"To love what you do and feel that it matters - how could anything be more fun?"
- Katharine Graham
overview
Michelle N. Lester
Ms. Lester specializes in intellectual property matters related to all areas of mechanical engineering. She has particular and extensive experience in patenting medical instruments and processes, automotive components and systems, hydraulic control systems, fluid filtration assemblies and refrigeration systems. Ms. Lester has successfully prosecuted thousands of U.S. and foreign applications in these and other technologies for U.S. and foreign entities. She is especially effective in negotiating with examiners through interviews at the U.S. Patent Office and in arguing "problem" cases to the USPTO Board of Appeals. Ms. Lester also negotiates and drafts settlement and license agreements, regularly analyzes utility and design patents for infringement, validity and enforceability, and has served as a patent expert in litigation matters.
While attending law school, Ms. Lester worked as an Examiner at the United States Patent and Trademark Office and then as a law clerk at the Washington, DC intellectual property law firm of Cushman, Darby & Cushman.
Upon graduation from law school, Ms. Lester continued with Cushman, Darby & Cushman as an associate attorney, and became a partner in that firm in 1993. Ms. Lester then became a partner in the law firm of Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro upon the merger of Cushman and Pillsbury in 1996. Ms. Lester accepted an invitation to join Nixon & Vanderhye in early 1999.
Ms. Lester is a Registered Patent Attorney and a member of the Pennsylvania, District of Columbia and Virginia State Bars; the Federal Circuit Bar Association; and the American Bar Association.
Education
- Duke University (B.S.E., summa cum laude, 1982)
- George Washington University (J.D., with honors, 1987)
Direct Contact
- Phone: 1-703-816-4014
- Fax: 1-703-816-4100
- email: mnl@nixonvan.com