Each year at the IP Institute, the Section honors outstanding legal professionals in the judiciary, private practice, in-house practice, academia, and public policy advocacy for their contributions to the advancement of intellectual property law.

IP Vanguard Awards nomination period for 2024 is now closed. The deadline to submit nominations is September 15, 2024.

2024 IP Vanguard Awards Honorees

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Award Criteria

Achievements are honored in the following categories:

• In-House Counsel
• Private Practice
• Academic / Public Policy
• Judicial

In-House Counsel

Presented to an outstanding lawyer working in-house for a company or organization and who works substantially in the field of intellectual property law. Criteria to be considered include whether the in-house lawyer has:

• made significant contributions to, or produced significant impact on, IP law
• achieved noteworthy success for the lawyer’s company on IP matters
• demonstrated leadership in the IP bar, the legal profession, and/or the California community

While achievements over a lawyer’s career will be considered, special consideration shall be given to accomplishments in the 2-3 years preceding the award.To be eligible, the recipient must be a member in good standing of the State Bar or be a Registered In-House Counsel in good standing with the State Bar.

Private Practice

Presented to an outstanding lawyer working in private practice, and who works substantially in the field of intellectual property law. Criteria to be considered include whether the private practice lawyer has:

• made significant contributions to, or produced significant impact on, IP law
• achieved noteworthy success for the lawyer’s clients on IP matters
• demonstrated outstanding client service
• demonstrated leadership in the IP bar, the legal profession, and/or the California community

While achievements over a lawyer’s career will be considered, special consideration shall be given to accomplishments in the 2-3 years preceding the award. To be eligible, the recipient must be a member in good standing of the State Bar.

Academic or Public Policy

Presented to an outstanding law professor, instructor, or academic professional who teaches, lectures and/or writes substantially in the fieldof intellectual property law or to a professional working at a legal or public policy organization who is substantially involved in providing education on topics involving or affecting intellectual property law. Criteria to be consideredinclude whether the individual has:

• made significant contributions to, or produced significant impact on, IP law through teaching,
• published writings and/or research.
• in the case of teaching professionals, demonstrated outstanding teaching ability.
• demonstrated leadership in the IP bar, the legal profession, and/or the California community

While achievements over a lawyer’s career will be considered, special consideration shall be given to accomplishments in the 2-3 years preceding the award.To be eligible, the recipient need not be a member in good standing of the State Bar but should work substantially in California.

Judiciary

Presented to an outstanding judge or judicial officer who has rendered decisions that affect IP law as practiced in California, even if the individual is not a member of the California bar, and do not work in a court in the State of California. Criteria to be considered include whether the judicial officer has:

• made significant contributions to, or produced significant impact on, intellectual property law through cases over which the individual has presided
• made significant contributions to the body of IP law through written case decisions
• demonstrated leadership in the IP bar, the legal profession, and/or the California community

While achievements over an individual’s career will be considered, special consideration shall be given to case decisions and other accomplishments in the 2-3 years preceding the award.

Past IP Vanguard Awards Honorees

*In 2021, the Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Professor J. Thomas McCarthy.

Year	In-House Counsel	Private Practice	Judicary	Academic or Public Policy
2024	Shabnam Malek Head of IP and Privacy at The Wine Group	Andy Gass Partner at Latham & Watkins, LLP	N/A	Mark McKenna, Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Institute for Technology, Law & Policy at UCLA School of Law
2023	N/A	Stephen Doniger Partner at Doniger / Burroughs	N/A	Orly Lobel Professor, University of San Diego School of Law
2022	N/A	Joseph Gratz (he/him) Partner, Durie Tangri LLP	N/A	Jennifer M. Urban (she/her) Clinical Professor of Law, Director of Policy Initiatives, Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic, Faculty Co-Director, Berkeley Center for Law and Technology, UC Berkeley, School of Law
2021*
2019	Catherine Lacavera Vice President of Google LLC	Francoise Gilbert CEO of Data Minding Legal	Hon. Michael Fitzgerald United States District Court, Central District of California	Anthony Reese Chancellor’s Professor of Law, University of California, Irvine
2018	Mallun Yen Co-founder & COO, SaaStr	Kelly Klaus Litigation Partner, Munger, Tolles & Olson	Pauline Newman United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit	Peter Menell Koret Professor of Law, Berkeley Law, University of California
2017	N/A	Carole Handler Cowan DeBaets Abrahams & Sheppard LLP	Honorable Gerard F. Rogers  U.S. Patent and Trademark Office	Colleen V. Chien Santa Clara University School of Law
2016	Fred von Lohmann Legal Director, Copyright Google, Inc.	Heather J. Meeker Technology Transactions Partner O’Melveny & Myers LLP	Honorable Ronald M. Whyte United States District Court Northern District of California	Kevin J. Greene Professor of Law Thomas Jefferson School of Law
2015	Mei-lan Stark Senior Vice President, Intellectual Property Fox Entertainment Group, USA	Jonathan Pink Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith	Honorable M. Margaret McKeown  United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit	Dan L. Burk  Chancellor’s Professor of Law University of California , Irvine School of Law
2014	Dean S. Marks Senior Vice President Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.	Andrew P. Bridges Partner Fenwick & West LLP	Honorable Paul S. Grewal United States Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of California	Diane Peters General Counsel Creative Commons
2013	Lee Cheng Chief Legal Officer Newegg	I. Neel Chatterjee Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP	Honorable Lucy Koh United States District Court Northern District of California	Neil W. Netanel Professor UCLA School of Law
2012	Alexander Macgillivray General Counsel, Twitter	Kate H. Murashige Morrison Foerster	Honorable William Alsup United States District Court Northern District of California	Pamela Samuelson Faculty Director Berkeley Center for Law & Technology
2011	Jay Monahan Deputy General Counsel, Zynga Inc.	Adrian Pruetz Pruetz Law Group	Hon. Alex Kozinzki Chief Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit	Eric Goldman Associate Professor of Law, Director of the High Tech Law Institute, Santa Clara University School of Law
2010	Brett Alten  Director of Patent Development Apple, Inc.	Ian C. Ballon Greenberg Traurig, LLP	Hon. Jeremy D. Fogel U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California	Cindy Cohn Legal Director Electronic Frontier Foundation
2009	Gregory P. Goeckner Executive Vice President, General Counsel Motion Picture Association of America, Inc.	Jane Shay Wald Partner and Chair of Trademark Practice Group Irell & Manella LLP	Hon. A. Howard Matz  Judge of the United States District Court Central District of California	Mark A. Lemley William H. Neukom Professor of Law Stanford Law School; Director, Stanford Program in Law, Science and Technology