Steptoe Bolsters Growing Chicago Office, IP Practice with Trio of Patent Litigators

Steptoe & Johnson LLP is expanding its national intellectual property litigation practice with the addition of three patent litigators in Chicago.  Joining as partners are Meredith “Mimi” Martin Addy, Thomas Filarski and Mark Remus.  Ms. Addy will also serve as the managing partner of the firm’s Chicago office.

“We’re excited to add this group of talented lawyers to our team, which significantly enhances our IP capability in Chicago and across the map,” said Roger E. Warin, chair of Steptoe.  “They have significant experience representing pharmaceutical companies and other clients in patent litigation in both district court and on the appellate level.”
Ms. Addy is recognized as a leading appellate lawyer and is noted for her work on complex technological matters.  Her clients include high-profile companies in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, software and high-tech industries.  Ranked by Chambers USA in the top tier of IP lawyers in Illinois, Ms. Addy has been described by the legal guide as a “superb appellate lawyer” whose “attention to detail and preparation is unsurpassed.”  She has also been recognized as a top IP lawyer by Best Lawyers in America, Intellectual Asset Management magazine, and Illinois Super Lawyers, which in 2009 profiled her in an article titled “Patented Path to Success:  The Quick Rise of Meredith Addy.”  Active in the IP bar, Ms. Addy serves on the Federal Circuit Advisory Council, the board of directors for the Federal Circuit Bar Association, has chaired the Amicus Committee of the American Intellectual Property Association, and founded and served as the first president of the Richard Linn American Inn of Court.
“Steptoe has a terrific reputation and Tom, Mark and I look forward to working with our new colleagues to enhance our ability to resolve our clients’ complex and cutting edge intellectual property issues,” said Ms. Addy.  “Steptoe’s commitment to growing both its Chicago office and its IP practice nationally presents an exciting opportunity to serve our clients and expand our practice.”
Mr. Filarski has significant trial experience representing companies in the pharmaceutical, medical device, biotech, chemical, electro-chemical and mechanical industries.  He has also been recognized as a leading IP lawyer by Best Lawyers in America and Illinois Super Lawyers, and named a leading patent litigator and leading life sciences patent litigator by Intellectual Asset Management magazine.  In a 2009 profile in Leading Lawyers Network Magazine, a client said of Mr. Filarski:  “What makes him a good IP lawyer is he has a gift for explaining technology and technological terms in a way that makes them understandable to a judge, a jury, or any decision maker.”  Highly regarded among the IP bar, Mr. Filarski is president-elect of the Licensing Executives Society (U.S.A./Canada), an esteemed organization engaged in the transfer and use of IP, and will ascend to the presidency in October.
Mr. Remus represents clients in complex litigation matters across a range of technologies, including the pharmaceutical, electrical, chemical and mechanical arts.  He has been named a Rising Star by Illinois Super Lawyers three times, and was named to Law Bulletin’s “Forty Illinois Attorneys Under 40 to Watch” in 2006.  Mr. Remus has lectured at several law schools, including the University of Illinois College of Law, The George Washington University Law School and The John Marshall Law School.
The arrivals of Ms. Addy and Messrs. Filarski and Remus continue the expansion of Steptoe’s presence and intellectual property capabilities in the firm’s Chicago office, which opened in January 2007, and which, in the past two years, has welcomed IP litigation partners Tom Pasternak, Tom Holt and Taras Gracey.