PTO Pick Vidal Brings Background as Big Law Diversity Champion

A hint of how Winston & Strawn LLP attorney Kathi Vidal would bolster diversity efforts as chief of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office lies in a program she started to help junior lawyers get more courtroom experience.

Next Generation Lawyers provides opportunities for early-career lawyers, a generally more diverse generation, to participate in oral arguments in federal courts, which are dominated by mostly male senior-level attorneys.

Vidal, the nominee to lead the agency, would have the opportunity to move forward policy to increase the number of women and minority patent attorneys in patent tribunal appearances, if she’s confirmed.

Vidal ...