Paths to Intellectual Property & Law Careers

Tuesday, April 11, 2023, 1:00 – 2:00 PM CST

Have you considered leveraging your STEM training toward a legal career? Patent and intellectual property law are invoked to protect new research products, secure intellectual property rights, establish copyright ownership, and counsel inventors on how to navigate the complex processes involved in commercialization. UChicago alumni with diverse paths into IP law will share their perspectives and advice for pursuing careers in intellectual property law. Join our panelists to learn about how they practice their knowledge and research skills in intellectual property law, what the daytoday of this profession entails, and how you can begin a career as a patent agent or attorney at a law firm, pharma company, or patent agency.

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Georgia Sampedro, PhD

Technical Specialist, Lathrop GPM LLP

Dr. Georgia R. Sampedro is a technical specialist in Lathrop GPM’s Intellectual Property practice group who focuses her efforts on biotechnology and life sciences.
Georgia received her doctorate at the University of Chicago in the department of microbiology in the lab of Dr. Juliane Bubeck Wardenburg. Georgia has extensive experience studying the molecular and pathological features of a broad spectrum of human diseases ranging from bacterial infection to drug addiction. As a result, Georgia is an author of scientific research articles in peerreviewed journals and has received both national and universitywide distinctions for her academic work including Program Award for Best Doctoral Dissertation (2019); Robert C & Mary Gallo Fellow (2018); and Carl Storm Fellow (2017).
Prior to joining the firm, Georgia created thoughtful evaluations for a wide range of biotechnology stakeholders and IP service companies. Georgia also attends parttime law school at ChicagoKent where she has earned a merit scholarship.

Briana Mittleman, PhD

Law Student, Stanford Law School

Briana Mittleman is a third year law student at Stanford Law School. She currently focuses on issues in the law and biosciences and intellectual property. She spent two summers working in a Patent Group at Morrison and Foerster’s Palo Alto Office and currently works as a Law Clerk in the group. After graduation she will join Morrison and Foerster as a full time associate. Prior to starting law school, Briana received a Ph.D. in Genetics, Genomics, and Systems Biology at the University of Chicago. During graduate school, she worked in Dr. Yoav Gilad’s lab using quantitative genetic and comparative genomic methods to study gene regulation. Briana also holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Biology from Duke University.

DJ Speed, PhD

Patent Specialist

Dr. DeQuantarius Speed is a cellular biologist with experience in patent drafting in technology areas relating to immunology, cellular therapies, genomic engineering, biopharmaceuticals, gene therapies, drug discovery and cancer therapeutics. While completing his PhD in the Dept of Cell and Molecular Biology at the University of Chicago, Dr. Speed was the recipient of the HHMI Gilliam Fellowship for Advanced Study and the Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship. After working as a patent technical specialist at Cooley LLP, Dr. Speed resigned from his position at a technical specialist to pursue opportunities in biotech consulting.