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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Firm Taps Legal Talent From Within

Dustin Szakalski and Martin Regehr have been promoted to partner at Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie, the Glendale firm said in a statement. Szakalski and Regehr are members of the firm’s intellectual property practice. Although they don’t expect to make any major changes after their promotions, each is eager to take on more responsibilities in helping manage the firm. “It will be more important for us to mentor and help the junior associates that are joining the firm, so that they can feel like they’re welcome and an important part of the firm, but also so they can learn as efficiently as possible and become really good lawyers,” Regehr told the Business Journal. “When I was an associate, I worked as a liaison which helped facilitate communication between associates and firm management, and so this is kind of stepping into a new role, into new shoes and being more a part of firm management than I was as an associate,” added Szakalski. Regehr handles patent prosecution matters for companies in the following industries: digital integrated circuits, radar, nonlinear mechanical structures, electric motors, optical communications and switching systems, semiconductors, MEMS devices, cryptography, power generation, battery systems, welding systems and software systems. Prior to entering the legal field, Regehr worked for engineering and scientific endeavors, including NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He wrote software for a space telescope and tested gravitational wave detectors for the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory at Caltech, the firm said in a statement. Szakalski focuses more on patent litigation, patent prosecution, trademark applications, branding, licensing and takedown procedures. He worked as an engineer at Northrop Grumman prior to attending law school, the firm said, designing structural airframe parts for the F-35 Lightning II fighter. Szakalski also served as a flight test engineer for Goodrich Aerostructures on the Boeing 787. “This experience as a flight and structural design engineer in commercial and military aviation enables Szakalski to provide counsel to clients in a wide variety of industries in addition to the aerospace and unmanned aerial systems industries,” the firm said in a statement. “I think having industry experience is a great benefit,” added Szakalski. “It lends a certain perspective from where the clients are coming from, being a former engineer and just understanding that role. It helped me put myself in the client’s shoes and understand their perspective on what they’re trying to get out of the legal engagement.”

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