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Contact: Barbara Fornasiero, EAFocus, Inc.  248.260.8466   barbara@eafocus.com

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Dec. 6, 2016 — James Cleland, a shareholder in the Ann Arbor office of Brinks Gilson & Lione, one of the largest intellectual property law firms in the U.S., has been named a 2017 Top Lawyer by the Detroit business publication, DBusiness Magazine.  The Top Lawyer list appears in the publication’s Nov./Dec. 2016 issue.

For the 2017 Top Lawyer peer review survey, DBusiness polled 19,000 attorneys in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Washtenaw and Livingston counties. Each attorney was asked to nominate lawyers among 48 legal specialties. Cleland was noted in the category of trade secrets.

Cleland closely followed the progress of the Defend Trade Secrets Act, which became law in April 2016. At that time, he looked at the impact of the act on Michigan businesses. At Brinks, his practice focuses on patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret and unfair competition litigation in a broad range of technologies including the chemical, automotive, materials science, mechanical, electrical and medical device arts, as well as in client counseling, opinion and licensing work in those same areas.

Cleland’s litigation experience includes trials, preliminary injunction hearings, Markman hearings, summary judgment proceedings and all aspects of fact and expert witness discovery, spanning federal courts across the country. He also focuses on post-grant review proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, a forum that is quickly becoming the busiest patent court in the country. He is a member of the Legal Task Force of the Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA).

Cleland holds a J.D., cum laude, from the Indiana University Maurer School of Law and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering, cum laude, from the University of Michigan.

Brinks Gilson & Lione

The attorneys, scientific advisors and patent agents at Brinks Gilson & Lione focus their practice in the field of intellectual property. Brinks is one of the largest intellectual property law firms in the U.S. Clients around the world use Brinks to help them protect and enforce their intellectual property rights. Brinks lawyers provide counseling in all aspects of patent, trademark, unfair competition, trade secret and copyright law. More information is at www.brinksgilson.com.

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