Intellectual Property Law
Announcing the 2025 Vanguard Award and Larry Maxham Award Recipients
Each year at the IP Institute, the Section honors outstanding legal professionals for their contributions to the advancement of intellectual property law. Join us at the IP Institute, March 6-8, 2022 in Long Beach to celebrate our recipients.
We are beyond pleased to congratulate the following individuals as the year’s Vanguard Award and Larry Maxham Award Winners:
Private Practice: Andy Gass, Partner at Latham & Watkins, LLP
Andy Gass is an acclaimed antitrust and IP lawyer who represents technology companies in their highest-stakes disputes.
Andy is the architect of his firm’s decorated copyright practice and teaches a course titled “Copyright, Competition & Technology” at the UC Berkeley School of Law. He serves a wide range of clients, from early-stage startups to the largest companies in the world, as a trusted counselor and lead litigator. In that capacity, Andy has shaped the highest-profile, most cutting-edge issues in digital copyright law in the past decade, whether by resolving a matter behind the scenes, advocating in regulatory proceedings, or trying a case in US federal court. Leading legal and general publications, including the Financial Times, Billboard, and Chambers USA, have recognized Andy’s work for its pragmatism, efficiency, and quality.
Andy regularly writes and speaks on issues related to the legal rules that govern artificial intelligence products, internet platforms, streaming services, and other topics. Before joining Latham, he was a law clerk to the late Honorable Stephen F. Williams on the US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

In-House: Shabnam Malek, Head of IP and Privacy at The Wine Group
Shabnam Malek is Senior Corporate Counsel, IP and Privacy at The Wine Group. Prior to this role, she served as the Chief Legal Officer for 1906, an infused cannabis products and botanicals company. Shabnam is a co-founder and the founding President of the International Cannabis Bar Association. Today, INCBA boasts a membership base of over 800 individual attorney members and a strong international presence. Shabnam helps plan the educational curriculum of the organization with a focus on INCBA’s flagship event, the Cannabis Law Institute. Shabnam is also the Chair of the PLI Cannabis Business Law program, and an Adjunct Professor at the University of New Hampshire School of Law.
In addition to serving the business community, Shabnam has developed a robust pro bono practice representing imprisoned women before the California Board of Parole Hearings as well as representing houseless San Francisco residents through the Coalition on Homelessness. Shabnam regularly speaks and writes on the topics of trademarks, brand expansion, regulated industries such as cannabis and hemp, and the role of women in creating change. Her professional affiliations include holding a seat on the Advisory Board of the International Cannabis Bar Association, sitting on the board of the International Trademark Association non-partisan political action committee, and serving as a founding advisor to the Cannabis Media Council. Shabnam was selected to Super Lawyers for 2024 – 2025.

Academic: Mark McKenna, Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Institute for Technology, Law & Policy at UCLA School of Law
Mark McKenna is Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Institute for Technology, Law & Policy at the UCLA School of Law, where he teaches a variety of courses in intellectual property law, privacy, and torts.
Over the course of his career, Mark has played many legal roles – as a practicing lawyer with an intellectual property firm in Chicago; as an academic, teaching and writing; of counsel at a small IP firm; as a consultant on high-stakes intellectual property litigation; and as an expert witness in trademark and copyright cases. He has been the author or co-author (frequently with Rebecca Tushnet) of many amicus briefs in federal appellate courts and the Supreme Court of the United States.
Mark is the author of many articles and book chapters on a wide range of intellectual property topics. His core area of expertise is in trademark law, where he is extensively published and heavily cited, but he has also written broadly on topics in copyright, design, and the right of publicity. His research has often focused on the boundaries of various forms of intellectual property and how the doctrinal rules reflect the normative priorities of different systems. He is a co-author of the leading casebook on design, The Law of Design: Design Patent, Trademark, and Copyright (with Edward Lee and David L. Schwartz), and a co-author of several editions of The Law of Intellectual Property (with Michael Madison and Craig Nard).

The Larry Maxham Award: Ben Borson, President of Borson Law Group, PC
The IP Section created the Larry Maxham Award to recognize and celebrate long-standing dedication to the Intellectual Property Section. This year, we will be presenting the award to long-standing member of the IP Section and current Chair of the Section’s Legislation Interest Group, Ben Borson. We want to thank Ben for his incredible contributions to both the IP Section and the IP community as a whole, over the years.
