LETTER FROM THE CHAIR

Heather A. Antoine

Stubbs, Alderton & Markiles LLP

Two years ago, when I assumed my role as Chair of the IP Section, I—like everyone else—could not have imagined what the last two years would hold. My first appearance as Chair was at the last in-person conference the IP Section held, our flagship IP Institute, which was at the Wynn in Las Vegas in November of 2019. Since that time, the Executive Committee (ExCom) only met in-person once, in Oakland in January of 2020. Not surprisingly, we then cancelled our March meeting, and all subsequent meetings have taken place via Zoom. By the summer of 2020, we made two very hard decisions: 1) to ask all Officers, ExCom members, and Interest Group representatives to continue to serve in their positions for another year, and 2) to postpone the 45th IP institute to 2021. There were many bumps along the way, but I learned a couple of lessons I would like to share with you all now.

First, everybody loves snacks. The IP Section has always had great food at its ExCom meetings, so we decided to continue the tradition virtually. Luckily, I realized early on that sending IP Section treats before meetings increased participation and general happiness. During the pandemic, the group was able to experience snacks from female and minority-owned businesses, including vegan cookies from Maya’s Cookies in San Diego, truffles and cookies from Milk Bar in Los Angeles, mochi muffins from Third Culture in the Bay Area, chips from Symphony Potato Chips in Atlanta, and even wine from McBride Sisters in California’s beloved wine country. I encourage you to check them all out for yourselves!