Press Releases

Brinks Attorney Kelly Burris (left) with Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm at a gathering for the Michigan Women's Foundation (MWF).

ANN ARBOR - Brinks Attorney Kelly K. Burris recently met Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm at a gathering at the Governor's residence for the Michigan Women's Foundation (MWF), a non-partisan charity that helps women, girls and their families. The event centered on The Michigan Women's Foundation's new initiative called "The Power of 100 Women," which aims to enlist 100 women to support MWF with outreach, mentoring, volunteering and financial support.

Ms. Burris, a shareholder in the firm's Ann Arbor office, is a recipient of the 2009 Unsung Hero award from the State Bar of Michigan. A pilot since 1984, she was honored for her long-term volunteerism with Angel Flight Mid-Atlantic and Angel Flight Central, part of the Air Charity Network. Ms. Burris focuses her legal practice on the preparation and prosecution of U.S. and foreign patent applications in the mechanical, material science and electrical arts. She prepares clearance/freedom-to-practice opinions, drafts and negotiates licensing agreements and joint development agreements, and supports patent and trademark litigation, including client counseling, discovery, depositions and brief writing. Ms. Burris is also involved in due diligence with mergers and acquisitions, transactional matters, management and administration of corporate intellectual property portfolios and policies and strategic competitive intelligence.

Michigan Women's Foundation is the only major organization in Michigan exclusively committed to finding solutions to issues affecting women and girls, inspiring emerging leaders, providing leadership training and empowering women and girls to create change in their own communities. To learn more, please visit www.miwf.org.

Founded in 1917, Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione is based in Chicago with five additional offices across the country, including Ann Arbor, serving the intellectual property needs of clients from around the world. The firm is one of the largest IP law firms in the country, with more than 180 attorneys, scientific advisors and patent agents specializing in intellectual property litigation and all aspects of patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret, unfair competition, intellectual asset management, and technology and licensing agreements. Brinks routinely handles assignments in fields as diverse as electrical, chemical, mechanical, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, nanotechnology, Internet and computer technology, as well as in trademarks and brand names for a wide variety of products and services.