Best Lawyers in Illinois, United States for Intellectual Property Law
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Marc H. Trachtenberg is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Advertising Law and Trademark Law. Marc H., who practices law in Chicago, Illinois, has been recognized since 2020. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Marc H. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
R. David Donoghue is a trial attorney and the deputy practice group leader of Holland & Knight's Intellectual Property Group, focusing his almost 15 years of experience upon intellectual property litigation and particularly upon patent disputes. Mr. Donoghue's most recent trial experience includes a jury verdict finding of willfulness, a full trebling of damages and a full award of attorney's fees in the Northern District of Illinois. Mr. Donoghue has also been chosen as lead trial counse...
Christopher V. Carani is a Shareholder at McAndrews and has been at the firm since 1995. He practices in all areas of intellectual property law with a particular emphasis on design law. Chris has extensive experience litigating design patent cases, including representations before U.S. district courts, the Federal Circuit, the U.S. Supreme Court and the International Trade Commission. In 2019, Chris was named to the IAM Strategy 300: The World’s Leading IP Strategists list, with IAM mag...
Michael Hartmann is active in all phases of intellectual property law with an emphasis in intellectual property litigation and technology protection and transfer in the United States and internationally. He has acted as lead trial counsel in jury and bench trials, International Trade Commission investigations, and related pre-trial and appellate proceedings in diverse technical fields. These include software, telecommunications, machine vision and semiconductor manufacturing, oil field drilli...
George C. Lombardi is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Commercial Litigation, Litigation - Intellectual Property, Litigation - Patent and Patent Law. George C., who practices law in Chicago, Illinois, has been recognized since 2016. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which George C. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
James J. Lukas, Jr. is Co-Chair of the Chicago Intellectual Property & Technology Practice. He focuses his practice on intellectual property litigation with a particular emphasis on patent litigation and related client counseling. He has experience with complex patent litigation cases in federal district courts throughout the country, including both enforcing patent rights and defending against charges of infringement on behalf of clients. He has first-chaired trials and claim constructio...
Sanjay Murthy is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Litigation - Intellectual Property and Patent Law. Sanjay, who practices law in Chicago, Illinois, has been recognized since 2026. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Sanjay is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
G. Peter Nichols is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Patent Law. G. Peter, who practices law in Chicago, Illinois, has been recognized since 2025. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which G. Peter is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Tom is a registered patent attorney who develops and protects complex patent, trademark and copyright portfolios maintained by domestic and global businesses. He has significant experience in negotiating and drafting software licenses, patent and trademark licenses and transfers, non-compete and confidentiality agreements, product development agreements, joint venture agreements and all related agreements that include critical intellectual property components. He also regularly performs thoro...
Bradley provides diverse IP protection to large companies and startups by strategically building comprehensive global IP portfolios to monetize and protect products and methods using utility patents, design patents, trademarks, and copyrights. He also helps his clients with litigation financing, patent litigation, licensing, IP incentive programs, and general counseling on IP matters. What do you focus on? My practice focuses on helping clients create monetizable IP using customized patent mi...
Michael, chair of the firm’s Intellectual Property practice group, provides strategic counsel to established enterprises and entrepreneurs concerning the development and protection of extensive global intellectual property portfolios. He represents clients from a wide range of industries, including consumer electronics, restaurants, retail housewares, beverage manufacturing, software, entertainment and a variety of technology-focused industries. Michael has served as lead counsel in tri...
John Cullis focuses his practice on intellectual property litigation, counseling and procurement. Over the course of his career, John has been recognized among his peers as a preeminent litigator in the field of intellectual property. John is an accomplished trial lawyer who has first-chaired trademark, trade dress, trade secret, copyright and unfair competition matters before judges and juries in numerous U.S. federal courts and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) Trademark ...
Mark Hagedorn advises on a wide variety of intellectual property matters, including patent, trademark and copyright solicitation and IP litigation, licensing and counseling. Appreciated for his honesty and practical legal advice, Mark consistently delivers utilitarian solutions that help his clients resolve disputes and litigation efficiently and economically. Mark offers broad experience in virtually all phases of IP counseling and litigation. He understands and has represented clients invol...
Jim Murphy has 20+ years of experience practicing intellectual property law, including successfully representing clients as lead counsel in jury trials across the country and proceedings before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Jim helps clients secure and maximize the value of their intellectual property. He also counsels clients on all related issues such as licensing, unfair competition, trade secrets, and copyright. Jim also represents clients with intellectual property aspects of mer...
Peter J. Strand is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Copyright Law, Entertainment Law - Motion Pictures and Television and Entertainment Law - Music. Peter J., who practices law in Chicago, Illinois, has been recognized since 2007. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Peter J. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Mr. Kilyk practices exclusively in the field of intellectual property law, especially patent law. Mr. Kilyk specializes in patent post-grant review proceedings, inter partes reexaminations, interferences, and oppositions, as well as legal opinions, prosecution, and litigation matters, with specific concentration in the areas of biotechnology, chemistry, and pharmaceuticals. Recent technologies with which he has been involved include biosimilars, new chemical compounds, nucleic acid sequences,...
Our Methodology
Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review. Our methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.
The Process
Best Lawyers employs a sophisticated, conscientious, rational, and transparent survey process designed to elicit meaningful and substantive evaluations of the quality of legal services. Our belief has always been that the quality of a peer review survey is directly related to the quality of the voters.