Senior PTAB Judge Joins Sterne Kessler’s Electronics Team

Counsel Melissa Haapala spoke to Law360 about joining Sterne Kessler’s Electronics Practice Group. She was most recently vice chief administrative patent judge at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, where she helped develop and implement PTAB policy, and led several rulemaking efforts.

Haapala said she was looking forward to engaging with clients in her return to private practice and reuniting with her former USPTO colleague, Jennifer Meyer Chagnon. “In regard to Sterne Kessler in particular, it has an excellent reputation. Even at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, it’s very highly regarded, and I’m really excited to be working with colleagues that are experienced at Sterne Kessler,” she said.

“Having a decade of experience at the board is I think going to be very beneficial to me and also to my clients, because I have insights into how PTAB works, and what’s important to the judges, I’m also familiar with the judges, they’ve been colleagues and friends,” Haapala said. “And I know in preparing briefs, I can make sure to advocate and make points clear and take advantage of all that knowledge that I have gained when I was at the board.”

She added: “I’m really looking forward to my return to private practice and being able to advocate for clients again.”