Alston & Bird Elects 4 New Intellectual Property Partners

Alston & Bird has announced the election of 20 lawyers to its partnership, effective January 1, four of which, are within the intellectual property discipline.

“Our new partners have demonstrated their leadership in serving our clients and our firm with distinction,” said Alston & Bird Managing Partner Richard Hays. “This is an extraordinary group of attorneys, representing the very best of Alston & Bird and the kind of leaders our clients and our teams want to work with.”

The firm’s new intellectual property partners are:

Shri Abhyankar (Atlanta) has been named a partner in Alston & Bird’s Intellectual Property Litigation Group. Shri focuses his practice on intellectual property litigation and counseling, with an emphasis on patent litigation and enforcement. He represents clients in patent infringement lawsuits in federal district courts across the United States as well as before the International Trade Commission. Shri has been named to the 2016 Georgia Super Lawyers Rising Star list.

Xavier M. Brandwajn (Silicon Valley) is a seasoned litigator on Alston & Bird’s Intellectual Property Litigation Group.  He specializes in representing in high-stakes patent and other intellectual property disputes in federal and state courts, the International Trade Commission and arbitration. He has extensive experience representing technology companies of all sizes in patent, trade secret, copyright, trademark and complex commercial disputes from inception through trial. Xavier has experience litigating cases involving a wide array of technologies, including data communications and network storage solutions, KM switching systems, integrated circuits, nonvolatile memory devices, pedestrian crosswalk systems, radio frequency identification, mobile aggregate material processing plants and arcade game consoles. He also has experience counseling clients in licensing transactions, patent assertion strategies and other IP-related issues.

Christopher TL Douglas (Charlotte) has been named a partner in Alston & Bird’s Intellectual Property Patent Prosecution Group. He focuses on representing both petitioners and patent owners before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in pre- and post-grant proceedings covering a broad range of complex technologies, including bar code scanning, energy management, marine electronics, data encryption, and global positioning systems.

Matthew W. Howell (Atlanta) has been named a partner inAlston & Bird’s  Intellectual Property Litigation Group. He represents clients before U.S. federal and state courts, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and International Trade Commission, focusing on patent litigation in the chemical, biological, and pharmaceutical arts.  Matthew has litigated patents in a wide variety of technologies, including e-commerce and software applications, computer telephony integration, cable modems and set-top boxes, footwear, logistics systems, video games, check processing systems and paper towel dispensers.

About Alston & Bird

Alston & Bird LLP has grown to become a leading national and international firm while remaining steeped in a culture with client service and teamwork as the cornerstones of all that we do. We develop, assemble and nurture the strongest and broadest array of legal talent and expertise necessary to meet our clients’ needs in an ever-changing and fast-paced environment.