Press Releases

CHICAGO - Roy E. Hofer and Jerome Gilson of Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione have been recognized as 2012 Lawyers of the Year in the 18th edition of The Best Lawyers in America. Mr. Hofer has been named Chicago Patent Law Lawyer of the Year and Mr. Gilson has been named Chicago Trademark Law Lawyer of the Year. 



Roy Hofer has more than 50 years of experience in litigating patent, trade secret, trade dress and related antitrust and contract matters. Still active in district court cases, Mr. Hofer now devotes most of his time to consulting on federal appeal cases, serving as a mediator, arbitrator or special master, and rendering opinions on patent validity, infringement and litigation issues. He is also a member of the Judicial Performance Commission of Cook County, a 17-member group formed in 2010 to evaluate and provide performance improvement plans to judges facing re-election in Cook County.

This latest recognition marks Mr. Hofer’s second consecutive year being recognized by Best Lawyers in America, also having been named Intellectual Property Lawyer of the Year - Chicago in 2011. In 2010, Mr. Hofer was listed in Managing Intellectual Property’s Guide to the World’s Leading Patent Law Practitioners; in 2008 he was named a Top 100 Illinois Super Lawyer; and in 2006, he was identified as one of the top 25 patent experts in the United States in the inaugural edition of Best of the Best U.S. 2006. Mr. Hofer is an author, lecturer and presenter on trial techniques, intellectual property law, and matters of general interest to the legal profession in journals and at meetings of the ABA, AIPLA, Practicing Law Institute (PLI), Illinois Institute of Technology, DePaul University School of Law and John Marshall School of Law. He is a former president of the Chicago Bar Association, the Federal Circuit Bar Association and the Center for Conflict Resolution.

Jerome Gilson, widely recognized as the original author of Gilson on Trademarks, a leading treatise in the trademark field, has practiced trademark and unfair competition law for more than 45 years. Admitted to practice before eight federal courts of appeals and the Supreme Court of the United States, Mr. Gilson has led numerous trials and appeals before the federal courts and the United States Patent and Trademark Office Trial and Appeal Board, as well as helped some of the largest trademark owners in the world protect their brands.

Among many other awards and honors, Mr. Gilson received the 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award from World Trademark Review (WTR) and in 2008 received Managing Intellectual Property’s first Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2007, he was inducted into Intellectual Asset Management magazine’s IP Hall of Fame. In 1998, Managing Intellectual Property also named Mr. Gilson the top trademark practitioner in the world, based on an international survey of attorneys. He was among the top five U.S. trademark practitioners listed in Euromoney PLC’s Expert Guides: The Best of the Best, receiving the most votes worldwide in 2003. Mr. Gilson, with his daughter Anne Gilson LaLonde, has received Burton Awards for Legal Achievement in 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2011.

Best Lawyers is the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession, compiling its lists of outstanding attorneys by conducting peer-review surveys in which thousands of leading lawyers confidentially evaluate their professional colleagues. The current, 18th edition of The Best Lawyers in America (2012) is based on more than 3.9 million detailed evaluations of lawyers by other lawyers. The lawyers being honored as Lawyers of the Year have received particularly high ratings in the Best Lawyers surveys by earning a high level of respect among their peers for their abilities, professionalism, and integrity. Lawyers of the Year are designated in high-profile legal specialties in large legal communities, and only a single lawyer in each specialty in each community is so honored.

Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione is one of the largest intellectual property law firms in the United States and serves the intellectual property needs of clients around the world. Brinks has 150 attorneys, scientific advisors and patent agents who specialize in intellectual property litigation and all aspects of patent, trademark and copyright law. The firm also advises on issues relating to intellectual asset management, trade secret, unfair competition, and technology and licensing agreements. Brinks routinely handles assignments for companies in the electrical, chemical, and mechanical engineering sectors; the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and nanotechnology industries; and for companies whose work relates to Internet and computer technology law. The firm’s trademark practice works on behalf of clients who deal in a wide variety of products and services. Brinks is based in Chicago and has offices in Ann Arbor, Mich., Indianapolis, Ind., Research Triangle Park, N.C., Salt Lake City, Utah, and Washington, DC. More information is available at www.usebrinks.com.