ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Hon. Liam O'Grady, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia / Alexandria
Born in Newark, New Jersey, Judge O'Grady received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Franklin & Marshall College in 1973 and a Juris Doctor from George Mason University School of Law in 1977. He served as an Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney for Arlington County from 1982 to 1986, and served as an Assistant United States Attorney of the Eastern District of Virginia from 1986 to 1992. Judge O’Grady practiced as a patent trial lawyer at Finnegan Henderson from 1992 to 2003. He was appointed as a United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of Virginia from 2003 to 2007. On January 9, 2007, Judge O'Grady was nominated by President George W. Bush to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia vacated by Claude M. Hilton. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on July 9, 2007, and received his commission on July 11, 2007.
Gerald Ivey, Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP / Washington, DC
Gerald Ivey has extensive experience in the areas of civil litigation and trial advocacy. He concentrates his practice primarily on jury trial patent cases involving Internet, computer software and hardware issues, biotechnology, medical devices, and mechanical products. Mr. Ivey has acted as lead trial counsel in jury cases involving computer software; optical character recognition technology; parental controls; hardware and software boot-up security; graphic user interface technologies; VOIP technologies; automated key duplication machinery; cases involving self-balancing vehicles; wind and jet engine turbines; cases for biomechanical devices including cardiovascular stents; diagnostic test kits; and pharmaceutical products, such as glaucoma, arthritis, and autoimmune medications. He has tried more than 69 cases to juries in federal and state courts, and is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.
Mr. Ivey was previously a partner at another law firm, where he served as trial counsel on major product liability cases involving a variety of claims such as brake failure and loss of steering in automobiles; claims of sudden acceleration and crashworthiness in motorcycles and all terrain recreational vehicles; and electrical system failures in different products such as elevators, automobiles, and computer monitors. Over the years, he has also handled numerous cases involving medical malpractice claims, general wrongful death actions, commercial, construction, and employment litigation.
Mr. Ivey serves as co-director and lecturer at the Annual National Trial Advocacy College, held at the University of Virginia School of Law. He has been an adjunct professor instructing third-year law students in trial advocacy at the George Washington University Law School since 1993 and an instructor at the George Washington University Law School/D.C. Bar Association College of Trial Advocacy. He is a lecturer at various American Bar Association (ABA), Practicing Law Institute (PLI), and Defense Research Institute (DRI) programs.
Mr. Ivey has been recognized by The Legal 500 U.S. for patent litigation, and voted by his peers for inclusion in the Top IP Lawyers by the Washingtonian magazine. He received the Honorable William J. Brennan, Jr. Award for Outstanding Trial Advocacy Skills.