Nicole helps multi-national clients develop and implement broad-ranging strategies to protect and enforce their intellectual property rights on a global scale.
Nicole provides clients with strategic legal counsel at all stages of technology development—from research and product development through commercialization—and routinely manages and maintains large intellectual (IP) property portfolios on an international basis with aggregate values in the tens of billions of dollars. She is often called on to advise clients at an early point in the development of new technologies, and she provides strategic advice relating to the competitive IP landscape and practical guidance on design-around approaches that minimize the risk of infringement.
In addition to traditional patent law guidance, such as patent preparation and prosecution and providing opinions concerning patent validity, infringement and patentability, Nicole is an innovator in the area of design patent law and frequently protects clients’ technologies using creative design patent claiming strategies. She also has extensive experience in prosecuting, licensing and providing pre-litigation and inter partes review strategy advice for patents and trademarks.
Her clients frequently have global operations and require IP counseling across multiple jurisdictions and participate in multiple industry verticals, including:
- Consumer products
- Software
- Food and beverage
- Water treatment and purification
- Medical devices
- Aquaculture
- Filtration
- Chemical and mechanical engineering
- Pumps
- Oil and gas
- Wax formulations
- Aerospace
- Nutritional supplements
- Manufacturing
- Pool and spa equipment
- Electronic components
- Fashion
- Transportation and logistics
- J.D., The John Marshall Law School
- B.S., University of Pittsburgh
- International Trademark Association
- Lesbian and Gay Bar Association of Chicago Foundation, Board of Directors
- Illinois
- U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois
- U.S. District Court, Southern District of Illinois
- U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
