Jacqueline “Jackie” Wright Bonilla, Ph.D.

Jacqueline “Jackie” Wright Bonilla is a director in Sterne Kessler’s Biotechnology & Chemical and Trial & Appellate Practice Groups. An accomplished intellectual property attorney, Jackie spent more than a decade at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO), including six years as Deputy Chief Administrative Patent Judge.

Jackie presided over hundreds of cases under the America Invents Act (AIA) at the PTAB, including inter partes reviews and post-grant reviews, as well as reexaminations, legacy interferences, and ex parte appeals. Her cases involved biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, biologics, medical devices, chemical compositions, and mechanical technologies. As Deputy Chief Administrative Patent Judge, Jackie managed operations and oversaw all judges and Board staff, including Vice Chief Judges, Lead Judges, and over 200 Administrative Patent Judges. She also developed and implemented USPTO policy, rules, guidance, and procedures regarding Board practices. In addition, Jackie served as Senior Legal Advisor to the USPTO Director regarding practices and policies, and as Acting Director for the USPTO’s Central Reexamination Unit (CRU). Before joining the USPTO, Jackie was a partner at a large law firm, where she was IP office chair in Washington, D.C., and served as a law clerk for the Honorable Randall R. Rader on the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Jackie’s practice focuses on life sciences patent litigation and pre-litigation matters, including advising on PTAB challenges and policy, ex parte reexaminations, and federal district court and appellate litigation. She also has experience handling complex patent interferences and developing coordinated litigation strategies for clients involved in both post-grant and district court or ITC proceedings. With a Ph.D. in cellular and molecular pharmacology, Jackie brings deep scientific expertise to matters involving biotechnology, personalized medicine, diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, biologics and biosimilars, chemical compositions, and medical devices.

Jackie serves as a member of Law360’s 2026 Intellectual Property Editorial Advisory Board providing insight and feedback to the publication.

Jackie earned her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and her Ph.D. from the University of Virginia. She holds a B.A. in Biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley.