Sidebars

Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP

Sidebars is a limited-release podcast from Kilpatrick focused on women and diversity in the law.
Hosted by San Francisco Managing Partner and Patent Litigator April Isaacson, Sidebars brings together some of the foremost intellectual property attorneys, litigators, scientists, career coaches, academics, leaders, authors, and other professionals for in-depth, unfiltered conversations about diverse life experiences, personal and career growth, mental health, and the pursuit of equity in the legal profession.

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Top 10 Sidebars Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Sidebars episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Sidebars for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Sidebars episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Rachel Rebouché, Paul Gugliuzza, and Jordana Goodman: The Intersection of Race and Gender in Patent Litigation

Sidebars

03/08/24 • 65 min

For our first episode of Season Four, Partner April Isaacson is joined by Jordana Goodman and returning guests, Paul Gugliuzza and Rachel Rebouché. The trio discuss their groundbreaking article, “Inequality on Appeal: The Intersection of Race and Gender in Patent Litigation,” which showcases the on-going racial and gender disparities in the legal profession, particularly in the high-stakes world of appellate patent litigation.
The professors present the findings from their hand-coded, first-of-its-kind dataset, revealing that despite increasing diversity among law students and lawyers, a lack of diversity persists at the legal profession’s highest levels. Of the 6,000-plus oral arguments presented to the Federal Circuit in patent cases from 2010 through 2019, 93% were delivered by white attorneys, with white male attorneys alone arguing 82% of patent cases. In contrast, women of color argued fewer than 2% of cases.
Interestingly, the disparities found bear no correlation to attorney performance.
Jordana, Paul, and Rachel identify areas of patent practice where women, people of color, and women of color are more visible—most notably, in representing the federal government in patent appeals—and examine the reasons that there is not the same level of disparity as in private practice. They explore potential solutions to address these inequities, such as mentorship and sponsorship, particularly for junior associates, and the need for law firms to establish standards for promotion and professional development. They also discuss the role of programs that aim to increase diversity and the need for these initiatives to be data-backed and effective.
This episode provides a compelling call to action for the legal profession to address the systemic issues causing racial and gender disparities. The professors urge law firms to make data-backed efforts to improve diversity and inclusion, emphasizing that the problem is not specific to patent law but is a broader issue in the legal profession and the corporate world in general.
Resources:

Thanks for listening to Sidebars! Connect with us:

Learn more about April Abele Isaacson
Check out other insights from Kilpatrick
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
Questions or feedback? Reach out at [email protected]
Learn more about Kilpatrick

**The opinions expressed are those of the attorneys and do not necessarily reflect the views of the firm or its clients. This podcast is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal advice.

Cecilia Andrews: Building Your Authentic Brand

Sidebars

06/22/21 • 59 min

In this episode, Cecilia Andrews, Director of Intellectual Property for Novelis, Inc., shares her approach to building an authentic brand and delivering high-impact value for clients and colleagues. Cecilia relates her career path from aspiring mechanical engineer as an undergrad to top patent guardian and IP legal strategist for a global firm. Growing up in New England, she navigated different cultures as a first generation American whose parents had immigrated from Argentina. She grew up bilingual but not quite fitting the conventional mold of “Latina.” Like her two older sisters, she won a scholarship to Vanderbilt University where her professional sights shifted from engineering to patent law.
After Vanderbilt Law School, she interviewed in Atlanta, fell in love with the urban forest atmosphere and joined a large firm. With a fellow lawyer’s advice and help, Cecilia moved to a patent boutique where her career took off. Eight years ago she joined Novelis and embraced the challenge of earning respect from older, mostly male, colleagues by learning to be seen as a contributor of value in every engagement.
Highlights include:

From New England to Memphis – a Connecticut Latina goes South: 7:15
Choosing Atlanta to start her career: 12:40
How great mentors opened doors for her: 15:30
The Cecilia Andrews way of building a personal brand: 17:00
Winning peer respect as a woman in a largely male field: 23:00
The critical process of developing trust: 25:40
Going in-house – how her viewpoint shifted: 32:00
How the power of wellness has changed her life: 36:24
Her perspective on interacting with different cultures: 43:20
Cecilia’s “first and foremost” – her goals as Mom: 49:38
Strategic approach for being the “first or only” at the table : 56:15

Thanks for listening to Sidebars! Connect with us:

Learn more about April Abele Isaacson
Check out other insights from Kilpatrick
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
Questions or feedback? Reach out at [email protected]
Learn more about Kilpatrick

The 2022 Mental Health Special Episode: Burnout in the Legal Profession

Sidebars

10/10/22 • 60 min

In this special episode, hosts April Abele Isaacson and Kate Geyer are joined by Kasey Koballa, an Associate from the Kilpatrick Townsend Raleigh office. Kasey’s practice focuses on patent litigation in federal courts and before the ITC in matters relating to a wide variety of industries, including video games and footwear and sport apparel. In 2015, Kasey received a BS in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering with a minor in Biotechnology from North Carolina State University, where she graduated summa cum laude, was the valedictorian of her class, and received the Top 10 Scholar Athlete Award for her achievements in soccer. In 2018, she received her law degree from William & Mary Law School with an Intellectual Property Concentration.

With three very different backgrounds and life journeys, April, Kate, and Kasey discuss the issue of burnout in the legal profession, and particularly in the hard-charging, high-stakes world of patent litigation. They share their first-hand experiences and their earned wisdom about building resilience and thriving in such a pressure-filled environment. In this important conversation, April, Kate, and Kasey use compassion and humor to tackle a serious problem that continues to claim many promising legal careers far too early. They also provide a glimpse into what it takes to work at the highest levels of patent litigation while keeping burnout at bay.
Highlights include:

Broadening career options
Definition of burnout
Why attorneys are particularly susceptible to burnout
The struggle to say “no”
Why women are more likely to suffer burnout than men
“I’ll sleep when I’m dead”
The signs of reaching your limit
Navigating the post-COVID hybrid work environment for greater productivity and better work-life balance
The critical importance of recognizing early signs of burnout
Recruiting your support system
Tiny recharging breaks can make a huge difference
Rethinking proactive management of work assignments to reduce overwork
Law-firm mentors as a first line of defense against burnout
Surprising reasons why burnout is a major threat to talent retention
The availability and value of external resources like employee assistance programs
Destigmatizing the use of therapy and other mental health support
Recognizing that blocking off time for self-care is not an indulgence but a tool to becoming a better lawyer

Thanks for listening to Sidebars! Connect with us:

Learn more about April Abele Isaacson
Check out other insights from Kilpatrick
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
Questions or feedback? Reach out at [email protected]
Learn more about Kilpatrick

Taylor Pfingst: Glass Ceilings Are Meant to be Broken

Sidebars

09/30/22 • 75 min

In this episode, hosts April Abele Isaacson and Kate Geyer welcome a special cohost—fellow Kilpatrick Townsend patent litigator Taylor Pfingst—to discuss recent data on how law firms are doing on diversity, equity and inclusion, with particular emphasis on gender equality.

Taylor, a native Californian, is an Associate in Kilpatrick Townsend’s Los Angeles office. Her practice focuses on patent and trade secret litigation as well as other intellectual property disputes. She represents both plaintiffs and defendants in a broad range of industries, including technology, entertainment, and medical devices. Taylor was a key member of trial teams in high-stakes cases that resulted in more than $100 million in jury verdicts for the client. Every year since 2019, Super Lawyers magazine has recognized Taylor as a Northern California “Rising Star” for Intellectual Property Litigation.

Prior to joining the firm, Taylor served as a judicial extern for the Honorable Charles R. Breyer in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and as a law clerk in the Public Rights Division in the California Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General. She received her BA in political science from UC Santa Barbara and her JD from UC Hastings College of Law. While attending law school, she was the Executive Notes Editor of the Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly.

In a candid conversation, April, Kate, and Taylor identify the seismic shifts that have taken place in the legal profession since the days when Taylor’s mom became a trial attorney, and the hurdles that still remain today. They discuss the recently published Law360 2022 Glass Ceiling Report: Women In Law, which provides statistical proof of how the profession has changed and how much still needs to be done.

Through personal anecdotes and insights, April, Kate, and Taylor weave the experience of three generations—Boomers, Gen Xers, and Millennials—into a cohesive timeline that speaks of the progress and setbacks on the road to greater diversity and inclusion.

Highlights include:

Destined for life in the law
Seeing how an earlier generation of women balanced work and family obligations, and were taken seriously as a lawyer
How not to be a mentor
Working mothers as role models for both men and women
Working while female; there is no excuse not to mentor
The value of not being the only woman in the room
Sobering statistics about women in leadership in the legal profession
A silver lining to the COVID pandemic
An invisible burden of proving everyone wrong
The luxury of being disorganized
Capitalizing on the momentum generated by greater numbers of women partners
Demystifying the path to partnership

Thanks for listening to Sidebars! Connect with us:

Learn more about April Abele Isaacson
Check out other insights from Kilpatrick
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
Questions or feedback? Reach out at [email protected]
Learn more about Kilpatrick

Amanda Brouillette: Taking Charge

Sidebars

08/29/22 • 56 min

In this episode, we interview patent litigator Amanda Brouillette, a Senior Associate in the Atlanta office of Kilpatrick Townsend. Amanda has defended a wide range of clients accused of patent infringement through all stages of litigation, including at trial. Her cases encompass a variety of technical fields, including telecommunications, medical billing, pharmaceuticals, and mechanical systems. In 2022 and 2023, Amanda was recognized as one of the “Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch” for Intellectual Property Law by The Best Lawyers in America®.
Amanda has a B.S. in physics and a B.A. in English from the University of Georgia, where she graduated summa cum laude, highest honors. She earned her J.D. from Stanford Law School with pro bono distinction for her work with the Stanford Domestic Violence Pro Bono Project. During law school, Amanda served on the Stanford Technology Law Review, first as a Lead Editor, then as Editor In Chief.
From an early age, Amanda thrived on learning new things. Her decision to double-major in Physics and English proved a perfect recipe for never being bored or feeling like she was stagnating with her studies—and it turned out to be the perfect gateway to patent litigation, too.
Amanda is a firm believer in taking charge of her own professional destiny and creating her own opportunities, including by actively developing connections with other patent law practitioners. Her brilliance, can-do attitude, and sunny disposition, which she brings to any task set before her, have helped her build strong relationships with mentors and sponsors within the firm, with clients, and with more junior attorneys whom she now supervises.
In this episode, Amanda shares her insights about what it takes to build a successful career as a patent litigator. She also discusses the importance of communication and relationship-building for professional development. And she talks about the two-pronged approach that firms—and individuals—can take to accelerate the creation of a more diverse and inclusive workplace.
Highlights include:

A chain of happy accidents leads to a career in patent law
Thriving on the feeling of success
The theater bug as translated into litigation
Taking deliberate steps toward more diversity in hiring
The cultural cues that may discourage women from pursuing a patent litigation career
Mentorship vs. sponsorship
How to find sponsors and build relationships with them
Bonding in a personal way for increased work productivity
Managing up and managing down
Developing a leadership style
A personal professional highlight that demonstrates the importance of sponsorship
A collaborative approach to better serving clients through diverse teams
A two-pronged approach to diversity and inclusion
The paradox of emphasizing female mentoring for junior women

Thanks for listening to Sidebars! Connect with us:

Learn more about April Abele Isaacson
Check out other insights from Kilpatrick
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
Questions or feedback? Reach out at [email protected]
Learn more about Kilpatrick

Roger Wylie: Leadership Matters

Sidebars

07/29/22 • 64 min

In this episode, we welcome Roger Wylie, the Managing Partner of Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton. Roger was the Co-Managing Partner of Townsend and Townsend and Crew prior to its merger with Kilpatrick Stockton.

Roger is a registered patent attorney with over 20 years of experience in a variety of technologies, including software, business methods, consumer goods, complex machinery, and medical devices. He focuses his practice on patent prosecution and counseling, advising start-up and established corporations, venture investors and other intellectual property stakeholders with regard to all aspects of patent prosecution and acquisition, counseling, licensing, and litigation. He also counsels clients on a wide range of trademark, copyright, trade secret and other IP-related issues.

Roger has obtained or assisted in the procurement and management of hundreds of U.S. and foreign patents, many of which have been successfully litigated and enforced. Much of his current work involves product clearances and freedom to operate analyses, Inter Partes disputes in the patent office, infringement and validity analyses for litigation settlement evaluation, and acquisition due diligence.

Growing up in southern Georgia in a family of teachers, Roger was exposed to a diverse group of friends and acquaintances. From an early age, he internalized the values of equity and inclusion emphasized by his grandfather and his mother. As a patent attorney, Roger saw that others, including his wife—who is also a patent attorney—faced career obstacles that he did not have to overcome because he was a White male. His upbringing and his ability to see other perspectives have made him a determined leader in leveling the playing field in the legal profession.

In this episode, Roger tells us about his career path from studying material science to becoming a leader in the IP world and the Managing Partner of Kilpatrick Townsend, and he explains his philosophy of management and leadership. He also explores the strides made to date by the legal profession in general and Kilpatrick Townsend in particular to make the profession more welcoming to underrepresented groups as well as the work that still needs to be done to achieve greater diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Highlights include:

Being married to a patent attorney and seeing the patent bar from a woman’s perspective
The value of having women role models in management
Seeing diversity in broader terms than just gender and race
Managing a successful legal practice sometimes requires getting out of the team’s way
Examining the entire pipeline, from grade school to law-firm partnership for opportunities to encourage diversity, equity, and inclusion
The chicken-and-egg problem of representation
Making paternity leave more acceptable as a means of helping retain legal talent
Creating seats at the leadership table for diverse voices

Thanks for listening to Sidebars! Connect with us:

Learn more about April Abele Isaacson
Check out other insights from Kilpatrick
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
Questions or feedback? Reach out at [email protected]
Learn more about Kilpatrick

Rachel Rebouché and Paul R. Gugliuzza: Shining the Spotlight On Gender Inequality in Patent Litigation

Sidebars

06/06/22 • 60 min

In this episode, we welcome Temple University professors Rachel Rebouché and Paul Gugliuzza, authors of a forthcoming paper in the North Carolina Law Review titled, “Gender Inequality in Patent Litigation” —a data-rich paper that touches on many of the central themes in Season 2.

Rachel is a leading scholar in feminist legal theory, reproductive health law, and family law. She is the Interim Dean of Temple University Beasley School of Law, the James E. Beasley Professor of Law, and a Faculty Fellow at Temple’s Center for Public Health Law Research. Rachel is an author of Governance Feminism: An Introduction and an editor of Governance Feminism: Notes from the Field, a co-author of the sixth edition of the casebook, Family Law, and the editor of Feminist Judgments: Family Law Opinions Rewritten. Rachel received a JD from Harvard law school, an LLM from Queen's University Belfast, and a BA from Trinity University.

Paul is an award-winning scholar, a sought-after author, and a teacher who specializes in civil procedure, federal courts, and intellectual property law with a particular focus on patent litigation. He has testified before both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives on topics of patent law, and his scholarship has been cited in over a dozen judicial opinions across all levels of the state and federal courts. A summa cum laude graduate from Tulane University School of Law, Paul clerked for Judge Ronald M. Gould of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and practiced in the Issues and Appeals group at Jones Day prior to his academic career.

In this episode, Rachel and Paul discuss the shocking gender disparity that continues to persist in private-practice patent litigation and the much more equitable distribution of legal work in government agencies. They also highlight the mechanisms that militate against greater equity in law firms.

Rachel’s and Paul’s paper shows unequivocally that gender disparity is neither a generational issue that will be resolved by the passage of time nor is it a pipeline issue due to insufficient female STEM lawyers. Through their research, we gain a greater understanding of how law firms must change their economic incentives and entrenched, unconscious cultures if they are to foster true gender equity.

Further Reading:
• Overqualified and Underrepresented: Gender Inequality in Pharmaceutical Patent Law
• Extraordinary Writ or Ordinary Remedy? Mandamus at the Federal Circuit
• @TempleLaw
• @RRebouche
•

Thanks for listening to Sidebars! Connect with us:

Learn more about April Abele Isaacson
Check out other insights from Kilpatrick
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
Questions or feedback? Reach out at [email protected]
Learn more about Kilpatrick

Kate Geyer: Breaking Institutional Bias

Sidebars

04/29/22 • 56 min

This episode introduces the new co-host of the Sidebars podcast, Kate Geyer. Kate is an Associate in Kilpatrick Townsend’s Seattle office. Her practice focuses on patent litigation in federal court and at the ITC, as well as post-grant proceedings before the U.S. Patent Office.
Kate is a 2019 graduate of George Washington University Law School. She graduated with high honors, Order of the Coif, and won the Rothwell, Figg, Ernst & Manbeck Award. While in law school, in addition to being a research assistant and an articles editor for the George Washington Law Review, Kate also won the 2018 and 2019 AIPLA’s Giles S. Rich Memorial Moot Court Competition and served as a judicial intern for the honorable Kara Stoll Carto on the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and as a law clerk in the Office of Unfair Import Investigations at the ITC.
Prior to law school, Kate graduated from MIT with a BS in physics and minors in mathematics and political science, then followed her passion for the intersection of technology and policy to a position as a business analyst in Washington, DC, dissecting emerging technologies for the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community customers.
In this episode, Kate shares her journey to becoming the patent litigator and fierce advocate she is today. This journey also built her determination to break the barriers and institutional biases that still persist for women and minorities in patent law, and to create a more welcoming and inclusive profession - one in which there is a seat at the table for everyone.
Highlights include:

Introducing the new co-host of Sidebars (0:38)
Turns out, learning physics and doing physics are not the same thing (2:44)
Finding practical ways to indulge a passion for tech and policy (3:44)
Participating in the arena, expanding one’s horizons, finding law school (4:47)
Breaking “it’s not what we do around here” institutional norms (8:33)
A multigenerational perspective on gender barriers and mentorship (10:59)
The unexpected dynamics of being a young and female litigator (14:40)
New opportunities for younger attorneys (15:59)
The importance of giving associates freedom from micromanagement (20:29)
Taking ownership and handling mistakes (26:00)
Finding a job you love (28:48)
Perfectionism and not being the smartest person in the room (31:13)
Getting over fears with practice (37:22)
Crushing arguments with preparation (43:35)
The critical need to address the shortage of women and minorities in leadership (48:40)

Thanks for listening to Sidebars! Connect with us:

Learn more about April Abele Isaacson
Check out other insights from Kilpatrick
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
Questions or feedback? Reach out at [email protected]
Learn more about Kilpatrick

Looking Back on Season One

Sidebars

03/30/22 • 49 min

In this episode, hosts April Abele Isaacson and Kimberlynn Davis along with the podcast’s producer, Kristina Travaillot, reflect on the first season of the Sidebars podcast and provide a preview of Season Two.

Sidebars, the first podcast released by Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP, grew out of April’s, Kim’s, and Kristina’s shared recognition that underrepresented voices in patent law had many valuable things to say. A podcast seemed like the perfect platform to showcase trailblazing women and members of other underrepresented communities. The resulting 14 episodes of Season One created a tapestry of interesting, honest, and sometimes even raw conversations that never fail to move listeners.

In this episode, April, Kim, and Kristina discuss the many surprises they encountered in bringing Sidebars to fruition and the work that is yet to be done in their journey to help the practice of patent law continue to grow in diversity and inclusion.

Highlights include:

The power of authenticity to awe and inspire (2:10)
The unexpected value of launching a podcast in the middle of a pandemic (3:23)
Realizing that there is more to say (8:18)
Season Two’s focus on the realities of seasoned and rookie women patent litigators (9:11)
Fostering an environment where everyone is a unicorn (11:14)
Paying it forward by spotlighting and breaking biases (22:22)
Tackling the self-editing that members of underrepresented groups impose on themselves (25:11)
The shifting norms of acceptable behavior (26:25)
Dealing with unfounded assumptions and taking back your power (31:25)
Finding new ways to build bigger tables so many more people can have a seat at it (40:00)
The difference that hearing actual voices makes (43:12)

Thanks for listening to Sidebars! Connect with us:

Learn more about April Abele Isaacson
Check out other insights from Kilpatrick
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
Questions or feedback? Reach out at [email protected]
Learn more about Kilpatrick

Trailer: Introducing Sidebars by Kilpatrick Townsend

Sidebars

03/03/21 • 0 min

We're pleased to introduce Sidebars! This limited podcast series by Kilpatrick Townsend's biopharma team showcases today's leading women in the patent bar. Each of the episodes is a candid conversation between groundbreaking women legal practitioners about their career paths, the obstacles they overcame in reaching success, and the steps we as a profession must still take to close the gender gap in intellectual property law and the patent bar.
Meet the Hosts:
• April Abele Isaacson, M.S.
• Kimberlynn B. Davis, Ph.D.
Learn More:
• Visit the Kilpatrick Townsend MEMO Blog
• Check out other insights from Kilpatrick Townsend

Thanks for listening to Sidebars! Connect with us:

Read our Medicine and Molecules (MEMO) Blog
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
Questions or feedback? Reach out at [email protected]
Learn more about Kilpatrick Townsend

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FAQ

How many episodes does Sidebars have?

Sidebars currently has 30 episodes available.

What topics does Sidebars cover?

The podcast is about Intellectual Property, Attorney, Inclusion, Law, Legal, Podcasts, Business and Diversity.

What is the most popular episode on Sidebars?

The episode title 'The 2022 Mental Health Special Episode: Burnout in the Legal Profession' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on Sidebars?

The average episode length on Sidebars is 52 minutes.

How often are episodes of Sidebars released?

Episodes of Sidebars are typically released every 27 days.

When was the first episode of Sidebars?

The first episode of Sidebars was released on Mar 3, 2021.

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Sidebars

Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP

Top 10 Sidebars Episodes

FAQ

How many episodes does Sidebars have?

What topics does Sidebars cover?

What is the most popular episode on Sidebars?

What is the average episode length on Sidebars?

How often are episodes of Sidebars released?

When was the first episode of Sidebars?

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