Overview
Chris Burrell is a skilled litigator and trusted adviser who partners with clients to find solutions for their most challenging matters. As former in-house counsel and head of appeals for a major technology company, Chris understands that providing effective counsel requires more than just knowing the law and the levers available to create leverage and win. It also requires a clear understanding of the client’s business and culture in order to craft a strategy that furthers the client’s needs and objectives. Chris listens and understands and then delivers solutions that work.
For more than 15 years, Chris has formulated and executed custom strategies and solutions for effectively and efficiently navigating all levels of IP and business disputes — from pre-suit and negotiation stages to any necessary U.S. litigation, foreign litigation, appeals (including to the Supreme Court) and arbitration. Chris has managed or served as counsel in over 50 appeals to the Federal Circuit, over 50 district court litigations across more than 20 venues, and more than 75 post-grant proceedings at the PTO, including IPRs and ex parte reexams.
Chris also has extensive experience in licensing, technology transactions, patent prosecution strategies and creating effective IP and legal organizations. He is a subject matter authority in patent law, trade secrets, FRAND/SSOs, antitrust law and contracts, and has worked on patent suits involving a wide array of technologies, including cellular/wireless, semiconductors, software, medical devices, pharmaceuticals and chemicals.
Chris prides himself on providing efficient, no-nonsense legal solutions that truly serve the client’s needs. He has worked on the full range of IP and IP-related matters — from small matters requiring maximum efficiency to cases with multi-billion dollar exposures requiring the most creative solutions and novel approaches — and he knows how to tailor an effective, winning approach for each situation.
Before entering private practice, Chris served as a law clerk to the Honorable Haldane Robert Mayer in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He earned bachelor’s degrees in Chemistry and French Studies from the University of Minnesota and his juris doctor from Yale Law School.
Credentials
Bar Admissions
District of Columbia
Minnesota
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Court Admissions
U.S. Supreme Court
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
Clerkships
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Hon. Haldane Robert Mayer, 2005-2007
Education
Yale Law School
J.D. Yale Journal of International Law - Managing Editor (2005)
University of Minnesota
B.A. in French Studies (2002)
University of Minnesota
B.S. in Chemistry, summa cum laude (2001)
Insights & Events
Latest
Insights
News
Other Perspectives
- Patent Enforcement: Global Strategies, Federal Circuit Bar Association, Global Series (2020)
- PTAB: All Things Considered, Federal Circuit Bench & Bar Conference, FCBA, Colorado (2019)
- Global IP Litigation Strategies: What to Do When Defending Globally, Association of Corporate Counsel Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2017)
- Design Patent Damages, Design Law 2016, George Washington University Law School (2016)
- Samsung v Apple, Supreme Court Series, American University, Washington College of Law (2016)