In this episode of That IP Podcast, host Harry Brooker sits down with Neel Chatterjee, partner and co-head of the Intellectual Property Litigation Practice at King & Spalding and one of the most respected technology trial lawyers of his generation. Recently named Attorney of the Year by The American Lawyer in 2025 — an honor widely regarded as the legal industry’s highest — Neel reflects on a career defined by high-stakes technology disputes, landmark cases, and moments that helped shape modern internet and IP law. Neel walks through his path into the law, from his academic foundations at Dartmouth College and Vanderbilt University School of Law to clerking for the Colorado Supreme Court and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, before building a national reputation for stepping into the hardest cases — often just before trial — where the outcome can define a company’s future. Neel speaks candidly about mentorship, leadership, and the responsibility that comes with influence. He reflects on founding the Bay Area Diversity Career Fair, serving on numerous nonprofit and professional boards, and why diversity, sponsorship, and honest feedback are not optional add-ons but core to the profession’s future. The episode also touches on burnout, longevity, client trust, and how to build a legal career that sustains intensity without losing perspective. It’s a wide-ranging, grounded conversation about trial law, technology, and what it really takes to stay at the top over decades — while still enjoying the work and bringing others along with you.

In this episode of That IP Podcast, host Harry Brooker sits down with Mike Jakes, long-time partner at Finnegan and one of the leading figures in patent litigation and appeals, to walk through a 37-year career that started in engineering and evolved into high-stakes IP work. Mike explains how his early days as an electrical engineer at Westinghouse and night-school computer science degree at Johns Hopkins shaped the way he thinks about technology, how a single lunch with legendary patent lawyer Don Dunner nudged him toward law school at Georgetown, and why clerking for Judge Giles Rich at the Federal Circuit was a defining experience. He reflects on joining Finnegan in 1988 and never leaving, what it was like practicing before email and online research, and how the mechanics of lawyering have changed while the fundamentals of advocacy and judgment have stayed the same. Mike talks about learning from giants of the profession, the value of honest feedback, how to seek and use mentorship, and why good writing and constant reading still sit at the heart of great lawyering. He shares his thoughts on burnout, long-term career sustainability, building habits that actually matter, the realities of winning and losing in court, and even his trial ritual of pizza and My Cousin Vinny. It’s a grounded, thoughtful conversation about building a long career in patents, staying curious, and figuring things out as you go.

In this episode of That IP Podcast, host Harry Brooker sits down with Brett Schuman, Co-Chair of IP at Goodwin, to trace his journey from the University of Michigan and Harvard Law to nearly three decades in high-stakes IP litigation. Brett shares how an internship at a public defender service in Washington DC first drew him toward law, what it was really like walking into Harvard Law and facing Arthur Miller’s famously intense Socratic civil procedure class, and why clerking for the New Jersey Supreme Court became a foundational experience that shaped the litigator he is today. He reflects on the rise and fall of Brobeck during the dot-com era, his transition to Morgan Lewis, and his early exposure to tech and IP work that ultimately defined his career. Brett speaks candidly about the gap between what law school teaches and what clients actually need, how he thinks about sacrifice and work–life balance, staying engaged in the job after 28 years, and handling the emotional side of losing a trial and using those moments to improve. He also talks about the importance of mentorship, how to navigate difficult periods in your career, and the mindset required to keep developing long after you’ve “made it.” This conversation is packed with practical career advice, honest stories from inside BigLaw, and real insight into what it takes to build and sustain a successful career at the top of the IP litigation world.