SEATTLE, Wash. (January 3, 2017) – Perkins Coie has announced that eight attorneys have been promoted to Senior Counsel, effective January 1, 2017. Senior Counsel have at least eight years of experience, are recognized for delivering high quality legal work, have the ability to supervise junior lawyers and staff, and collaborate with partners on the strategy, development and management of client matters.

The Perkins Coie 2017 Senior Counsel class includes:

• Theodore W. Baker (Portland)
• Scott A. Brairton (Denver)
• H. Vicky Chen (Seattle)
• Lara J. Dueppen (Los Angeles)
• Kristina J. Holm (Portland)
• Breena M. Roos (Seattle)
• Tonn K. Petersen (Boise)
• Holly M. Simpkins (Seattle)

“I am exceptionally proud of Perkins Coie’s 2017 newly promoted Senior Counsel,” said John Devaney, Firmwide Managing Partner. “Every one of these Senior Counsel offers expertise and experience to provide valuable long term contributions to their practice group and their clients. As Senior Counsel, they complement our firm’s culture and the client service standards to which we hold ourselves accountable.”

Perkins Coie 2017 Senior Counsel Class

Theodore W. Baker (Portland) is a member of the firm’s Intellectual Property Law practice. He focuses on developing and implementing patent procurement strategies for small and medium-sized companies emphasizing information to align patent investments with business objectives, avoiding unproductive patent investments and using creative tactics to maximize long-term value. Ted has over 10 years of experience covering all aspects of patent preparation, prosecution and counseling for clients in the medical, chemical, semiconductor and mechanical fields. Ted frequently provides right-to-practice opinions, patent landscape assessments, due diligence of patent portfolios, invalidity opinions, design-around recommendations and other types of patent-related counseling.

Scott A. Brairton (Denver) is a member of the firm’s Intellectual Property Law practice. Scott helps major corporations, startup companies and individual inventors develop and secure their intellectual property (IP) rights through assistance with patent prosecution and IP portfolio counseling and management. Scott has worked in all phases of patent prosecution including identifying patentable ideas with inventors to defending issued patents in reexamination proceedings. He has extensive domestic and international experience drafting and prosecuting patent applications across a variety of technical areas. Scott is a former patent examiner with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

H. Vicky Chen (Seattle) is a member of the firm’s Tax, Benefits & Compensation practice. She counsels clients on issues related to ERISA and federal tax laws affecting employer-sponsored employee benefit plans. Vicky handles design and compliance issues with respect to qualified plans (pension, profit sharing and 401(k) plans), retirement plans for nonprofit and government entities (457(b) and 403(b) plans), health and welfare benefit plans, and nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements. Vicky also supports clients on employee benefits aspects of mergers and acquisitions and other corporate transactions.

Lara J. Dueppen , Ph.D (Los Angeles) is a member of the firm’s Intellectual Property Law practice. Lara counsels clients on patent procurement and global patent portfolio management, strategic counseling on matters including patentability, due diligence, and freedom-to-operate, inter partes review proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board and patent litigation before the federal courts. Lara handles matters in a broad range of topics in biotechnology, including antibody therapeutics, cellular therapeutics, nucleic acid and small molecule therapeutics, vaccines, in vivo and in vitro diagnostics, recombinant DNA and proteins, in silico computer modeling and algorithms of biological and pathological processes and nanotechnology.

Kristina J. Holm (Portland) is a member of the firm’s Commercial Litigation practice. She focuses her practice on business litigation in the federal and state courts, as well as in alternative dispute venues. Her experience covers a broad range of matters, including complex business, contract, director and officer liability, securities, and trademark disputes. Kristina has handled matters in a broad range of industries including reinsurance, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, and consumer and retail products. Kristina maintains an active pro bono practice and has handled cases involving a wide variety of constitutional law issues in both her pro bono and litigation practice.

Breena M. Roos (Seattle) is a member of the firm’s Commercial Litigation practice. She focuses her practice on food litigation, class action defense and complex litigation, with an emphasis on bringing a rational business approach and achieving efficient judicial resolutions. She has represented a broad range of clients in high priority cases involving consumer protection, unfair competition, California’s Proposition 65, copyright infringement, Digital Millennium Copyright Act liability and defense, trademark infringement and contract disputes.

Tonn K. Petersen (Boise) is a senior counsel in the firm's Litigation practice. He focuses his multi-state practice in the areas of commercial litigation, real estate workouts, business disputes and labor and employment litigation. Tonn routinely appears on behalf of his clients in both state and federal courts, and also participates regularly in mediations, arbitrations and other settlement facilitations. Tonn has an active defense practice representing financial institutions in litigated matters involving judicial and non-judicial foreclosures, the enforcement of security agreements and lender liability claims. Tonn has represented a number of lenders and Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities servicers in complex cases involving real property secured loan workouts, including receivership appointments and guarantor actions.

Holly M. Simpkins (Seattle) is a member of the firm’s Intellectual Property Law practice. She represents clients in copyright, trademark, and trade secret litigation in cases filed throughout the country and regularly appears in matters before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. Holly also counsels clients on brand protection strategies, including securing, policing, investigating and enforcing client’s rights as well as investigating and removing counterfeit and other unauthorized goods from the market.

Perkins Coie is a leading international law firm that is known for providing high-value, strategic solutions and extraordinary client service on matters vital to our clients’ success. With more than 1,200 lawyers in offices across the United States and Asia, we provide a full array of corporate, commercial litigation, intellectual property, and regulatory legal advice to a broad range of clients, including many of the world’s most innovative companies and industry leaders as well as public and not-for-profit organizations.

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