Brent A. Hawkins is a partner in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP and is based in the Firm’s Chicago office. Brent focuses his practice on intellectual property litigation, counseling and procurement.
Brent has served as lead counsel in numerous patent, trademark, trade dress, unfair competition and copyright matters, representing clients in jurisdictions throughout the country. Brent’s practice has embraced a wide range of technologies including pharmaceutical products, internet based technology, consumer electronics hardware and software, video compression and transmission, Wi-Fi technology, photo processing, diesel engine and consumer housewares.
In addition to his litigation experience, Brent has prosecuted patent applications in the mechanical, electro-mechanical and software arts. He has also preformed due diligence investigation, provided counseling and rendered opinions in connection with the sale or acquisition of businesses or targeted business assets involving various technologies, including: multi-band antenna technology, wireless communication technology, ethernet switching technology, semiconductor technology, diesel engine technology, paper converting technology, optical elements, current control regulators for lighting systems and polymer intermediates.
Brent has been recognized by Chambers USA (2013 and 2014) and The Best Lawyers in America (2011-2014) in intellectual property law. He has also been recognized in the 2014 edition of IAM Patent 1000 – The World’s Leading Patent Practitioners as a leading patent litigator and by Law & Politics as an Illinois Super Lawyer (2012-2014). In 2012, he was appointed to serve on the Magistrate Judge Merit Selection Panel the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, and in 2013 to serve on that Court’s Magistrate Judge Review Panel. Brent is a member of the adjunct faculty of the University of Illinois College of Law and serves on the Intellectual Property Advisory Board of the John Marshall Law School. Brent serves as co-chair of McDermott's Racial & Ethnic Diversity Sub-Committee.
Brent is Immediate Past-President of the Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Ada S. McKinley Community Services, Inc., The President’s Leadership Council of the Field Museum and as Vice Chair of the Board of the Chicago Committee on Minorities in Large Law Firms. He is a member of the American Intellectual Property Law Association, International Trademark Association and the Richard Linn American Inn of Court.
Brent is admitted to practice in Illinois and before the Supreme Court of the State of Illinois, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas and is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
