I have two years of experience with intellectual property law and commercial law in the United States and abroad. I offer knowledge of technology transfer, strategic patent licensing and patent claims & validity analyses. My professional goals are to (i) help clients extract value from their IP assets and (ii) enhance my skill set to include international trade law and mergers & acquisitions. I presently work for American Express in New York City as Manager of Intellectual Property Strategy, focused on extracting value from the company's intellectual property and technology.
I am a graduate of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York City, and I hold a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering. I am a member of the Asian Affairs Committee at the New York City Bar Association.
At Cardozo, I declared a concentration in intellectual property law. I prepared my J.D. thesis on the topic of patents and access to medicines, entitled Seeing Human Rights in 3(d): Modeling India's Controversial Patent Law to Improve Access to Medicines in Vietnam. I also participated in the Intensive Trial Advocacy Program (ITAP), a two week immersion course focused on direct and cross examinations, interviewing and preparing witnesses, selecting juries, dealing with evidentiary issues, and preparing for and presenting bench and jury trials. Additionally, I took advantage of two of the school's study abroad seminars: Introduction to Law in India, focused on intellectual property and constitutional democracy, and Comparative Corporate Governance at Oxford University. In 2008, I helped lead a voter protection effort involving over 50 law students. Outside of school, I was a student member of the International Trade Committee at the New York City Bar Association.
In the summer of 2009, I worked as a summer associate at Pham & Associates in Hanoi, one of Vietnam's largest law firms with a well established reputation for intellectual property. This opportunity was made possible by the Center for International Legal Studies and Cardozo's Summer 2009 International Corporate & Intellectual Property Fellowship. Aside from my work experience in Asia, I was a legal intern in the Intellectual Property Strategy Group at American Express through the second and third years of law school, ultimately being hired full-time after graduation.
Prior to law school, I studied engineering at Drexel University. For my senior design project at Drexel, I worked with a team of colleagues to design a hypothetical soy-based biodiesel plant. While an undergraduate, I served the student-led National Society of Black Engineers. At the height of this involvement, I was elected as NSBE's National Treasurer. I was responsible for a $8 million budget, staffing matters, business negotiations, working with legal counsel, and issues of policy. The Greater Philadelphia Region Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation
(AMP) and Sunoco recognized me in 2006 with the inaugural Pathfinder Award for Undergraduate Leadership in Engineering. While at Drexel, I pledged Kappa Alpha Psi, a traditionally African-American Fraternity.