LAIPLA Officers & Board of Directors 2018-2019
Our Board of Directors manages the affairs and directs the conduct of the business of the Association, subject to the By-Laws and the Articles of incorporation. Meet our team!
Laura Burson, President
Laura Burson is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Sheppard Mullin where she specializes in intellectual property litigation with an emphasis on patent law. She is a registered patent attorney, admitted to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Ms. Burson has experience in all phases of litigation, including trials, arbitrations, and appeals involving intellectual property and technology-related matters. She is also active in pro bono matters and has served as a volunteer prosecutor in criminal jury trials. Her clients come from a broad range of technology areas, including medical devices, chemicals and chemical processes, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, computers, and other technologies.
Ms. Burson received her B.A. in Chemistry in 1991 from Hendrix College and her M.S. in Biological Chemistry in 1994 from the University of California, Irvine. She earned her J.D. in 1999 from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, where she was Managing Editor of the Loyola Law Review and National Champion of the Giles S. Rich Moot Court Competition.
Ms. Burson is LAIPLA’s Board Liaison for the Young Lawyers and Women In IP committees.
Favorite LAIPLA Event: Spring Seminar.
Favorite LAIPLA Memory: Spring Seminar, Las Vegas, 2007.
Sarah S. Brooks, Vice President
Sarah Sheldon Brooks is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Venable LLP. Ms. Brooks is a registered patent attorney and specializes in intellectual property disputes, including patent, trademark, trade secret, and copyright litigation. Ms. Brooks has experience in all aspects of litigation including trial. In 2013, Ms. Brooks served as lead trial counsel in a patent infringement action and secured a jury verdict of willful infringement against the defendant/competitor.
Ms. Brooks is a board liaison to the monthly meetings committee, courthouse lunch and Judge’s Night committee.
Ms. Brooks received a B.S. in Biology from Tufts University and her J.D. from Tulane University where she graduated magna cum laude and order of the coif was the executive editor of the Tulane Law Review.
Favorite LAIPLA event: Spring Seminar.
Favorite LAIPLA memory: Winning the murder mystery dinner at the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa Spring Seminar.
Theodore W. Chandler, Treasurer
Ted Chandler is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Sidley Austin. For over a decade his practice has focused on patent litigation. Ted has experience in patent cases involving software, hardware, and medical devices. Ted is also registered to practice before the Patent Office where he has participated in numerous reexaminations and inter partes reviews in parallel to litigation.
Ted received his B.S.E. in Computer Science from Princeton University in 1997, and his J.D. from the Harvard Law School in 2000.
Ted has served as LAIPLA’s Board Liaison for the Judges’ Night committee, which he chaired in 2014; the LAIPLA Goes to Court lunch; and the Ambassador committee.
Favorite LAIPLA event: Judges’ Night, because it brings the profession together for an evening of education and collegiality.
Favorite LAIPLA memory: Spring Seminar every year, because it is always at such a beautiful location.
Ashe Puri, Director, Secretary
Ashe Puri is a partner at Fox Rothschild LLP. Ashe is a patent litigator whose practice focuses primarily on litigating technology and medical device patents. In addition to being a registered patent attorney, Ashe also regularly counsels clients on licensing transactions and IP portfolio management. Prior to joining Fox Rothschild, Ashe practiced in New York City and Palo Alto.
Ashe holds a number of leadership positions in the Los Angeles community. In addition to being a two-term board member of the LAIPLA, Ashe is currently the President-Elect of the South Asian Bar Association of Southern California and sits on the Board of Directors of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Los Angeles County and the Public Interest Foundation of the South Asian Bar Association. Ashe currently serves as the Board Liaison to the LAIPLA’s Washington in the West Committee and the LAIPLA In-House Outreach Committee and previously chaired the Young Lawyers Committee.
Favorite LAIPLA Event: Washington in the West which Ashe has chaired and served as the Board liaison from 2015-present. The event is a great way to get to speak with members of the Patent Office.
Favorite LAIPLA Memory: Directors Dr. Christal Sheppard and John Cabeca’s presentations at the 2016 and 2017 Washington in the West. Both provided a lot of insight into developments at the Patent Office.
David Randall, 2nd Term, 2nd Year
David A. Randall is a shareholder with Brooks Kushman. Based in the firm’s Los Angeles office, he routinely represents clients in complex IP litigation matters, including patent, trademark and trade secret litigation, throughout the United States, as well as in multijurisdictional matters. David’s practice also includes post-grant proceedings with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. He has advised clients on over twenty inter partes review and ten patent interference proceedings. As a registered patent attorney, David is authorized to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and routinely counsels clients in the development and management of worldwide intellectual property portfolios. He has prosecuted hundreds of patents not only in the United States, but throughout Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America. Patents he has prosecuted have been successfully licensed or asserted multiple times.
David’s experience covers a broad range of technologies, including technologies in the 3D printing, aerospace, automotive, biofuels, chemical, consumer products, electronics, fashion, Internet, laser, medical device, material science, optics, and software and data storage industries.
David graduated cum laude with his Juris Doctor from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, and he graduated with honors from the University of Arizona with a Bachelor of Science in Metallurgical Engineering. Before receiving his J.D., he worked as an engineer for both Motorola and Hughes Missile Systems Co.
David has been consistently recognized by Best Lawyers in America as one of the top intellectual property litigators in America. He is also active in the IP community; he is currently on the Board of the LAIPLA and co-chaired the 2014 and 2018 LAIPLA Spring Seminar Planning Committees, he has been an active member of the Intellectual Property Owners Association’s U.S. Post-Grant Patent Office Practice Committee since 2013, and he is a member of the Planning Committee for the USC IP Institute.
Mark Treitel, Past President
Mark A. Treitel is an intellectual property attorney in the Los Angeles offices of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart and Sullivan, LLP since 2005. He worked on global litigation matters of Qualcomm v. Apple and Samsung v. Apple. Other notable clients include Nokia, Pfizer, IBM, DirecTV, FHFA, PG&E and Parmalat S.p.A. Mark has handled all aspects of jury trials and have extensive experience working in-house for both technology companies and health services industries. A graduate from Yeshiva University’s Cardozo School of Law, he also holds a Bachelor in Science degree in Biology from Tufts University. He has moderated panels and was recognized as an IP Hero in 2014.
As Board Member, Mark instituted many of the programing changes that have made LAIPLA one of the nation’s IP powerhouse organizations. From website redesign, instituting a social media presence, creation of the LAIPLA Ambassador Outreach Program, LAIPLA Small Firm Outreach Committee. He is most proud of Founding and chairing/co-chairing the annual LAIPLA and Loyola Law School groundbreaking TechTainment: Technology + Entertainment + Law, now in its fifth year. Mark oversaw a tremendous growth in Membership and increase in programming, doubling the programs prior to joining the board. As a Past President, he continues to stay involved with the organization as it continues to grow.
He and his wife Mindy, have three children, Dana, Jonah and Zachary, all under the age of thirteen. Mark also serves as a board member of his synagogue, B’nai David Judea.
Favorite LAIPLA event: Spring Seminar. Literally is the crown jewel of our organization. I decided to get more involved in LAIPLA after my first Spring Seminar and work my way up to being a Board Member after I co-chaired Spring Seminar.
Favorite LAIPLA memory: Holiday Party at a magical location. Having a social event with colleagues and knowing we are part of a greater community. And literally matchmaking two LAIPLA members.
Erol Basol, Director, 2nd Term, 2nd Year
Erol Basol is an associate in the Los Angeles office of Morrison & Foerster, and focuses his practice on all aspects of patent prosecution and counseling. Erol has experience in many patent-focused areas, including: drafting and prosecuting patent applications in the electrical, mechanical, and software arts; USPTO post-grant proceedings including inter partes review and reexaminations; patent portfolio management and strategy; and IP strategy evaluation, formulation, and fortification.
Erol earned his J.D. at the University of California Los Angeles School of Law, his M.S. in electrical engineering from the University of California at Santa Barbara, where his research focused on semiconductor device design and fabrication, and his B.A. in computer science from the University of California at Berkeley.
Favorite LAIPLA event: Spring Seminar, as it allows practitioners and other professionals to really get to know each other on a personal and professional level.
Favorite LAIPLA memory: Judge’s Night 2017 when it was revealed publicly that Erol’s worst grade in law school was in his patent law class.
Graham Cole, Director, 1st Term, 1st Year
Graham Cole is an associate in the Litigation Department of Munger Tolles & Olson LLP. Graham’s practice focuses on life sciences patent litigation, as well as counseling in the fields of biopharmaceuticals, biotechnology and medical devices. He has experience with patent disputes in front of the United States Patent and Trademark Office and district courts around the country regarding a broad range of technology areas including monoclonal antibodies, small molecule drugs, and implantable materials.
Graham obtained his Ph.D. in biomedical physics from U.C.L.A., where his research focused on developing novel small molecule tracers imaging estrogen sulfotransferase expression and function in patients, using positron emission tomography (“PET”). He obtained his J.D. from New York University School of Law.
Graham has also served as co-chair of the in-house outreach committee at LAIPLA for the last two years.
Favorite LAIPLA Event: The ping pong tournament, and the annual Judge’s Dinner.
Chris Jackson, 2nd Term, 2nd Year
Chris Jackson is senior intellectual property counsel at Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Previously, Chris worked for an international law firm, where he gained experience across a number of intellectual property matters.
Chris earned his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Utah. After working briefly as an engineer, Chris earned his J.D. and Certificate in Intellectual Property Law from the John Marshall Law School in Chicago.
Chris is the LAIPLA’s Board Liaison for the Diversity Fellowship and In-house Outreach Committees.
Favorite LAIPLA Event: Diversity Fellowship award.
Favorite LAIPLA Memory: The most recent holiday party where the organization added an IP twist to improv at Groundlings.
Helen Omapas, 1st Term, 1st Year
Helen Omapas is Director, Senior Counsel – IP at Harman International Industries, Incorporated. She manages the global trademark and design patent portfolios as well as brand enforcement.
Helen received her BA from UC Irvine and her law degree from New York Law School.
Helen is a co-chair of the Women in IP committee.
Favorite LAIPLA Event: Spring Seminar
Alex Giza, 1st Term, 1st Year
Alex Giza is a co-founder and partner of Hueston Hennigan LLP. His practice spans two decades and encompasses high technology and intellectual property matters, including patent, trademark, trade secret and business litigation, patent advice/due diligence/licensing, and appellate matters. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of Virginia and worked as an electrical engineer for Westinghouse, IAI America, and Eaton, involving electronics, test software, and robotics. Alex is registered to practice in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
Alex graduated from the UCLA School of Law, where he was a Teaching Fellow. He served as an extern for the Honorable Arthur L. Alarcón, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and for the Honorable William J. Rea, U.S. District Court, Central District of California. Following his graduation, Alex served as law clerk to Justice Walter L. Carpeneti of the Alaska Supreme Court.
As an LAIPLA member, Alex has served as Spring Seminar 2017 Co-chair and Washington in the West 2016 Co-chair.
Favorite LAIPLA Event: LAIPLA Goes To Court: Effective Oral Advocacy in IP Cases – I like this event for its accessibility and content. Lunch with prominent local patent judges and low cost made this the no-brainer for bringing a squad of my associates along.
Favorite LAIPLA Memory: Spring Seminar 2017 – Jane Wald’s and Helen Omapas’ Trademark Year-in-Review – Poetry Slam/Rap Battle Edition will be a hard one to beat!