Biography

Having served technology companies from start-up to Fortune 50 for more than 40 years, Steve provides critical tactical, strategic and negotiation advantages in complex matters with major counter-parties through his full-spectrum competence that provides asymmetrically favorable “burn rates.”

Steve practiced at Gaston Snow of Boston and Donovan Leisure Newton & Irvine ofNew York, then the second and seventh largest firms in the country, and was a partner for 30 years at Boston general practice firms Nutter, McClennen & Fish and Burns & Levinson, and boutique patent firm Cesari and McKenna.

Steve is a trouble-shooter for technology companies across financial, governance and intellectual property issues. Representative successes include:

• Simultaneous defense in federal district court and the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) against cellular telephone patent infringement claims, including power amplifier design-around and patenting thereof.
• Development and assertion of patent portfolio for surgical instruments.
• Defense against and work-out of creditor claims and venture refinancing of distressed fabless semiconductor design company.
• Inter partes review (IPR) of hemostasis assay patents.

Steve is a leader in the development of intellectual property, information privacy and electronic commerce law.

Education

• Columbia University School of Law, JD Stone Scholar 1979
• Harvard Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, SM, Applied Physics, 1975
• Harvard College, AB cum laude, Physics &Philosophy, 1974

Technical Expertise

• Analog electronic circuitry
• Biological materials and assays
• Chemical processes
• Computer and network architecture
• Computer software
• Medical devices
• Process automation
• Semiconductor fabrication
• Sensor and servo systems
• Wireless communication

Legal Experience

• Business litigation (trials and appeals)
• Administrative (USITC, U.S. Patent & Trademark OfficeIPRs)
• Antitrust and unfair competition
• Business acquisition and control
• E-commerce (contracts, privacy, security)
• International trade
• Patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets
• Alternative resolution (arbitration, mediation)
• Development of intellectual property assets and business processes
• Patent preparation, prosecution and appeal
• Portfolio strategy and licensing (including standards)
• Freedom to operate and infringement investigations
• Enterprise governance and employee relations
• Contracts with investors, lenders, vendors and customers

Practice Admissions

• Massachusetts (1983)
• New York (1980)
• U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (Reg. No.31,338)
• U.S. Courts of Appeal for First, Second and Federal Circuits
• U.S. Supreme Court (1983)

Recognition

• Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US)
• Massachusetts-appointed member of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws since 1994
• Elected member of the American Law Institute (1997)
• Lecturer, Boston University School of Law
• Adjunct professor, Suffolk University School of Law
• Martindale-Hubbell AV-rated since 1994
• Thompson-Reuters Super Lawyer 2004-06, 2013-present
• America’s Best Lawyers, Patents, 2017-present