Press Release
New York, NY - January 5, 2009 - Kenyon & Kenyon LLP is pleased to announce that four associates from its Washington, DC office and one associate from its New York office have been promoted to partner, effective January 1, 2009.
The five new partners are: Zeba Ali, Thomas R. Makin, Paul Qualey, Robert F. Vroom and King L. Wong, Ph.D. Their abbreviated biographies are below:
2009 Partners
Zeba Ali, based in the firm's Washington, DC office, joined Kenyon & Kenyon in 2000. Ms. Ali has been involved in a wide variety of intellectual property matters, such as patent preparation, prosecution, due diligence and counseling. Ms. Ali’s practice particularly focuses on the biomedical arts, such as medical devices, treatments, and procedures in the neurological, cardiac, orthopedic, ophthalmic, microbiological and immunological fields. Ms. Ali received her B.S. in Neuroscience from Duke University in 1996 and her J.D from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2000.
Thomas R. Makin, based in the firm's New York office, focuses his practice on patent litigation, both in federal court and before the ITC. He has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in patent infringement cases involving a wide range of technologies, including automotive design, with a focus on hybrid vehicle systems; digital cameras; medical imaging devices; computer and television display technology; and semiconductor fabrication. In 1997, Mr. Makin received his B.S. in Engineering as well as a B.A. in History from Swarthmore College, where he was inducted into the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society. Mr. Makin received his J.D. in 2000 from Columbia University, where he was a James Kent Scholar.
Paul T. Qualey, based in the firm's Washington, DC office, has experience in a variety of areas of intellectual property law with a particular emphasis on patent litigation at the trial and appellate court level. Mr. Qualey has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in patent infringement cases involving a broad range of technologies in the software, telecommunications, automotive and construction industries. Mr. Qualey has also prosecuted patent applications in the software, information technology and telecommunications fields for a variety of large and small companies and is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Mr. Qualey received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, cum laude, as well as a B.A. in Economics from the University of Maryland at College Park in 1994. He received his J.D. from George Washington University, with honors, in 2000.
Robert F. Vroom, based in the firm's Washington, DC office, has focused his practice on litigation involving issues of patent infringement, validity, enforceability and trade secret misappropriation. Mr. Vroom has also conducted due diligence concerning the pharmaceutical industry, as well as drafting and prosecuting patents in the electrical and bio-mechanical arts. Mr. Vroom is a senior editor of the treatise, Unfair Competition and the ITC: Actions Before the International Trade Commission Under Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930. Mr. Vroom received his B.S. in Chemistry from Florida State University in 1995 where he was also a member of Alpha Chi Sigma. In 1997, he received his M.S. in Oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego and then went on to receive his J.D. from the University of Virginia in 2000.
King L. Wong, Ph.D., based in the firm's Washington, DC office, has extensive experience in preparing and/or prosecuting patent applications. He has managed worldwide patent application portfolios for clients. He has provided freedom-to-operate, invalidity and patentability opinions related to U.S. patents. Dr. Wong represented the University of Houston Law Center in a Giles Sutherland Rich Moot Court Competition and won an Intellectual Property Law Student Award from the Houston Chapter of the American Association of Corporate Counsel in 1993. He completed his LL.M. concentrating on intellectual property law at The George Washington University. Prior to private law practices, he was a Patent Examiner for over three years in the Organic Chemistry Group of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Dr. received his B.A. in Microbiology from the University of Kansas, with honors, in 1975, where he also went on to obtain his Ph.D. in Pharmacology, with Honors in Final Doctoral Examination, in 1980. Dr. Wong received his J.D. from the University of Houston in 1993 and most recently received his M.S. in Biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University in 2001.
About Kenyon & Kenyon LLP
Kenyon and Kenyon is consistently ranked by peers and in-house counsel as one of the top firms for intellectual property law. Since its founding in 1879, the firm provides its worldwide clients with litigation, prosecution, licensing and counseling services. Large and small enterprises and individuals choose Kenyon to design and implement intellectual property strategies when it matters most. The firm has offices in New York, Washington, DC and the Silicon Valley.