Ethics for IP Practitioners: Balancing Civility and Zealous Advocacy

Ben Mahon is a Partner at McAndrews, where he focuses his practice on patent litigation, concentrating on the biological, chemical, and pharmaceutical arts. Ben has extensive experience in district court litigation, inter partes review proceedings before the USPTO, and appeals before the Federal Circuit and the United States Supreme Court. He has experience in all facets of litigation, including discovery, depositions, direct and cross-examination, oral argument, and legal writing. Ben has first-chair litigation experience, delivering several closing arguments, PTAB oral arguments, and arguing appeals in both the Federal Circuit and the Illinois First District Court of Appeals.

Tammy Pennington Rhodes currently serves as Principal at Supercharger.  She is a registered patent attorney with over 20 years of experience in patent litigation, drafting, and prosecution. She holds a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering and began her legal career at a general civil litigation firm in Atlanta, Georgia. Subsequently, she joined Baker Botts in Houston, where she litigated patents in areas such as telecommunications, high technology, personal consumer products, as well as sectors including oil and gas. Ms. Rhodes is an active member of the intellectual property community, having served as President of HIPLA and participated in various committees within IPO, AIPLA, and ABA. Currently, she serves as Revenue Officer for the ABA IPL Section and was recently appointed to the Board of Directors for TXIPA.

Hunter Yancey Jr.  practices intellectual property law focused on patent law while leveraging over two decades of experience. His current Qualcomm role is lead patent counsel for wireless connectivity and compute technologies. This dynamic role includes patent preparation and prosecution; legal support for advocacy, litigation, and licensing activities; providing counsel to business and technical leads on various patent matters; and partnering with IP team colleagues to develop and hone protection strategies for Qualcomm’s intellectual property. Prior to Qualcomm, his firm experience included an array of intellectual property matters at Troutman Sanders in Atlanta. Hunter holds a EE bachelor’s degree from Georgia Tech and a JD from UNH’s Franklin Pierce School of Law.