My Why

What powers my practice

Although my dad had his own general practice firm, it was really my engineering studies—and a lecture from a patent attorney—that sparked my path into patent law. I truly enjoy helping engineers and businesses protect their innovations, while also helping non-engineers understand the technology, the patent process, and why it matters. I love sharing knowledge, whether through training sessions for students, business teams, or executives, or by connecting colleagues with the right resources when they need support. I see myself as a servant-lawyer, committed to doing whatever it takes to help clients and colleagues achieve their goals.

Overview

Rich has built a strong track record in intellectual property law, advising innovators at all stages of the patent process, with a focus on mechanical technologies. He helps clients grow and manage patent portfolios, avoid or invalidate competitor patents, leverage their IP assets, and defend against infringement claims.

Through his extensive experience obtaining utility and design patent protection, Rich has become a trusted, long-term business partner to numerous multinational producers and manufacturers, including Fortune 500 companies. Rich works closely with clients, providing tailored guidance on optimal U.S. and international patent strategies to achieve their goals. Clients value his responsiveness as well as his practical, timely advice and rely on him to manage all their patent needs.

Experience

Solutions in action

Several of Rich’s clients rely on him to work directly with their legal and business teams in planning and executing their company’s overall patent strategy. Rich regularly participates in executive patent review committee meetings, providing candid advice regarding the patentability of new inventions, the value and strategies of worldwide prosecution, and the ongoing maintenance of granted patents.

Rich's experience as a patent prosecutor allows him to bring valuable insight to the client team during patent disputes. Working hand-in-hand with the litigation team, Rich helps strategize and execute on the various Patent Office proceedings that typically accompany infringement accusations and litigation. He has been an integral part of client teams assembled to invalidate patents through interference, ex parte reexamination, and inter partes review (IPR) proceedings. 

Since 1999, Rich has been leading the firm in its mission of keeping in-house and foreign patent counsel updated on major patent law changes. From the introduction of U.S. patent application publication in 1999, to the sweeping changes instituted by the America Invents Act in 2012 and 2013, through the ongoing development of law surrounding Post Grant proceedings, and the never-ending saga of the long-proposed European unitary patent and unified patent court system, Rich has given many educational presentations to share the firm’s vast knowledge and understanding of the law with in-house and foreign counsel. 

Credentials

  • University of Wisconsin Law School, Juris Doctor (J.D.), Order of the Coif, 1999
  • Western Michigan University, Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Mechanical Engineering, 1996, summa cum laude

  • Wisconsin
  • United States Patent and Trademark Office

  • Best Lawyers®, Patent Law, 2026
  • IP Stars, Managing Intellectual Property magazine, 2015-Present
  • Leading Intellectual Property Lawyer, Chambers USA, 2013-2014
  • Selected to Intellectual Property Rising Stars, Super Lawyers®, 2006-2007
  • IAM Patent 1000 – World’s Leading Patent Practitioners, 2015-Present
  • IAM Strategy 300 – 2017-Present

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