Chicago-Kent alumni are leaders in intellectual property law, serving as guardians of innovation
Dear Alumni,
YOUR LAW SCHOOL CONTINUES TO THRIVE IN 2024. This year we welcomed nine new full-time faculty members who are making substantial contributions in both teaching and scholarship. Our students are winning scholarships and awards, and the addition of the new Rusin Law Scholarship for Students with Disabilities will will help enable three students to attend this great institution every year. You can read about these and other updates in this edition of Chicago-Kent Magazine
This edition is dedicated to alumni in the dynamic field of intellectual property law. A diverse field comprising scientists and artists, as well as people from many other backgrounds, IP lawyers are dedicated to protecting the valuable work of creators, artists, and inventors.
Chicago-Kent launched its IP program more than 25 years ago, and it’s now ranked #18 in the country according to U.S. News & World Report’s 2024 rankings. It makes sense that this school would thrive in the world of IP law—it’s a field of innovation, which is what we do here and at Illinois Tech. If our colleagues in the IP field seem to be one step ahead of us, it’s because, in a way, they are. They work diligently to protect all that is new and exciting before the rest of us have even heard of it.
In this issue, you’ll read about four alumni making waves in the IP world.
Patrick Burns ’78 is a juggernaut in the Chicago IP community. A founding member of IP firm Greer, Burns & Crain, he has
A Letter From Dean Anita K. Krug
never forgotten where he came from. He taught as an adjunct at Chicago-Kent for years and continues to mentor new attorneys.
Joey Zawacki ’22 learned to meld her love of art and law too late for Chicago-Kent’s IP certificate. That didn’t stop her, though— her pro bono work and accumulation of continuing legal education credits gave her the resume that she needed to land her current job as an attorney adviser in trademarks at the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Thomas Donovan ’87 found more fulfillment as a lawyer than as a nuclear engineer. He’s spent 25 years at Barnes & Thornburg, but stays committed to Chicago-Kent. He spent years helping the school build its renowned IP program into what it is today
Finally, Jen Nacht ’21 works in both trademark and copyright litigation as an associate at Greer, Burns & Crain by day and, in her spare time, writes about IP law for her Curious Cat IP Blog. Her posts on Taylor Swift and tattoos have earned her invitations to speak at IP conventions, while her more academic writing is being published in a law journal
These alumni exemplify the future-focused mindsight that we pride ourselves on here at Chicago-Kent. They are four of the reasons I am proud to lead this institution.
Thank you for your continued support.
Anita K. Krug Dean and Professor
Chicago-Kent
Features
4 Building a Legacy COVER STORY
Patrick G. Burns ’78 started his firm—Greer, Burns & Crain—more than 25 years ago, and it continues to grow even as he contemplates retirement.
6 Artistic Justice
Joey Zawacki ’22 didn’t think she would be able to blend her two loves—art and law—until she discovered the IP field.
8 The Evolution of Justice
Thomas Donovan ’87 has seen a lot of change in his long career—and has played a part in the progress.
CHICAGO-KENT
Dean and Professor of Law ANITA K. KRUG
Associate Vice President for Major and Planned Gifts SUSAN M. LEWERS
Senior Director of Constituent Engagement JOSEPH VOLIN
Produced
Content Director ANDREW WYDER
Editor KAYLA MOLANDER
Senior Graphic Designer SCOTT BENBROOK
Photography MICHAEL REITER
Chicago-Kent
Address
1 0 A Curious IP Lover
Jen Nacht ’21 explores IP issues in pop culture on her Curious Cat IP Blog, all while fighting counterfeiters at her day job.
The Illinois Women’s Bar Foundation has selected two Chicago-Kent College of Law students to be recipients of its 2024 WBF scholarships. Jada Nneji ’25 was awarded $15,000 and Yoss Arianlou ’25 was given $5,000 from the organization, which awards scholarships to “deserving and qualified women students in accredited Illinois law schools” and also works to “honor the memory of distinguished women lawyers and judges by awarding such scholarships in their name and memory,” according to the group’s website.
Jay Esparza Castillo ’24 was the winner of Chicago-Kent’s 2024 A Perfect Union Racial Justice writing competition. His paper, titled “Fair Lending in the Age of AI: Regulations to Combat Discrimination in United States Credit Scoring Systems,” addresses the way artificial intelligence is changing credit scoring systems and how it can become more
likely to discriminate in an illegal way as the systems become more advanced. Castillo also recommends some legal remedies that could address these fears before they become reality.
Erick Rivera ’24, winner of the 2024 Mary Rose Strubbe Labor and Employment Prize, examined the ways that courts and employers have responded to work-fromhome accommodation requests from employees with mental illness in his paper, titled “Mental Health, Remote Work, and Discrimination.” He studied the way that COVID-19 changed—or rather, didn’t change—the way that the requests were handled.
Nancy Marder [left] accepts
FACULTY/ LAW SCHOOL NEWS
Professor Nancy Marder’s recent book, co-edited with Sanja Kutnjak Ivkovi, Shari Seidman Diamond, and Valerie P. Hans, titled Juries, Mixed Courts, and Lay Judges: A Global Perspective (Cambridge University Press 2021) was awarded the prestigious 2024 Lawrence S. Wrightsman Book Award from the American PsychologyLaw Society.
The award is given every other year to an edited book devoted to issues of law and psychology.
Carolyn Shapiro, co-director for the Institute on the Supreme Court of the United States and professor of law, was recently elected as a new member of the American Law Institute, an independent scholarly organization that was formed nearly a century ago to address uncertainty and complexity in American law. Four other members of Chicago-Kent’s faculty are
currently members of ALI, including Katherine K. Baker, Nancy S. Marder, Graeme B. Dinwoodie, and Steven J. Heyman.
Zach Sommers joined the Chicago-Kent faculty as an assistant professor from the white-collar-crime group at Kirkland & Ellis, where he spent four years. In his time at Kirkland & Ellis, he served on all sides of the table: conducting investigations, defending against them, and even running white-collar crime risk assessments. Crime is something that Sommers has always been interested in. He earned his B.A. in criminology and psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and his Ph.D. in sociology from Northwestern University.
Associate Clinical Professor Jamie Franklin, supervising attorney of the C-K Law
Jada Nneji
Yoss Arianlou
Professor
the 2024 Lawrence S. Wrightsman Book Award [provided]
Jay Esparza Castillo
Erick Rivera
Zach Sommers
Carolyn Shapiro
Group’s Civil Litigation Clinic, has been selected as an academic fellow of the National Civil Justice Institute. She joins a cadre of 80 academics from across the United States who will keep the organization apprised of the latest legal trends and assist it in maintaining a dialogue with the country’s courts and law schools.
Franklin joins Distinguished Professor Emeritus Richard W. Wright and Professor Nancy S. Marder as fellows of the institute.
Cathay Y. N. Smith joined the Chicago-Kent faculty from University of Montana’s Alexander Blewett III School of Law, where she had taught since 2015. She got her start
College of Law. However, she got her start in the legal world in Chicago, when she earned her J.D. from University of Chicago Law School and then practiced as an intellectual property litigation associate at Kirkland & Ellis LLP. She focuses her research on design patents, which protect how things look. Being at Chicago-Kent will not only enable her to fast-track her research in design patents, but it will also give her the chance to join a robust team of professors who are focused on teaching IP.
in the legal world in Chicago, earning her J.D. from Loyola University Chicago School of Law and spending six years as an intellectual property litigator at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP before moving into academia. Two or her most recent papers, “Weaponizing Copyright” and “Copyright Silencing,” explore the ways in which people use copyright as a weapon to silence criticism and suppress other kinds of speech—or for purposes other than protecting their copyright and its economic value.
Sarah Fackrell joined the Chicago-Kent faculty as a professor in fall 2024. She previously taught at Suffolk University Law School and the University of Oklahoma
Assistant Professor Pedro Gerson joined the Chicago-Kent faculty in fall 2024. Growing up in Mexico City, he didn’t spend a significant amount of time in the United States until he went to college. He returned to Mexico after earning his degree, where he was a project manager and attorney for Instituto Mexicano para la Competitividad. There, he researched police practices and helped draft anti-corruption laws. Gerson also taught at Universidad Iberoamericana and Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México. He then worked in immigration defense at the Bronx Defenders in New York before shifting into academia with a position running the Immigration Law Clinic at Louisiana State University’s Paul M. Herbert Law Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Thanks to a $50,000 transformative gift from Rusin Law, Ltd., Illinois Tech and Chicago-Kent College of Law have established a new scholarship to benefit law students with disabilities: up to three students will be awarded the Rusin Law Scholarship for Students with Disabilities each year. This scholarship was inspired by the experience of Mark P. Rusin ’90, managing partner at Rusin Law, who received a modest scholarship for students with disabilities while he attended law school. Today, Rusin aims to give back by opening doors to legal education for future students who may face similar challenges, with the added hopes that the scholarship will also inspire individuals with disabilities to consider a legal education at his alma mater.
Jamie Franklin
Cathay Y. N. Smith
Sarah Fackrell
Pedro Gerson
Mark P. Rusin
Photo: Michael Reiter
An Environment of Innovation
GADGETS AND GIZMOS.
That’s the favorite part of the job for Patrick G. Burns ’78, a founding member of the intellectual property firm Greer, Burns & Crain.
Over his esteemed career, Burns has seen his fair share of gadgets and gizmos. He started in IP law before the internet was invented and graduated from Chicago-Kent College of Law before it launched its IP program.
“When I was in school, I took one course in patent law. That was it,” he says. “That was before the so-called technology boom. Today the IP program is much more than that, thanks to dedicated professors like Ron Staudt.”
During law school, Burns got a job clerking at an IP firm, where he continued as an associate after he graduated. He had previously worked as an engineer for Motorola, which made him a prime candidate for patent law.
“I needed a job, and I had a good background for patents,” he says. “I’ve stayed in it because I like gadgets and gizmos. I’m comfortable with engineers, with inventors, comfortable in the environment of innovation.”
Early in his law career, Burns worked with inventors who were rapidly expanding the memory capacity of hard disks in Japan.
You can also thank him for his work on wide-angle viewing capabilities on LCD screens, many of the patents for which he helped secure.
“In the beginning, you had to look straight at the screen to see anything,” he says. “If you moved to an angle, the screen went blank. We did patent work on innovations and inventions that allows us to see the image on the screen from various angles.”
In the early 1990s, Burns and two colleagues opened their own firm—Greer, Burns, & Crain, Ltd—that focused solely on IP cases.
“I had an opportunity with a client that I wanted to go for,” he says, “and starting that firm was the best way to do that.”
A few years later, he hired B. Joe Kim ’95, who is now a partner at the firm.
“Pat became my mentor when I was just starting out as an attorney,” says Kim. “He took me under his wing and taught me everything I know about being a patent lawyer, not just the legal practice, but also the business side.
“Pat was, and still is, incredibly generous with his time,” Kim adds. “He was patient, approachable, and never overbearing. He is not only an exceptional mentor, but also a valued friend. I feel extremely fortunate to have crossed paths with him when I did.”
When Burns wasn’t mentoring young attorneys at his firm, he was teaching law students.
He’s served as an adjunct professor at Chicago-Kent and taught patent law at private company seminars and classes in Japan.
“Teaching has made me a much better lawyer,” he says. “The seminars I taught at were for advanced practicing attorneys,
and those people were up to date on things, and they had tough questions. I learned a lot, and that drove me in those years.”
His thirst for knowledge and drive to succeed is what has kept him in the IP field for so long.
“I like the learning curve. It never ends,” he says. “In the patent field there are some issues that just don’t have easy answers. When I started, the pace of innovation was much slower, so the law was better able to not get too far behind technology. But in the time that I’ve practiced, technology has taken off at an incredible pace, exponential. The law has had a lot of trouble keeping up.”
“We struggle with what to do with new technologies such as artificial intelligence,” he says. “When I started, there was no biotech, nor pharma, no cell phones, and no internet. The Patent and Trademark Office and the courts are tasked with figuring out what’s going on technologically and applying the law to the new technologies. Unfortunately, the court is still struggling with things such as computer software [and] what to do with that from a patent standpoint. We’re way behind.”
Burns has seen the field of IP law grow as the technology has. In 1978 the United States Trademark and Patent Office granted 66,102 utility patents. In 2020 the agency granted 352,066.
As the field has grown, Burns has done his part to put Chicago at the center.
“I think that Chicago has a very strong IP community, and we have a strong bench in the federal court. Through my involvement in these organizations, I have tried to promote Chicago as a great place for intellectual property.”
—Patrick Burns
He served as president of the Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago, served on its Board of Managers, and was chairman of its Computer Technology Committee. He also spent time as chairman of the Patent, Trademark, and Copyright Committee of the Chicago Bar Association.
“I think that Chicago has a very strong IP community, and we have a strong bench in the federal court,” he says. “Through my involvement in these organizations, I have tried to promote Chicago as a great place for intellectual property.”
Burns currently focuses his practice on patent prosecution and opinions, but that may not last long. These days he’s looking forward to retirement.
“We can look at things that we did not do or goals we did not meet, or we can look back at where we started and see how far we have come,” he says. “Looking back from where I started, I’ve done great. Really great.”
The Artof Law
“I GOT ACCEPTED TO A COUPLE of art schools, but I always wanted to be a lawyer,” says Joey Zawacki ’22. “I also wanted some kind of financial security, so I closed my little art dream and I put it aside. It wasn’t until 2021 that I realized law encompasses all fields. You can certainly enjoy art and practice law.”
Zawacki now works as an attorney adviser who specializes in trademarks at the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Growing up down the street from Marquette University Law School in Milwaukee, Zawacki knew at a young age that she wanted to be a lawyer.
“I’m going to be a lawyer,” she remembers saying to her mom, “and I’m going to take care of you and dad one day.”
Zawacki studied political science and economics at University of Wisconsin–Madison but wanted to be sure that she knew what she was getting into before enrolling in law school.
“I told myself in fairness, let me be a paralegal and see if working in law is something I can actually see for myself,” she says. “What does that office look like? What do the interactions with the attorneys look like? How’s your day-to-day?”
She spent two years working in civil insurance defense at Wilson Elser in Milwaukee, and she loved it.
“I liked working with the attorneys,” she says. “I liked the kinds of people I was working with. I liked the legal questions being asked and how the attorneys approached answers.”
Despite deciding to work in law at a young age, it took Zawacki a while to find her niche within the field.
She originally thought that she would work in criminal law—but quickly realized she didn’t care much for arguing in court. Even then, it took a while before she gave intellectual property law a shot.
“When I thought IP, I thought patent law,” she says. “I’ve never been good at math or science, so I thought that whole section of law, unfortunately, was out of range.”
So Zawacki enrolled in a copyright course at Chicago-Kent College of Law with University Distinguished Professor and Global Professor of Intellectual Property Law Graeme B. Dinwoodie, and she immediately knew that IP is where she’s meant to be.
“You could help people get and maintain copyrights,” she says. “I thought that was awesome. I could see myself doing that. From there, I just tried to stick to Professor Dinwoodie like glue. I was like, ‘Basically anything that you’re interested in, I’m interested in, sir.’”
Dinwoodie introduced her to the world of trademarks, and Zawacki found her niche.
Unfortunately, she was about to graduate and had no time to take any trademark courses. Instead, she got a job clerking for a State of Wisconsin Circuit Court judge in the civil division.
tainment law-related work, and if I didn’t have access to that, I don’t think I would have gotten this job.”
After a year of clerking, Zawacki finally landed her dream job: helping up-and-coming businesses register their trademarks and protect their IP as an attorney adviser at the USPTO.
“A lot of who we work with are entrepreneurs that are trying to start their business, trying to get this trademark,” she says, “and this job in particular offers you an opportunity to help them succeed in this next step of their business.”
Zawacki’s passion for the job comes through in her job performance, according to her colleague Katie Foss, who was assigned to help Zawacki learn the ropes at the USPTO.
“We’re very lucky to have her here at the agency,” says Foss. “I think she’s going to have a really long, hopefully fulfilling
“Trademarks affect people’s everyday lives and livelihoods. The color Barbie pink—people can see that color and automatically associate it with Barbie. Protecting that association protects that company’s livelihood.”—Joey Zawacki
“I learned so much, especially in terms of research and writing,” she says. “You just can never have enough practice with it. I really enjoyed being in the courthouse every day and seeing all the people, the comings and goings. Every single day is different, and I love that about that experience.”
In her spare time, Zawacki connected with Lawyers for the Creative Arts and the Public Interest Law Initiative nonprofit agency that provides legal services for art organizations in the Chicago area.
“They offered trademark opportunities, pro bono opportunities for attorneys looking to help young artists with their work,” she says. “They offer free [continuing legal education courses] in IP enter-
career in examining and beyond. I think we need people like her. She has not just the knowledge, but the good personality skills, the good mix of hard and soft skills that I think is important, especially for female attorneys.”
For Zawacki, it’s all just part of a job that gives her immense pleasure.
“Trademarks affect people’s everyday lives and livelihoods,” she says. “The color Barbie pink—people can see that color and automatically associate it with Barbie. Protecting that association protects that company’s livelihood. Helping entrepreneurs or young businesses protect what unique offerings they’re putting into the marketplace and help them build is what’s important to me.”
Photo: Michael Reiter
Photo: Gittings
ARewarding Career
BEFORE HE WENT TO LAW SCHOOL, Thomas Donovan ’87 was a mechanical engineer looking for more.
“I worked in the nuclear power industry, where I did piping stress analyses for nuclear power plants,” he says. “I began my career working as an engineer after studying engineering as an undergrad at the University of Illinois. I liked my job, but I found myself wanting more.”
Donovan heard that lawyers with engineering backgrounds were in high demand, so he enrolled at Chicago-Kent College of Law. It turned out to be a great move. Not only were there a copious number of opportunities, but he also enjoyed it.
“Dispute-related work captivates me more,” he says. “I find advising clients, earning their trust, and demonstrating the value of my services particularly rewarding and enjoyable.”
Donovan is now in his 25th year at Barnes & Thornburg in Chicago, where he advises on patent and trademark litigation and prosecution, unfair competition, and trade secret litigation, as well as a variety of licensing-related matters.
“The products and matters I handle depend on my clients’ needs,” he says. “These can range from NASCAR sports equipment to pharmaceuticals. I also work with clients in the software, marketing, and toy industries, exposing me to a wide range of technologies.
“Oftentimes, my job involves counseling clients who have made modifications to their technology that want to protect their intellectual property rights from the start. It may involve employing suitable agreements to provide such protection and often involves pursuing patent protection. Sometimes, the modification is very subtle but valuable. Other times, the modification may be very significant.”
When Donovan began his practice, he noted that many large law firms lacked IP departments, with most IP-related matters being handled by boutique firms. However, this landscape evolved significantly over the course of his career.
During a time when IP lawyers started leaving boutique firms to join larger firms and boutique firms were merging with larger firms in the 1990s and 2000s, Donovan joined Barnes & Thornburg, which is a national full-service law firm. He went from a 15-lawyer boutique to a then 270-lawyer firm with practices spanning various legal fields. During his 25 years with Barnes & Thornburg, the firm has grown from 270 lawyers to more than 800 lawyers.
The technology to be protected has evolved, too.
“It used to be a lot easier to understand the invention when you met with the clients and had the prototype in your hands,” he says. “Now, it often takes a lot more time to understand the background technology, as well as the new invention.”
Software has become more sophisticated by leaps and bounds over the last few decades, and helping companies license their software is one of his favorite aspects of the job.
“Licensing software is always interesting,” he says. “I’ve had several companies come in with new software technology at the startup phase and, over time, have had the pleasure of watching
and helping them start their business and evolve into industry leaders. That’s been fun to watch.”
Donovan has also seen the evolution of Chicago-Kent.
When he attended Chicago-Kent, he was initially attracted by its legal writing program—the school didn’t have a major IP program at the time. The program has now grown to be ranked #18 in the country, according to 2024 U.S. News & World Report IP law program rankings.
Donovan has played a part in that success. For nearly 20 years, he returned as an adjunct professor to teach a course called Strategies and IP Law.
“It is intended to simulate a law firm environment where the instructors are partners of the firm and the students are associates,” he says. “The goal is to provide experience on everything from file intake, including clearing conflicts and engagement letters, to doing the substantive work that the hypothetical client needs. The work could also involve doing run-of-the-mill work for an existing hypothetical client or dealing with emergencies or urgencies for those clients or new clients. It’s that kind of a simulation that I enjoyed, and I think it is very pragmatic for the law students.”
“The legal field is a very rewarding profession. There are ups and downs, but I’ve always been proud of the field that I chose.”
—Thomas Donovan
Donovan originally conceptualized and taught the course with David J. Marr ’87, a member at Clark Hill who still teaches the course in the spring.
The two met as students at Chicago-Kent and have stayed friends, occasionally working on cases together throughout their careers.
“Tom conducts a thorough analysis of all the issues involved in a situation,” says Marr. “Because of that, he offers solid advice on how best to proceed to colleagues and clients.”
But it’s the 20 or so years that they spent teaching together that’s a real highlight of their friendship.
“We want at least one student every semester to come up to us and say, ‘This is the best course I’ve ever had in my school,’” says Marr. “The main reason I do this is because it’s really rewarding.”
“I think it’s important to educate young people [who are] hoping to get into the legal field,” adds Donovan. “I think you have to give back.”
Donovan has seen a lot of change during his career, but there is still one thing that stays the same: the fulfillment he feels from a job well done.
“The legal field is a very rewarding profession,” he says. “There are ups and downs, but I’ve always been proud of the field that I chose.”
For the Love of IP and Cats
“I JUST LOVE INTELLECTUAL property,” says Jen Nacht ’21. “I love that my job is defending things that people have created. That’s something I will never get bored of.”
Nacht is an associate at Greer, Burns & Crain, Ltd, where she primarily deals in trademark and copyright litigation and patent prosecution.
Before she was a lawyer, though, Nacht studied chemical engineering.
“I was a very medium student, and by the time I graduated, I had already hated it,” she says of engineering. “I felt that the field was not welcoming toward women. I had to take computer programming, and in some of those classes, I was the only woman in a room, and I felt very isolated.”
She was finishing up her bachelor’s degree and mulling over what someone who wasn’t enamored with engineering could do with an engineering degree when a group of alumni visited one her courses to share what they were doing with their degrees.
One alum was a patent agent, and he introduced Nacht to the world of IP law.
After graduation, Nacht got a job as a patent analyst for Cardinal Intellectual Property, an IP services company. She was there for two and a half years and loved it—so she decided to go to law school.
“I entered law school as sort of a disgruntled engineer,” she says. “I did so much better in law school. I fit in, I graduated cum laude, I did law review, I did [the] Lefkowitz Moot Court [competition]. I felt much more at home there.”
Upon graduation, it wasn’t a straight shot to big law.
Nacht first teamed up with fellow Chicago-Kent alum Ion C. Moraru to launch their own firm with the help of Chicago-Kent’s Independent Practice Initiative, formerly known as the Solo and Small Practice Incubator program, where she was paired with mentor Michele Katz ’00.
“I didn’t start my own firm until I was 12 years out,” says Katz. “I went through the associate, then partnership track, so I
found it so interesting and impressive that someone would start their own law firm straight out of school.”
Katz describes Nacht as a “go-getter,” and finds it particularly impressive that one of the first cases Nacht took on at her firm was a pro bono case.
“To me, that’s giving up yourself and your skill at such an early stage,” says Katz. “I helped her through that, and I believe it was a win, too. That’s always very exciting, and I was happy to help her do that.”
“I’m one of those people who believe in pro bono service, I think it should be a requirement.”—Jen Nacht
Nacht represented the Freadom® Road Foundation in a trademark cancellation proceeding. The Freadom® Road Foundation is a nonprofit that is dedicated to stopping the cycle of intergenerational incarceration by providing books, resume workshops, and other educational and job skills programs for children in Chicago with incarcerated parents and to citizens re-entering society after a period of incarceration.
“I was listening to the founder and decided that I would help her, I will represent her, until I die. I need to help this mission,” says Nacht.
“I’m one of those people who believe in pro bono service, I think it should be a requirement,” she adds. “I think firms should be more active in having their associates do pro bono work. I think that’s just part of what being a lawyer is.”
To drum up web traffic for their firm, Nacht launched a blog on their firm’s website, where she broke down contemporary IP issues in a way that ordinary people can understand.
Even though Nacht and her business partner decided to part ways after about a year and a half together, she found success in the blog and wanted to keep it going.
So she launched the Curious Cat IP Blog a few months later.
“I didn’t really think anything would come of it. I didn’t even think anyone read them, until one day I was contacted by the president of the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois,” says Nacht.
The Women’s Bar Association president had read a post Nacht had written about Taylor Swift, and she had reached out because the Lawyers for the Creative Arts and Women’s Bar Association were hosting a crossover, Taylor Swift-themed event.
They wanted Nacht to be one of the speakers at the event.
Swift was of interest to IP law because her complete compendium of work was purchased by the new owner of her former record label. She then decided to re-record her entire discography in order to maintain control of her master recordings.
“Obviously, I would love nothing more than to talk about Taylor Swift and intellectual property,” Nacht remembers replying, adding: “Oh my God, this is my dream.”
Since then, Nacht has continued to write in her spare time. A research paper she wrote about the federal government’s right to “march-in” on patents gained with federal research grants was recently published in the Texas Intellectual Property Law Journal. The Lawyers for the Creative Arts invited her to present her post about copyrights and tattoos in an upcoming event on February 26, 2025.
It may seem like a long time ago that Nacht was studying engineering in a room full of men, but she’s never forgotten the alum who told her about the possibility of being a patent agent.
Every year since, Nacht returns and schools the newest batch of engineering students about the world of IP law.
“I’ve been doing it for seven years now,” she says. “It’s funny, though, because every year I do it, there are more and more women in the room, and my story sounds so obsolete because more women are going into STEM, which is fantastic.”
Photo: Michael Reiter
Gender Parity in STEM
AS A WOMAN, I FEEL LUCKY TO BE ABLE TO DECLARE the following: I am a chemistry major. I have a chemical engineering degree. I passed the patent bar. My teachers—Michael Amendola, Christine Thomas, Michael Timko, Michael Meurer, and Keith Hylton, alongside the incredible mentorship of Robert Blasi—helped me to succeed. I could not have accomplished nearly as much as I have without communal support.
Women are often underrepresented in STEM fields, and that underrepresentation permeates through the legal profession—especially in the one legal field that requires a STEM degree. As a faculty member at Chicago-Kent College of Law, a national leader in intellectual property law studies, I am proud to focus my scholarship around remedying the underrepresentation of women and people of color in patent law.
In 2022 women comprised 10.9 percent of all named inventors on United States patents, with chemistry having the highest share of women inventors at 18 percent, according to the World Economic Forum. Societal pressures, the lack of women’s academic longevity, differences in mentorship and resource allocation, and the differences in wealth and access to legal assistance all contribute to this gap.
The scholarship relevant to patent gender disparity is clear: group support or discouragement contributes to the patent gap.
Sara Blakely, the inventor of Spanx, has talked candidly about her initial patent process, especially finding an attorney who believed that her now $1.2 billion invention was worth their time and expertise. She wanted to find a female lawyer to help prosecute her invention, given that women would be the primary users of the undergarment. Male patent attorneys did not understand the value or novelty of her invention, believing that her product pitch was a prank. Although she was ultimately successful, her patent journey likely would have been easier if she could have initially accessed a female patent attorney.
With more patent attorneys and agents named Michael than racially diverse women, it is more important than ever to tackle underrepresentation through research in group dynamics: interactive effects between attorneys and inventors, as well as mentorship efforts.
Women are underrepresented because of systemic issues permeating our society. The study of these systemic issues will hopefully shed light on solutions.
Jordana Goodman
Jordana Goodman
Class Notes
1972
Edward “Ned” Masters, Joliet, Ill., received the Lifetime Achievement Award (posthumously) during the 2024 Illinois Tech Alumni Awards Ceremony.
1983
Steve Ryd, Erie, Colo., officially closed his Oak Brook, Illinois, office in 2020 and moved to Colorado in 2022 to be close to his grandkids. He is happy to announce that he is now “semi-retired” as he only works 60 hours a week instead of 90! He looks forward to meeting up with Josh Holleb the next time that Holleb visits his kids in nearby Boulder, Colorado! He also wants his 1983 classmates to know that he is still married to the amazing woman he proposed to during first semester of their first year!
1985
Michael F. Doerries, Wheaton, Ill., joined Nyhan, Bambrick, Kinzie & Lowry, P.C. as a partner.
1990
Eileen O’Neill Burke, Chicago, was elected as the Cook County State’s Attorney.
1992
Matt Walsh, Indian Head Park, Ill., was selected by his peers for inclusion in the 2025 edition of Best Lawyers for construction law.
1995
Anne Shaw, Chicago, received the Professional Achievement Award during the 2024 Illinois Tech Alumni Awards Ceremony.
1996
Joanna Horsnail, River Forest, Ill., was recognized by Corporate Counsel as a Managing Partner of the Year as part of its 2024 Women, Influence & Power in Law awards! The WIPL awards honors in-house and law firm female leaders and allies who have demonstrated a commitment to empowering women in law.
Chris Mate, San Francisco, was named one of San Francisco’s People on the Move by San Francisco Business Times
1995
Robert Surrette, Downers Grove, Ill., received the Professional Achievement Award during the 2024 Illinois Tech Alumni Awards. Surrette also began serving as chair of the ChicagoKent Board of Advisors.
2000
Jason J. Friedl, Chicago, was named partner at Romanucci & Blandin, LLC.
2002
Debra L. Thomas, Wilmette, Ill., has been selected for the Women in Law list by the Chicago Law Bulletin
2008
Justin Nemunaitis, Dallas, has earned a spot on the 2024 Benchmark Litigation 40 & Under list of the nation’s top young trial lawyers.
2010
Laura A. Elkayam, Chicago, was named to the Chicago Law Bulletin’s 40 Under Forty in 2024.
Kathryne Hayes, Chicago, was named to the Chicago Law Bulletin’s 40 Under Forty in 2024.
2014
Jeremy Abrams, Long Grove, Ill., was promoted to senior director of UX at Prosper Marketplace.
Laura Gottlieb, Chicago, was named to the Chicago Law Bulletin’s 40 Under Forty in 2024.
Ervin Nevitt, Chicago, was named to the Chicago Law Bulletin’s 40 Under Forty in 2024.
2021
Michelle Locascio, Chicago, has joined Fox Rothschild in Chicago as an associate in the litigation department.
2024
Marisa A. Gelabert, Chicago, and David L. Durán Chicago, have been promoted from law clerks to associate attorneys at Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard. Gelabert and Durán will work out of the firm’s Chicago office and will represent clients in cases involving personal injury, medical negligence, and wrongful death.
Grace Heidorn, Detroit, joined Bodman PLC as an associate.
In Memoriam
Alumni
Marvin D. Michaels ’52
Thomas J. Karacic ’54
Roger M. Levy ’72
Robert K. Higginson ’74
Steven H. Jesser ’74
Thomas J. Rebb ’74
Samuel D. Johnson ’76
Patrick C. Doody ’78
Patrick J. Gamboney ’79
Kenneth S. Borcia ’80
Vincent Louis DiTommaso ’82
Kevin R. McKenna ’82
William J. Payne ’84
Alice M. McCart ’93
James R. Fisher ’98
Joseph P. Tylutki ’01
Marjorie R. Kohls ’07
Staff
Nicole Vilches, Assistant Dean of Admissions
Power the Difference
As the leading law school in the country that is affiliated with a technology university, Chicago-Kent College of Law understands the complex ways that tech, law, business, and our world are inextricably linked. That’s why we equip every student with the timeless skills that they need to meet the demands of legal practice today, tomorrow, and far into the future. Starting today, your investment in Chicago-Kent is part of Power the Difference: Our Campaign for Illinois Tech. Thanks to your contribution, students will be immersed in the engaging, hands-on experiences that are crucial to successful careers. Ultimately, your investment will help graduates step into a courtroom, boardroom, or any other room and make an immediate impact.
To learn more and to make a gift, please visit kentlaw.iit.edu/law/alumni
