Partner Monica Grewal will serve as an interim director of the newly formed Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) Bar Association, which launched on September 16.

The creation of the PTAB Bar Association involved collaboration among more than 45 law firms, including WilmerHale, over the past several months. The association's mission is to promote the highest professional and ethical standards among lawyers and stakeholders who appear before the PTAB, to help establish best practices for the practice and skills required before the PTAB, and to foster communication among its various stakeholders. 

“The growing community of PTAB lawyers will benefit from an organization that can help stay abreast of rulemaking and share lessons learned,” says Grewal, a member of WilmerHale's Post-Grant Patent Proceedings Practice. “I look forward to continuing and expanding the collaboration that has made the founding of this association possible.”

Since the America Invents Act established broader responsibilities for the PTAB in 2012, the board has become an increasingly common venue for resolving patent validity challenges. WilmerHale emerged as an industry leader in post-grant patent proceedings early on, becoming one of the first firms to file 100 inter partes review petitions before the PTAB in 2014. The firm has gone on to prevail in all of its cases that have come to a final decision before the board. 

In addition to providing a forum for communications between the PTAB and practitioners, the PTAB Bar Association will coordinate continuing legal education, pro bono opportunities, career enhancement and scholarship activities. The association's inaugural conference will take place March 1–2, 2017 in Washington DC.

Learn more about the launch of the PTAB Bar Association.