to say. A podcast seemed like the perfect platform to showcase trailblazing women and members of other underrepresented communities. The resulting 14 episodes of Season One created a tapestry of interesting, honest, and sometimes even raw conversations that never fail to move listeners. 

In this episode, April, Kim, and Kristina discuss the many surprises they encountered in bringing Sidebars to fruition and the work that is yet to be done in their journey to help the practice of patent law continue to grow in diversity and inclusion.

Highlights include:

• The power of authenticity to awe and inspire (2:10)
• The unexpected value of launching a podcast in the middle of a pandemic (3:23)
• Realizing that there is more to say (8:18)
• Season Two’s focus on the realities of seasoned and rookie women patent litigators (9:11)
• Fostering an environment where everyone is a unicorn (11:14)
• Paying it forward by spotlighting and breaking biases (22:22)
• Tackling the self-editing that members of underrepresented groups impose on themselves (25:11)
• The shifting norms of acceptable behavior (26:25)
• Dealing with unfounded assumptions and taking back your power (31:25)
• Finding new ways to build bigger tables so many more people can have a seat at it (40:00)
• The difference that hearing actual voices makes (43:12)

Thanks for listening to Sidebars! Connect with us:

• Learn more about April Abele Isaacson
• Check out other insights from Kilpatrick
• Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
• Questions or feedback? Reach out at [email protected]
• Learn more about Kilpatrick

**The opinions expressed are those of the attorneys and do not necessarily reflect the views of the firm or its clients. This podcast is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal advice.

In this episode, we welcome multi-faceted inventor and author, Dr. Arlyne Simon to the podcast. Arlyne is juggling three successful careers at the same time – as a biomedical engineer, an award-winning children’s book author, and the CEO of an invention education company, Abby Invents.

Arlyne works as a platform architect in the Health and Sciences Group of Intel Corporation. Prior to her work at Intel, she was a senior R&D engineer at Becton Dickinson. Arlyne received her BS in chemical and biomolecular engineering from Georgia Tech and her Ph.D. in macromolecular Science and Engineering from the University of Michigan.

In addition to her responsibilities at Intel, Arlyne is the author of a series of books chronicling the adventures of young inventor named Abby. The books also serve as the basis for the curriculum of the education training company, Abby Invents, that Arlyne founded and now helms as the CEO. The company aims to inspire kids everywhere – including those from backgrounds that are underrepresented in STEM – to use their imagination and see themselves as inventors.

Growing up on the Caribbean Island of Dominica, Arlyne was inspired by her father, who was an engineer, her mother, who was a teacher, and her stepmother, who had a deep and abiding love of reading and books. Her strong family support allowed her to dream big and believe that she could achieve anything. She credits her family – as well as her graduate school advisor and mentor – with having the fortitude to persevere through the ebbs and flows of her academic journey, when she sometimes was the only woman in the lab, and she was one of very few students of color in the whole department. 

In this episode, Arlyne shares how the right role models and mentors have shown her the way to success and how critically important it was to see herself as they saw her – a brilliant engineer and inventor who can hold her own in a field that has been traditionally male and White. She also discusses how she is now carrying this torch forward, ensuring that the next generation of children, regardless of their backgrounds, have the representation they need to see themselves as curious adventurers and inventors.

Highlights include:

• Inheriting a passion for learning, understanding, and caring
• The benefits of attending an all-girl school
• Meeting the perfect mentor and discovering the process of inventing
• Finding out that publishing is not the only coin of the academic realm 
• Learning to fail and to keep going
• The long and winding road to a patentable invention and a provisional application 
• How being the only woman in the lab inspired a pivot to writing children’s books that break down ethnic and gender barriers to STEM inventing
• Gaining recognition for the book series, even though it had to be self-published because it was rejected by traditional publishers 
• Fro

Thanks for listening to Sidebars! Connect with us:

• Learn more about April Abele Isaacson
• Check out other insights from Kilpatrick
• Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
• Questions or feedback? Reach out at [email protected]
• Learn more about Kilpatrick

**The opinions expressed are those of the attorneys and do not necessarily reflect the views of the firm or its clients. This podcast is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal advice.

In this episode, guest host Stephanie Sanders, Global Patent Operations Chief at Kilpatrick Townsend, speaks with two professional development experts about how to become the CEO of your legal career.

Katie White is the Director of Employer Outreach at the George Washington University Law School and the principal at KT White Law Careers, a career coaching firm specializing in working with attorneys embarking on new careers. Before joining GW Law, Katie was Chief Attorney Recruiting Officer at Akin Gump, and prior to that role, she worked in attorney recruiting and professional development at a number of firms, including Dickstein Shapiro, Morgan Lewis, and Cleary Gottlieb.

Colleen Bear is the Senior Professional Development Manager at Kilpatrick Townsend. She has more than 20 years of experience in professional development, including organizational development and change talent assessment, leadership development, performance improvement, sales effectiveness, strategic planning, program management, and facilitation. She is an expert facilitator, and a highly impactful executive coach, and strategic consultant. 

In short, our two guests are the ideal people to speak with when you need career advice.

In this episode, we’re going to discuss the challenges and opportunities that all lawyers face, regardless of whether they are just starting out or are more advanced in their careers. From upleveling yourself as a lawyer to effective networking strategies to making good career choices in the moment to speaking up and creating the right work environment for yourself, this episode is all about how – and why – you should take charge of your career in 2022.

Highlights include:

• The evolution of law firms (3:33)
• Taking advantage of professional development opportunities (4:37)
• Building relationships at all stages of a legal career (8:24)
• Accruing career equity by contributing to the firm and the legal profession (10:12)
• The value of being visible and engaged (13:20)
• Diversifying your work portfolio (20:35)
• How to economy-proof your job (24:58)
• Succeeding as an introvert (26:46)
• Growing a network of loud fans (29:44)
• Becoming aware of the thousands of individual choices that create our career (34:20)
• The importance of speaking up for yourself as a woman attorney (40:57)
• Recognizing and accepting informal mentorship (46:40)
• Managing first impressions for best impact (49:28)
• Learning to be more observant in order to become a better lawyer and leader (52:09)

Thanks for listening to Sidebars! Connect with us:

• Learn more about April Abele Isaacson
• Check out other insights from Kilpatrick
• Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
• Questions or feedback? Reach out at [email protected]
• Learn more about Kilpatrick

**The opinions expressed are those of the attorneys and do not necessarily reflect the views of the firm or its clients. This podcast is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal advice.

Anthony Jones is an enrolled member of the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe of Washington and an intellectual property attorney. An associate at Perkins Coie, his practice focuses on patent matters, including prosecution & portfolio counseling, involving complex technologies such as telecommunications, artificial intelligence, machine learning, cryptocurrency & blockchain, and software-based technologies. 

Anthony’s journey to the practice of IP law includes a variety of legal experiences. He served as an in-house attorney for the Tulalip Tribes, focusing on tribal governance, economic development, and Tribal court litigation. He was also an appellate and pro tem judge for the Northwest Intertribal Court System and a hearing examiner pro tem (trainee) for the City of Seattle Office of Hearing Examiner. In 2021, he was named one of the 20 under 40 honorees by Leadership Kitsap. He is currently the president of the Northwest Indian Bar Association.

An avid tinkerer from childhood, Anthony first set his sights on an engineering career and therefore applied and was accepted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, from which he graduated with a B.S., Engineering. But when he realized that a career in engineering would not provide an outlet for his people skills, he changed tacks and embarked on a career in the law. Then, Anthony made another small course correction to fully embrace both his engineering background and his legal training by passing the patent bar exam after studying for it on his own.

Anthony grew up steeped in the traditions, culture, art, & living history of his Tribe. From a young age, he participated in Tribal journeys with his grandfather, building his capacity for perseverance, determination, & success. In this episode, Anthony shares how growing up on the reservation instilled in him a strong sense of self & allowed him to pursue his dreams - without limits.

Highlights include:

•  From growing up on a reservation to culture shock at MIT 
•  Coping with implicit bias from a young age 
•  Stretching one’s wings and finding new challenges
• The value of a solid grounding in tribal culture
• Tribal journeys that build a strong sense of self and the ability to persevere
• Art as a means of keeping Native American traditions alive and passing them down to future generations
• Walking in two worlds: Native American cultural traditions vs. BigLaw
• The shocking rarity of attorneys in general – and IP attorneys in particular - from Native American backgrounds

Learn More:

• Anthony's artwork on MV Chimacum, "Thunderbird Moon" - via West Sound Magazine
•  "Coast Salish art piece will welcome visitors to the New Burke"

Thanks for listening to Sidebars! Connect with us:

• Learn more about April Abele Isaacson
• Check out other insights from Kilpatrick
• Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
• Questions or feedback? Reach out at [email protected]
• Learn more about Kilpatrick

**The opinions expressed are those of the attorneys and do not necessarily reflect the views of the firm or its clients. This podcast is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal advice.

Bree Black Horse (Indian name: Prized Woman) is an enrolled member of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma. A self-described “legal warrior,” she focuses her practice on Native American affairs & litigation, and is admitted to numerous tribal courts.

Bree’s legal career spans a variety of roles and experiences, including working on a wide range of cases, both criminal and civil. In addition, she worked as a youth advocate and case manager for United Indians of All Tribes Foundation, where she worked with formerly homeless young adults in transitional housing. She also served as a judicial extern to Chief Judge Theresa M. Pouley in the Tulalip Tribal Court, a legal clerk in the Office of Tribal Justice at the U.S. Department of Justice, and a law clerk to the Hon. Brian M. Morris in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana.

Bree’s work has garnered many recognitions and awards. In 2021 and the three years immediately preceding, she was recognized as a Washington “Rising Star” for Native American Law by Super Lawyers magazine. Bree was also recognized in 2022 as one of the "Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch" for Native American Law by The Best Lawyers in America®. In addition, Bree received the Public Service & Leadership Award from the Washington Young Lawyers Committee of the Washington State Bar Association in 2019 & the “40 Under 40” Award from the National Center for American Indian Economic Development.

Bree grew up steeped in Tribal traditions, culture, and art. Regularly attending powwows – and performing in them – she listened to tribal elders as they discussed the issues and concerns facing Native American communities. Realizing that many of these matters have legal aspects, she decided that she could best serve her community by becoming a lawyer. In this episode, Bree tells us how her career journey is inextricably linked to the unimaginable suffering that Native Americans have endured since the United States was formed and how her people’s history forged her determination to conquer adversity, stand tall, and be counted.    

• From Powwow to law school
• A mother’s wish comes true
• Power Royalty and public speaking
• The Nordstrom gig that helped support a family, build leadership skills, and pave the way to law school
• The gift of adversity
• Serving the law-school community and leaving a mark
• Being the only Native American person in the room; representing a people who experienced government-led ethnocide and genocide
• Becoming a legal warrior for Native American rights
• The power that comes from knowing who you are
• Impact litigation through the ACLU
• The epidemic of missing and murdered indigenous women
• The disproportionate service of Indian veterans
• The opportunity inherent in being the first or the only

Thanks for listening to Sidebars! Connect with us:

• Learn more about April Abele Isaacson
• Check out other insights from Kilpatrick
• Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
• Questions or feedback? Reach out at [email protected]
• Learn more about Kilpatrick

**The opinions expressed are those of the attorneys and do not necessarily reflect the views of the firm or its clients. This podcast is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal advice.

In this special episode, hosts April Abele Isaacson and Kimberlynn Davis are joined by Kilpatrick Townsend Communications Manager (and co-producer of the Sidebars by Kilpatrick Townsend podcast) Kristina Travaillot to discuss the topic of mental health in the workplace. This is an especially important topic these days, when the whole world is still reeling from the collective trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic that has taken over our lives for the last 18 months.

With three very different backgrounds and life journeys, April, Kim, and Kristina share their mental health experiences and their hard-won wisdom about building resilient, thriving lives despite tragedies, obstacles, and just plain old garden-variety stressors. This is an important conversation, filled with compassion, humor and grace, even as it touches on deep and existential questions that we all face by virtue of being human.

Highlights include:

• Why this year’s Mental Health Day is particularly important (01:32)
• Kim’s “mental health day” that wasn’t (02:52)
• Growing up at a time when mental illness was stigmatized and how times have changed (04:56)
• Getting to the point where we treat mental health like we do physical health (5:47)
• Learning to feel like we do not owe the world an explanation about mental health concerns (06:49)
• Admitting your limits when you’re an overachiever (9:20)
• Learning to hear the stories we tell ourselves and probe whether they are true (11:01)
• The subtle and insidious ways that COVID-19 is amplifying our insecurities (12:36)
• The importance of creativity and beauty for self-care (15:12)
• Developing a lifelong exercise habit as an antidote to stress and trauma (17:10)
• Rediscovering childhood hobbies as adult stress-relief activities (19:18)
• The invaluable comfort of being in a family or community that has your back – and the importance of letting go of relationships that have run their course (20:33)
• The many impacts of growing up in a family that didn’t talk about “those things” (25:53)
• The difference between getting over something and getting through it (33:21)
• The magical power of quiet alone time (36:58)
• How to loosen your death-grip on control (40:10)
• The power of a simple breath (43:06)

Learn More:

• World Health Organization's World Mental Health Day 2021
• World Health Organization's Mental Well-Being Resources

Thanks for listening to Sidebars! Connect with us:

• Learn more about April Abele Isaacson
• Check out other insights from Kilpatrick
• Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
• Questions or feedback? Reach out at [email protected]
• Learn more about Kilpatrick

**The opinions expressed are those of the attorneys and do not necessarily reflect the views of the firm or its clients. This podcast is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal advice.