Annie Allison

Associate, Haynes Boone (US)

Annie Allison is an associate in the IP practice group at Haynes and Boone. She provides transactional and litigation IP legal services including trademark prosecution, copyright clearance and registration, rights enforcement strategies, brand management and licensing for media, entertainment, fashion and technology companies. She formerly worked as a TV news producer and reporter and now advises on a variety of media and entertainment-related matters.

Allison is a member attorney of the International Trademark Association (INTA)’s pro bono trademark clearinghouse and a committee member of the Intellectual Property Owners Association’s US Trademark Committee and Women in IP Law Committee.

Busola Bakinson

Senior associate, Olaniwun Ajayi (Nigeria)

Busola Bakinson is a senior associate in Olaniwun Ajayi’s IP practice where she provides legal support and advice in all aspects of IP, including trademarks, patent, industrial designs and copyright. She focuses her practice on IP prosecution and enforcement in various African countries and handles the IP portfolios of local and international corporations. She is the co-chair of INTA’s government advisory council (Africa) and a member of the Trademark Office Practices Committee at INTA.

In addition, she was the past co-chair of the Africa & Middle East subcommittee region of the Public and Media Relations Committee of INTA.

Manuela Cabal

Partner, McAndrews, Held & Malloy (US)

Manuela Cabal was elected as partner at McAndrews, Held & Malloy in May this year. Cabal focuses her practice on IP litigation and prosecution, particularly in the medical devices, biomedical, and biotechnology industries. She is a committee co-chair for the Coalition of Women’s Initiatives in Law, a pathfinder at the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity and involved in the firm’s diversity committee, recruiting committee, and the partners and associates development committee.

Cabal also volunteers with the Chicago Legal Clinic representing low-income clients, and helps immigrant families seeking asylum via the National Immigrant Justice Center.

Rebecca Campbell

Associate, Mewburn Ellis (UK)

Rebecca Campbell is a trademark attorney and associate at Mewburn Ellis. She handles all aspects of worldwide brand strategy and trademark protection. Campbell is passionate about diversity and inclusion and uses her experiences as a disabled and neurodivergent, bisexual woman to promote awareness across all aspects of diversity.

She sits on IP Inclusive’s advisory board and on the committee of IP Ability, IP Inclusive’s group for disabled and neurodivergent people, their carers and their allies. Campbell is also a key part of Mewburn Ellis’ inclusion and diversity collaboration group.

Veda Cruz

Associate counsel, Gearbox Software (US)

Veda Cruz has served as associate counsel at Gearbox Software for nearly three years. She previously worked as a start-up venture consultant at The Launch Pad at the University of Miami, where she helped aspiring entrepreneurs develop their ideas into ventures. Cruz graduated from Miami Law School and Miami Business School with a JD/MBA in 2019, and she served as president of the IP law society at Miami Law School.

As a student, Cruz was also accepted into the Larry Hoffman|Greenberg Traurig Start-Up Law Practicum, a clinic that aids new ventures with IP and other issues.

Charlie French

Senior associate, Bristows (UK)

Charlie French is a senior associate at Bristows, where she specialises in contentious IP matters. She focuses her practice on patent litigation in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. French has advised on disputes relating to small molecule pharmaceuticals, antibodies and antibody engineering technology, and gene cloning. French is an active member of Bristows’ working families and carers network and was heavily involved in firm-wide initiatives to support parents juggling childcare and work during the pandemic lockdowns in the UK.

She is a mentor for junior lawyers and those managing the transition from maternity leave back into the workplace.

Mary Hannon

Judicial law clerk, US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (US)

Mary Hannon is a judicial law clerk at the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Prior to her clerkship, Hannon was an associate in Sidley Austin's IP litigation practice. Hannon spent the years before and during law school as a patent agent, focusing on the preparation and prosecution of patents for clients in industries specifically related to the chemical sciences. In 2020, she published “The Patent Bar Gender Gap: Expanding the Eligibility Criteria to Foster Inclusion & Innovation in the US Patent System”, and has spoken on various panels.

In 2021, Hannon was awarded the Robert C. Watson award from AIPLA in recognition of her research and scholarship on issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion within IP law.

Simrat Kaur

Associate partner, Lex Orbis (India)

Simrat Kaur is an associate partner at Lex Orbis. She works in the trademarks, copyright and designs practice at the firm and has more than ten years of experience in IP protection. Kaur has worked at LexOrbis since February 2021. She advises clients on trademark rights clearance, brand portfolio management, brand acquisition and trademark filings, among other areas.

Prior to this, she served as an attorney at law firm The Endretta, where she conducted IP advisory, prosecution, litigation, and policy related work for corporates, industry associations, and individual artists.

Sarah Kelleher

Associate, Fish & Richardson (US)

Sarah Kelleher is an associate in the Boston office of Fish & Richardson. She counsels clients on trademark, trade dress, trade secret and copyright matters with a focus on trademark clearance, prosecution and enforcement in the US and abroad. Kelleher represents clients in the fashion, financial services, medical and technology industries.

She also represents clients in UDRP domain name disputes through ICANN and advises on IP licensing agreements. Previously, Kelleher was an associate at a Chicago IP boutique firm and a volunteer at the Art Institute of Chicago. She is a member of the Women’s Bar Association.

Annika Lückemann

Counsel, Bird & Bird (Germany)

Annika Lückemann is a counsel in Bird & Bird’s IP group, where she represents national and international companies in all IP matters. She focuses on litigating patents from all technical areas and coordinates international patent disputes. Lückemann has developed extensive experience in patent litigation before the German civil courts, as well as collaboration with patent attorneys in parallel revocation actions.

She regularly works on contractual IP matters and has a thorough understanding of supplementary protection certificates, standard-essential patents and second medical use patents.

Tatiana Machado Alves

Partner, Licks Attorneys (Brazil)

Tatiana Machado Alves is a partner at Licks Attorneys. She has served as an attorney at law since 2013 and, before that, she worked as a paralegal in the team. Machado Alves has extensive experience with complex IP litigation, unfair competition, regulatory and competition law. She also has experience in administrative proceedings before government agencies, including the National Institute of Industrial Property. Machado Alves holds a masters in law from the State University of Rio de Janeiro, where she is also currently a PhD candidate.

She is a member of the ‍Brazilian Bar Association and the Brazilian Association of Industrial Property.

Charleen Rupnarain

Senior associate, Adams & Adams (South Africa)

Charleen Rupnarain is a senior associate patent attorney at Adams & Adams. Rupnarain specialises in the drafting, filing and prosecution of patent applications in life sciences and biotech. She holds a PhD in cancer genetics and an LLB degree, and is an admitted attorney of the South African High Court. Rupnarain is a member of the Licensing Executives Society and of the South African Research and Innovation Management Association, and a fellow of the South African Institute of Intellectual Property Law.

Previously, Rupnarain developed IP strategies for businesses incubated at The Innovation Hub, an innovation agency.

Sonja Sahlsten

Associate, Finnegan (US)

Sonja Sahlsten focuses her practice on patent litigation before US district courts and the US International Trade Commission. Sahlsten serves on the steering committee and women practitioners sub-committee of the Washington, DC chapter of the Women in IP Network and is involved in Finnegan’s women’s business initiative FORWARD (Focused on Raising Women’s Advancement, Representation, and Development).

She has participated in Finnegan’s IP patch for the Girl Scouts programme focused on introducing more girls to STEM and was named a Finnegan mentor of the year. She previously clerked at the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit for Judge Sharon Prost.

Valeriya Sokolova

Associate, Doubinsky & Osharova (Ukraine)

Valeriya Sokolova is an associate at Doubinsky & Osharova, where she focuses on copyright and trademark infringements, contractual issues and the preparation and drafting of court documents. She qualified in 2021, when she obtained a master’s diploma in law from Taras Shevchenko National University.

After the invasion in Ukraine, she co-wrote articles exploring the changes in Russian legislation on IP, including an article for WIPR that focused on issues around compulsory licensing, the rise of infringing activities and the absence of IP protection for rights owners, the introduction of parallel import of goods, and temporary management of foreign enterprises.

Flavia Ștefura

Senior associate, MPR Partners (Romania)

Flavia Ștefura is part of MPR Partners’ advisory department and is primarily involved in IP, data privacy, competition, consumer protection and mergers and acquisitions. She also deals with corporate and commercial, employment, regulatory and administrative matters. Ștefura has advised clients in various industry sectors, including retail, fast-moving consumer goods, banking and finance.

She has advised a UK-based certification provider on potential copyright and trademark infringement and a chemicals producer on competition and trademark registration related to an acquisition.

Agnieszka Sztoldman

Counsel, Osborne Clarke (Poland)

Agnieszka Sztoldman joined Osborne Clarke in 2022, and is now responsible for developing the firm’s IP practice in Poland. She focuses her practice on trademarks, patents and copyright proceedings across a range of technology fields. Sztoldman is an adjunct professor of IP law at the University of Wrocław and regularly contributes to Polish and international IP law journals.

She is a mentor in the national IP mentorship programme run by students at the University of Warsaw, and actively advocates for women’s rights in Poland, while giving protesters taking part in the Women’s Strike free legal assistance.

Vickie Wang

Patent attorney, Chang Tsi (China)

Vickie Wang has served as a patent attorney at Chang Tsi since 2013. She is responsible for dealing with patent applications, patent reexamination, patent invalidation matters, and patent infringement and stability analysis. Wang represents clients in the machinery, electromechanical, engineering technology, and design fields. A career highlight for Wang has been the grant of a patent for manufacturer Graco Minnesota, despite the patent examiner and experts opining that there was no prospect for grant.

As part of her work, Wang conducted searches on prior art, deeply studied the patent application and prepared a professional observation to request for reexamination.