Mercedes K. Meyer is a partner in the Intellectual Property Practice Group of Drinker Biddle & Reath, LLP. She strategizes with her biotechnology and pharmaceutical clients on their patent portfolio development and maintenance and has an extensive biotechnology and pharmaceutical patent prosecution practice.

Dr. Meyer drafts and prosecutes U.S. utility and provisional patent applications, as well as oversees their foreign counterpart applications. She advises on biotechnology-related bioethics issues, such as tissue banking and stem cells. Dr. Meyer also obtains patent term extensions related to FDA approval and Supplemental Protection Certificates (SPCs) and their equivalents abroad.

Dr. Meyer is an active member of AIPLA; she is the past chairperson of the Women in IP Law Committee (2005-2007) and current vice chair of the Biotechnology Committee. She is also a member of her firm’s Women’s Initiative Committee.

She is admitted to practice in Texas and the District of Columbia and registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Dr. Meyer received her bachelor's degree in chemistry from Bryn Mawr College in 1988 and her Ph.D. in virology from the University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston and the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in 1994. She earned her J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center in 1996.

Matthew Bernstein is a member in the San Diego office of Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky & Popeo LLP, where his practice focuses on patent litigation and patent trial work. He has represented both plaintiffs and defendants extensively, in district courts throughout the country and in the ITC, and has litigated and counseled clients in a wide variety of technologies and industries, including computer software and hardware, electronics, medical devices, automotive systems, weapons systems, biotechnology, and others. In addition to his patent infringement work, Mr. Bernstein also represents clients in trademark, trade secret, trade dress, copyright, and government contract matters.

In addition to the State Bar of California and the San Diego County Bar Association, Mr. Bernstein is a member of the American Bar Association, the American Intellectual Property Law Association, and the Intellectual Property Owners Association.

Mr. Bernstein is admitted to practice in California. He received his undergraduate degree from Tufts University in 1995, and his J.D. from The George Washington University School of Law in 1998.

David B. Chidlaw is a partner in the San Diego office of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP, where he specializes in labor and employment matters on behalf of management, employers and high-net-worth individuals.

Mr. Chidlaw has broad experience counseling and defending employers on a wide variety of employment issues, including immigration. He has substantial experience representing employers in representative and class actions under federal and California wage and hour law, including prevailing wage matters. He has defended employers in wrongful termination and employment discrimination litigation, including sexual harassment, race, age, national origin, gender, and disability discrimination. He also represents employers in unfair competition and trade secret litigation. Mr. Chidlaw has substantial administrative litigation and counseling experience before state and federal agencies, including the NLRB, Cal/OSHA, the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (the Labor Commissioner), the California Apprenticeship Council and Division of Apprenticeship Standards, the U.S. Department of Labor, INS, the California Department of Fair Employment & Housing, the OFCCP, and the EEOC.

Mr. Chidlaw has advised both organized and merit shop employers for the length of his career. He has advised and represented employers in collective bargaining negotiations, organizing drives, decertification efforts and grievance arbitration matters. He regularly defends employers before the NLRB. He also provides guidance and training on union avoidance. Mr. Chidlaw provides daily advice to management clients on a wide variety of labor issues, including wage and hour, reductions in force, personnel policies and employee handbooks, affirmative action compliance, protection of proprietary information, and discipline and termination matters.

Mr. Chidlaw is admitted to the California State Courts, the U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Eastern, Central, and Southern Districts of California, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Mr. Chidlaw recieved his J.D. from the University of California, Davis in 1989 and his B.S. from the University of California, Davis in 1980.

Anthony K. Greene is a director at Herbert L. Jamison & Company, LLC, with 30 years of experience in the insurance industry. He is a graduate of New York Military Academy and holds a bachelor’s of business administration from the St. Johns University School of Risk Management & Actuarial Science. Mr. Greene maintains the following professional designations: “Certified Risk Manager” and “Certified Insurance Counselor.” He is a regular speaker on risk management issues at professional associations around the country and individual professional service firms.

Mr. Greene sits on the board of directors of the Insurance Brokers Association of New York, Minority Corporate Counsel Association, and the advisory board of the National Insurance Industry Association. He is a member of the Professional Liability Underwriting Society and American Bar Association National Legal Malpractice Data Center. He served as president and trustee of the American Intellectual Property Education Law Foundation and had the honor of sitting on the steering committee of Lawyers for One America. Mr. Greene also served as chairman of the Education Committee for the Association of Professionals in Risk Related Disciplines and on the South Orange/Maplewood Board of Education in New Jersey.

Richard W. Kopenhefer is a partner in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery, based in the firm’s Los Angeles office. As a member of the firm’s Labor and Employment Group, he represents management in all aspects of labor and employment law, including employment discrimination, sexual harassment, wrongful termination, wage and hour, unfair competition, collective bargaining, grievance and arbitration, workers’ compensation, workplace safety and OSHA.

Mr. Kopenhefer practices in state and federal court, before labor arbitrators and mediators, and in the myriad administrative agencies involved in labor law. He frequently lectures on disability rights law and sexual harassment. He has a practice specialty in entertainment industry labor law matters, including residuals, credits disputes, union organizing, labor arbitration, civil litigation, collective bargaining, and practice before the National Labor Relations Board. From 1978 to 1984, Mr. Kopenhefer was employed as a field attorney for the NLRB in both its Cincinnati and Los Angeles regional offices.

Mr. Kopenhefer is admitted to practice in California and Ohio, before the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, and before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. He is a member of the California and Ohio Bar Associations.

Mr. Kopenhefer received his J.D. from the University of Cincinnati College of Law in 1978 and his B.A. from Duke University in 1975.

John Nadolenco is a partner at Mayer Brown LLP. He is an experienced civil litigator who has appeared before many federal and state courts, as well as before numerous arbitrators. His practice is focused on class-action defense, including defending securities and derivative cases, consumer class actions, and employment class actions.

Mr. Nadolenco also has represented clients in antitrust, environmental, real estate and general commercial and business cases litigation (e.g., breach of contract, fraud, unfair competition). He has represented clients in a wide variety of industries, including retailers, biotechnology companies, telecommunications companies, financial institutions, automobile companies, railroads, and entertainment companies. Within Mayer Brown’s litigation practice, Mr. Nadolenco serves as firmwide co-group leader of the consumer class action group.

Mr. Nadolenco is admitted to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the California Bar and the U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Central Districts of California.

Mr. Nadolenco recieived his J.D. from American University, Washington College of Law in 1995 and his B.A. from the University of Arizona in 1992.