Ballard Spahr Partner Charley F. Brown will be honored tonight by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for his extensive pro bono work with Georgia Lawyers for the Arts (GLA).
GLA is a nonprofit organization that provides legal assistance and educational programming to artists and arts organizations in Georgia. In 2015, GLA began acting as the regional clearinghouse for pro bono cases distributed by the USPTO. Since then, Ballard Spahr's Atlanta office has taken on 40 patent cases from GLA, with Mr. Brown leading the office's efforts. The organization has named Ballard Spahr "Firm of the Year" for the last two years.
Mr. Brown is one of the first recipients of the award, which recognizes 50 hours of pro bono service. He has handled or supervised 12 USPTO cases since the inception of the GLA program. Earlier this year, Mr. Brown joined GLA's board.
Mr. Brown leads the Electrical and Communications Technology Team and Software and Business Methods Team at Ballard Spahr. His practice encompasses patent, copyright, trademark, and trade secret litigation; patent prosecution; client counseling; and opinion work. He is a registered patent attorney.
Ballard Spahr has a longstanding commitment to providing pro bono legal services. The firm is a signatory to the Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge, established by the American Bar Association and administered by the Pro Bono Institute. In 2016, firm attorneys contributed 44,000 hours of pro bono legal services to a range of recipients including nonprofit organizations, low-income individuals, and arts groups.
About Ballard Spahr
Ballard Spahr LLP, an Am Law 100 law firm with more than 550 lawyers in 13 offices in the United States, provides a range of services in litigation, business and finance, real estate, intellectual property, and public finance. Our clients include Fortune 500 companies, financial institutions, life sciences and technology companies, health systems, investors and developers, government agencies, media clients, educational institutions, and nonprofit organizations. The firm combines a national scope of practice with strong regional market knowledge. For more information, please visit www.ballardspahr.com.
