We are excited to announce that Stephen (Steve) Becker has joined NovoTech Patent Firm as of January 1, 2018!
Law360, New York (January 24, 2018, 6:06 PM EST) —
Washington, D.C.-based NovoTech Patent Firm has snagged former McDermott Will & Emery partner Stephen Becker as a director to help build the two-year-old intellectual property firm and to advise on patent matters.
Becker started at the firm Jan. 1 and counsels companies on patent prosecution with a particular focus in analog and digital circuits, telecommunications, automotive technologies, business methods and computer-related inventions. A veteran of more than 40 years in patent law, Becker told Law360 that he postponed retirement to take the position at the request of his former mentee at McDermott, the firm’s co-director Babak Akhlaghi.
“That idea excited me, even though it was insane because I should be retiring,” he said. “His business model is the model of the future for patent prosecution. It’s cloud-based, populated with bright young people and it has diversity. I’m looking forward to working side by side with Babak and (taking) his firm into the next level.”
Becker came to patent law from a background in engineering. He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering, and for four years, he was a circuit designer for the Whirlpool Corp., designing appliances such as dishwashers and controls for ovens. But he decided that he wanted to work for himself and went into patent law, becoming a partner in his own firm, Lowe Price LeBlanc and Becker, shortly after passing the bar, he said.
That firm was later absorbed by McDermott, where he went on to work for another 19 years. Spending his entire career as a lawyer at essentially one firm, Becker said that the secret of his success is “staying the course.”
He said that he finally departed McDermott over client-conflict issues, leaving behind a well-developed intellectual property practice and client base that has now been taken over by his former mentees. Becker said that mentoring young attorneys has been the “principal contribution” of his career, adding that the “best practitioners have worked under a coach.”
“I think they need to work under the tutelage of an experienced practitioner in order to draft claims that are meaningful and that produce real value for their client,” he says of young intellectual property attorneys. “They need to learn the business of their client and understand what their client’s needs are, which may be enforcing a patent or displaying intellectual wealth to the world.”
With McDermott’s blessing, Becker is, in a way, starting anew at NovoTech Patent Firm, he said.
Becker said that his experience in building a small firm and pioneering McDermott’s patent practices in Korea, Japan and Taiwan will serve NovotechIP well. He looks forward to building relationships with clients, some of whom — including Microsoft — he referred to NovotechIP, he said. Akhlaghi is also interested in marketing the firm’s services in Middle Eastern countries, bringing in clients from Iran, he said.
“It’s a wonderfully exciting new realm,” he said. “It’s the next chapter.”
Becker earned his law degree from George Washington University Law School.