Becker & Poliakoff announced that Richard C. Litman, a patent attorney and founding shareholder of the Litman Law Firm based in Manassas, Virginia has joined Becker & Poliakoff. With more than thirty years in legal practice, Mr. Litman joins Becker & Poliakoff along with five other registered patent attorneys, six registered patent agents, a trademark attorney and a staff of twenty. He will chair the firm’s Intellectual Property & Emerging Technologies Practice Group, and serve as the Managing Shareholder of the firm’s new office in Northern Virginia.

Based near the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in Virginia, the new Becker & Poliakoff practice also includes former USPTO Director Richard J. Apley who leads the team of patent practitioners, and patent searchers, patent illustrators, technical specialists and client service managers. The new practice group represents universities, research centers, government programs, inventors, and emerging companies around the world and domestically which are developing and protecting inventions of all types, including energy, water and environmental technology, information and communications technology, and life sciences, medical and biotechnology.

Gary Rosen, the firm's Managing Shareholder and an IP litigation attorney noted that the addition of the Litman firm further expands the firm's capacity to handled complex IP litigation.  

"Richard's practice complements our existing practices and accelerates our efforts to grow and diversify our service offerings to clients," said Gary C. Rosen, Managing Shareholder of the firm. "Richard and his team have already begun working with attorneys in our New York and Florida offices on the formation and structuring of technology business entities, licensing and commercial contracting matters, mergers and acquisitions, international IP protection, and technology development and commercialization.

Litman, a 1979 cum laude graduate of the University of Miami School of Law, holds two advanced law degrees, a Masters in Forensic Sciences and a LL.M. in Patent and Trade Regulation Law obtained while serving as the Food and Drug Law Institute Fellow. He is a Registered Patent & Trademark Attorney and a member of the Florida, Virginia, D.C., Maryland and Pennsylvania bars. He also serves as chairman of a commercial bank in Northern Virginia.