Celebrating 40 Years with Judge Pauline Newman

On Wednesday, February 28, 2024, Judge Pauline Newman celebrated the 40th anniversary of the day she assumed office on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC). Gene and I were initially invited to join several of her current and former clerks for a surprise lunch with the judge to celebrate.

However, after several phone calls and text messages, the plan evolved and, in less than a week’s time, a surprise celebration was planned. Expecting to meet two people in her chambers for lunch, Judge Newman was instead met with a sea of applause when she walked into the room. She was overjoyed to see so many of her friends and colleagues together in one place and pleasantly surprised that we were there to celebrate her.

She remarked: “I cannot believe you were able to keep this a secret!”  And we all had a great time celebrating this amazing milestone with and for someone we all cherish, respect and admire. She is an inspiration to so many people, both young and old. To call Judge Newman a trailblazer, or pioneer, while true, seems insufficient to capture what she has accomplished, and what she has meant to so many within the IP community for so long.

And now, with Judge Newman’s blessing, we’d like to share some photos from the celebration.  *Photos for this article were provided by Charles Rones and Renée C. Quinn.

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At one point during the celebration, Judge Randall Rader broke out his guitar and, along with his colleague, Jon Combs, played several songs from the 1960s for Judge Newman.

After playing a handful of songs together, Judge Rader then played a song that he had just written specifically for Judge Newman earlier that week.

Following the musical ensemble, we celebrated with cake. And at the request of several of her former clerks, the judge had fun pretending to smash the cake with her gavel.

     
We also put together a last minute group gift for the judge. We asked everyone on the invite list if they would be interested in submitting a letter to the judge that we then compiled into a personalized binder for her to have and cherish for years to come.

     
In only two days’ time, we were able to collect 30+ letters, all of which were printed on card stock with the sender’s image.  Judge Newman was overcome with joy and emotion as she opened her gift and realized what it was!

Would you like to submit a letter to Judge Newman?

We’d like to give all of the readers of IPWatchdog.com the opportunity to submit their own personal letters to be added to Judge Newman’s binder. If you would like to submit a letter to the judge please email your letter to me with the subject, “Letter to Judge Newman” along with your photo, which I will add to your letter to personalize them even further. Any letters received will be printed and hand delivered to Judge Newman for placement in her personalized binder.