About Me

I am a person of varied interests. In late 2006, I accepted a tenure-track Associate Professor position at the West Virginia University College of Law, which I started in the summer of 2007. I teach patent law, cyberlaw and ecommerce, and entrepreneurship. My research interests are in patent, copyright, and trade secret law. With respect to patent law, I am primarily interested in how a "back to basics" simplification philosophy will affect the patent system. With respect to copyright and trade secrets, I am interested in the intersection of freedom of ideas, access to information, and the right to contract.

I also direct a program in entrepreneurship practice and research.

In early 2006, I was awarded an Olin Fellowship in Law (cache) at Stanford Law School (cache). I was a fellow between July of 2006 and July of 2007.

Since 1998, I have worked as an attorney — first as an associate, then as a partner, and now in a very limited "of counsel" role at Russo & Hale LLP . Prior to that, I was a paralegal at the same firm. I went to law school at The University of Chicago during my fifteen years at Russo & Hale.

I am also an avid computer programmer. During law school, I wrote a small encryption utility (cache) that I later sold to Network Associates, the company that sold PGP at the time. With advances in software and interoperability, my plugin is now obsolete. I also co-wrote a book on development for Novell Groupwise. As a "hobby" I also installed and maintained Russo & Hale's portal.


Full CV

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