February 17, 2009
(Burlington) Burlington attorney Thomas D. Kohler, an intellectual property litigator and patent prosecutor at Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC, was elected to membership in the firm as a director. Kohler joined DRM in Fall 2008, bringing years of experience in patent prosecution and general IP law, as well as expertise in litigation of significant patent disputes--an area that DRM has targeted for growth.
“I am pleased to welcome Tom as a director of the firm,” said Paul H. Ode Jr., DRM’s managing partner and chief executive officer. “Tom’s extensive experience in patent dispute litigation strengthens our ability to assist clients in protecting, leveraging, enforcing and defending their valuable inventions and patent rights. In the short time that he has been with us, Tom has also proven his readiness to assume a more active role in firm management.”
Prior to joining DRM, Kohler practiced patent and trademark law for more than 20 years in New York and California. He began his legal career as a clerk in the New York office of Pennie & Edmonds LLP, rising to become a partner in the firm in Palo Alto, Calif. in 1998. Pennie & Edmonds closed its doors at the end of 2003, and Kohler became a partner at Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP in San Francisco in January, 2004. In addition to patent prosecution and litigation, Kohler’s practice encompasses managing intellectual property portfolios worldwide for a number of international manufacturing firms. He has supervised teams of attorneys working in such technology areas as medical devices, consumer products, internet and computer products, semiconductor fabrication and telecommunications.
Kohler graduated from Clarkson University with a degree in mechanical engineering and worked at both the General Electric Company and the Norfolk Naval Shipyard as an engineer before studying law at the University of Exeter in England and the College of William and Mary, where he received the juris doctor degree in 1988 from the Marshall-Wythe School of Law. He later earned a masters degree in European Intellectual Property and Comparative Antitrust Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Kohler is a registered patent attorney.
DRM’s IP Practice Group provides a full range of IP legal services, including patent and trademark preparation and prosecution, IP litigation and IP transactional work. With more than 80 attorneys and legal professionals in seven offices in Vermont, New Hampshire and New York, DRM provides legal services to local, national and international clients in practice areas that also include litigation, business law, labor and employment, captive insurance, environmental law, trust and estates, family law, tax law, energy and telecommunications law, real estate, health care, creditors rights, venture capital and insurance defense. The firm represents clients in legislative, regulatory and public affairs through the Government and Public Affairs Group. DRM is the law firm member for Vermont of Lex Mundi, the world's leading association of independent law firms.
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