Pro Bono Resources

Lara Kayode
O. Kayode & Co (Lagos, Nigeria)

At the time when Lara Kayode founded her firm, O. Kayode & Co, it was unusual for a young female lawyer to venture out on her own—it had been assumed that she would join her father at his firm. Currently, Ms. Kayode’s firm has two offices in Nigeria, in the cities of Lagos and Abuja.

In 1995, Ms. Kayode attended the INTA Annual Meeting in Florida, USA, with her parents in what was guised as a family vacation with her father, who was on business while she was on holiday—and then attended parts of the Meeting as a guest.

The next year, Ms. Kayode attended the INTA 1996 Annual Meeting in San Diego, California, USA, this time on her own—as an attorney representing her newly founded law firm. As fate would have it, she bumped into Professor David Llewellyn, her LLM Trademark Lecturer at the University of London.

Breaking the ice at big conferences such as the Annual Meetings is no easy feat for any attendee, and it can be even more challenging for a first timer. However, the surprise meeting with the renowned professor changed the course of Ms. Kayode’s IP career as he introduced her to many contacts and offered her access to some of the exclusive receptions, dinners, and lunches. Ms. Kayode says her experience that year will forever be etched in her heart because it charted new paths for her career. It also birthed lasting friendships and relationships that she maintains to this day.

When Ms. Kayode’s trademark practice began to expand, her firm’s clientele was i predominantly international—however, with the growth of entrepreneurship in Nigeria, there has been a growing need for trademark protection among local SMEs. Her firm initially focused on trademark prosecution but, with time, it has become heavily involved in IP enforcement matters—and a few clients in the entertainment industry have enabled her firm’s copyright portfolio to grow.

By virtue of her work, Ms. Kayode is not only a practitioner—she is also involved in training and teaching local SMEs about IP. She is a regular speaker at gatherings, clinics, and conferences involving SMEs where she gives free advice and information to business owners that are not able to afford or approach legal counsel for assistance. Every quarter, her firm endeavors to assist at least one SME. She also belongs to various associations including the West African Chapter of the Association of Women Entrepreneurs (AWEP), where she speaks to women entrepreneurs about the protection of IP rights.

Ms. Kayode is convinced that it is important, if time allows, for one to give back—especially in Africa, where many women-led small businesses need the support. More often than not, women who are running small businesses are not able to spare money for legal support.

Ms. Kayode recalls with great fondness one particular woman, a local fashion designer in Nigeria, who was inexperienced with starting and running a business. Ms. Kayode convinced the designer to take three hours so that Ms. Kayode could take her through the fundamentals of running a business. Starting from the ground up, Ms. Kayode gave her advice and tips—even on how to recycle leftover fabric.

Pro bono work gives Ms. Kayode fulfillment and joy, and she believes it helps one progress in whatever one’s field may be. She sees pro-bono work as a win-win situation because sometimes the free services can turn into actual paying work when a business eventually thrives.

Especially within INTA, Ms. Kayode is keen to mentor young people and help them navigate the space. “Sometimes at such huge conferences, one only needs a smile,” she says, and makes it her duty to smile. She is always accessible and open to assist and give advice when requested. She puts in a good word when she identifies talent, especially with regard to women of color, because there are not many in the IP space.

At the start of her participation at INTA, she felt there was need to have mentors. She was fortunate to have a support system at INTA through the people she met during her early years. She looks forward to INTA meetings where she draws her support—and there was no such support at the time she started her law practice. Those in her support system at INTA mentored and encouraged each other as they grew personally and professionally. Together they rose through the ranks, from committees, to chairing committees, and eventually to INTA’s Board. One such friend is Marion Heathcote; she and Ms. Kayode were both awarded the INTA 2019 President’s Award.

Ms. Kayode has made it her duty to assist and to “leave the door open” for others to come in and do the same.

Ranjan Narula
RNA Technology and IP Attorneys (Delhi, India), Former INTA Board Member

Please tell me a little about your day-to-day practice, why you pursued a career as an attorney, and how you got started. Also, how long have you been a member of INTA?
I am a qualified lawyer and a Business Management Graduate with more than 25 years of experience dealing with various facets of IP law. During my career, I have had the opportunity to work in a multi-cultural environment and had an overseas stint with an IP firm. I also worked in-house during the early part of my career. Thus, I have been trained to think and act on IP issues, taking legal and business perspectives into account. I am a first-generation lawyer in my family and my coming into the IP field was more of a coincidence, with me applying for a position at an IP boutique firm as they were looking for attorneys.

My day-to-day practice concerns working on dispute resolution for clients and providing strategic input on protecting their brands and innovation. I have been an INTA member since early 1990 and have attended about 20 annual meetings. I served as an INTA Board member for a three-year term from 2019–2021. It’s been a great learning experience having served on several committees and closely worked on several projects. I am extremely grateful to have known and interacted with the incredibly humble, intelligent, and committed individuals who make INTA such a wonderful organization. INTA has played a vital role in shaping my career and in making friends worldwide. The depth of INTA’s work and its commitment to the IP ecosystem is surreal.

When (and how) did pro bono work become important to you? Are there any particular organizations you volunteer with? What kinds of pro bono services do you offer?
About 10 years back, I started to get involved with an NGO called The Earth Saviours Foundation that looks after underprivileged and homeless people. The initial volunteering was to raise funds for them. As I began to get more involved, I would handle and advise on the legal issues faced by them concerning the running of the organization, the vetting of contracts, etc. I continue to be involved with this organization and provide my input and time for the betterment of the ‘old age’ home that it runs.

About seven years back, our firm was invited to be part of the Trust Law, a Thomson Reuters foundation, and we started to take on IP projects to assist various NGOs and start-ups that Trust Law shortlisted. Some of the organizations that the firm has assisted include:

• Bempu: Bempu Health offers innovative life-saving health products to drastically improve global health, especially in low-resource areas, to address conditions that contribute significantly to neonatal mortality in resource constrained settings but that remain unaddressed, like hypothermia and apneas. Our firm helped them in drafting and filing patent application at the Indian Patent Office for their innovative products, e.g., Kangaroo care wrap and apnea resolver.
• Khethworks: Khethworks helps small-plot farmers across the world through affordable and high-quality technology. Khethworks started at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has a headquartered in Pune, India, since January 2016. We helped in the examination of a patent application to to help ensure a successful grant, for technology that delivers a submersible centrifugal solar-powered irrigation pump with market-leading efficiency and farmer-demanded portability, price, and performance.
• Institute for Transformative Technologies Foundation: ITT is committed to bringing to life the technologies needed to solve the problems integral to sustainable global development. It’s solar powered vaccine fridge bypasses the need for constant power and gives clinics in remote areas the technology they need to deliver life-saving vaccines. Our patents team carried out a patentability analysis, and drafted and filed the patent application for the solar vaccine fridge.
• Training Educational Centre for Hearing Impaired: TEACH is a charitable trust working toward higher education for hearing impaired students. We worked with the TEACH team in understanding their operation, the creation of teaching materials, and advising on IP protection including filing applications for registration of trademark and copyright protection in educational materials.

Any memorable pro bono experiences? What has been your favorite or most impactful pro bono project?
We assisted Bempu in protecting the technology that helps in apnea management. The device, later named ApneBOOT, was intended to resolve the risk of cessation of breath in pre-term new-born babies. I learned that if apnea is not immediately addressed in newborn babies, it can lead to irreversible injury or death. While working with Bempu on this assignment, I understood that the response can be delayed due to a lack of resources and clinical staff in developing and underdeveloped countries. We helped in protecting the technology and filed for its patent. It was quite an exciting project that involved understanding the device’s function. Most importantly, the feeling that we contributed to improving neonatal health in the community and that this device will be sold across many countries that have limited resources was quite satisfying.

Why do you feel pro bono work, particularly as it relates to IP, is important?
IP is at the heart of every creation or innovation. Working with several NGOs and start-ups, over the years, I realized that they are solving problems faced by communities in their respective fields of operation. Further, they are developing economical solutions. In that context, IP protection can help them find partners or investors to fund these innovations and scale up their operations. Thus, as an IP lawyer, pro bono work—whether in terms of trademark, patent, or design filing, or in an advisory capacity to set these organizations in the right direction—is quite important.

Over her 12 years at global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, intellectual property (IP) litigator Bethany Rabe has distinguished herself not only through her professional achievements but also through her tireless commitment to pro bono advocacy. Last year, she topped the firm’s Las Vegas office in the number of pro bono hours logged.

Ms. Rabe, of counsel at the firm, focuses her legal practice on entertainment-related litigation, with particular interest in copyright, trademark, right of publicity, defamation, and Internet matters, as well as appellate litigation and brand management.

On the pro bono side of her work, she has recently concentrated in providing support to asylum seekers.

“I believe the U.S. should be a refuge for those that are fleeing violence, danger, or persecution in their home country,” she said. “That’s a fundamental principal of who we are and should aspire to be as a country.”

Ms. Rabe was awarded the 2020 Lied Award for Most Pro Bono Hours by the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada in recognition of the hundreds of hours she contributed last year. Those hours were spent assisting an asylum-seeking family, including helping with various aspects of their appeal to the Ninth Circuit, which is currently pending. She and the Greenberg Traurig team helped the family obtain a stay of removal pending the appeal.

“It feels good to be able to use the skills you’ve developed as a practicing lawyer to help those who wouldn’t have the opportunity to have legal representation otherwise,” Ms. Rabe reflected.

While she has handled pro bono issues in the IP space—as part of a team that represented an individual who was sued in federal court by a copyright troll, for instance—she also enjoys tackling new types of pro bono cases, such as assisting with asylum as well as sex trafficking record expungement cases.

“By venturing outside your expertise, you not only expand your skills as an attorney, but you have an incredible opportunity to help people on an ongoing basis once you learn that area of the law,” she said.

Ms. Rabe also gives back to the community through teaching. She is in her sixth year as a volunteer teaching fellow for CopyrightX, a semester-long copyright class offered jointly through Harvard Law School, the HarvardX distance-learning initiative, and the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society. She has also served for 10 years as a member of the volunteer editorial board, including as editor-in-chief, of Litigation News, the American Bar Association’s Litigation Section’s flagship publication.

For Ms. Rabe, IP litigation continues to challenge and excite her daily; she particularly enjoys copyright.

“There’s an inherent tension in the field,” she said. “You want to be able to protect the fruits of a creator’s mind—their ‘baby.’ But you also want others to be able to build on those efforts to make their own artistic contributions. That line fascinates me: ensuring that the law protects and incentivizes creators, while also ensuring that others can draw from a deep pool of inspiration via prior works. These issues are especially salient in this age of smart phones and the Internet.”

Ms. Rabe noted that her mentor is Mark Tratos—founding shareholder of Greenberg Traurig’s Las Vegas office—and that she strives to emulate his professionalism, civility, and passion for the law.

“He taught me that if you do something you love, you’ll never work a day in your life,” she relayed. “He also taught me the value of giving back—to both the legal profession and the community at large—through teaching and pro bono efforts.”

Now a mentor herself, Ms. Rabe urges younger attorneys not to be afraid to ask for help. She tells them: “Lean on others. The law can be a stressful profession, but know that you’re not alone, and there is plenty of support among your fellow lawyers.”

David Aylen, managing partner of Gowling WLG-Russia/CIS practice, has always had an eye on intellectual property (IP) law. Even as a civil engineering student at Carleton University in Ontario, Canada, he was preparing for the law program at the University of Ottawa. He would soon use his technical interests and expertise to hone his practice as an IP lawyer in Canada, Russia, and internationally.

He also became an active participant within INTA: he went to his first Annual Meeting in 1984 and has attended every Annual Meeting since 1991. He has served on various committees and is currently chair of the Leadership Communications Subcommittee of the Leadership Development Committee.

For 12 years now, the Canadian has been practicing in Moscow, Russia, advising international clients on doing business in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (the CIS includes many of the former Soviet republics), and assisting emerging Russian companies in establishing and protecting their rights globally.

During this time, Mr. Aylen has combined several of his main passions and has found an important, unique niche for supporting the Moscow cultural community. He and the Moscow Gowling WLG team have been providing vital pro bono support to the prestigious Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow (MAMM), protecting the rights of artists and exhibitions while satisfying his own keen interests in pro bono work, IP law, and photography. In 2020, the firm became the pro bono legal benefactor of the museum.

“Pro bono is always very important to think about though IP was once traditionally a practice that didn’t have obvious connections to pro bono work. It was strongly associated with business and commerce—areas not normally in need of pro bono assistance,” Mr. Aylen explained. “It really was only about a decade ago that intellectual property hit the wider mainstream. Not-for-profits didn’t historically think about intellectual property, but now they do. Charity, philanthropic, environmental, public health, and cultural foundations need to protect their brand names just as any business does. We’re helping on all fronts.”

Further, he pointed out that the international economy has become IP-based, and the need to protect intellectual capital has come to the forefront as a result.

“The value of innovation and creativity drives markets,” he said. “And at the same time, when we talk of the intangible value of innovation and creativity, we should also look to those who exemplify these aspects and push them forward in the cultural sphere, in the arts—and to the cultural institutions that support them. These artists and institutions need their own innovation, creativity, and IP rights protected.”

As a photographic art aficionado, Mr. Aylen was naturally drawn to MAMM. The Museum opened in 2010 in what had previously been the Moscow House of Photography, and is entirely dedicated to photography and video art. Its innovative and imaginative exhibitions showcase Russian and international contemporary artists, and MAMM is continuously running important educational and outreach programs.

Mr. Aylen credits Olga Sviblova, MAMM’s founder and director, for the museum’s sustained strength as a cultural institution. He noted: “She inspires everyone around her. It’s fantastic. It inspires us too. For our part, Gowling WLG in Moscow is in a position where we can support MAMM and its artists by supporting their intellectual rights. And we are very happy to help.”

According to Mr. Aylen, the pro bono work being done in the Moscow office is very much in line with Gowling WLG’s pro bono efforts and philosophy internationally. For example, it was the first international law firm to sign the UN’s Women’s Empowerment Principles, and it strongly supports anti-racism initiatives globally.

Madina Assylbekova, Director of Business Development, RUSSIA/CIS (Russia)

A self-proclaimed “logician with a law degree,” Joel Feldman (Greenberg Traurig, Atlanta, Georgia, USA) has been with the law firm for more than 14 years. He serves as Vice Chair of the firm’s Global Trademark and Brand Management Group, and mentors many of the firm’s rising trademark law superstars.

Mr. Feldman continues to be active in professional trade organizations like INTA and is currently serving his first term on the Pro Bono Subcommittee of the newly established Brands for A Better Society Committee.

It’s only fitting that he sits on this Subcommittee. Paying it forward through pro bono legal work and community service are extremely important to him.

Mr. Feldman is a University of Florida alumnus—a die-hard fan of the university’s Florida Gators football team. A fellow University of Florida alumnus, 2010 Olympic Gold Medal bobsledder Steve Mesler, reached out to Mr. Feldman shortly after the Olympic games to discuss branding for a new nonprofit endeavor to provide Olympic and Paralympic athlete mentors and content to underprivileged classrooms. Mr. Feldman jumped at the opportunity and has dedicated hundreds of hours to serving as the U.S. pro bono counsel for the project, called “Classroom Champions.”

Of  the volunteerism, Mr. Mesler remarked, “When I founded the organization in 2010, Joel jumped at the opportunity to help out, which at the time was surprising given that he was a 30-year-old attorney at one of the world’s biggest law firms trying to grow his practice, start a family, and build a business. But what I’ve come to know and admire about Joel is how incredibly giving he is of his time, network, and expertise.”

The Olympian noted that Mr. Feldman found the time to make sure he was on every call, prioritized pro bono work with the organization’s trademarks, and helped grow different areas of the nonprofit.

“His want to give and help others is truly impressive, and something you don’t come across on a daily basis,” Mr. Mesler said.

In addition to his pro bono legal work, Mr. Feldman is also active in giving back to the community in other ways. He is on the American-Jewish Committee Atlanta Board of Councilors, a supporter of his synagogue, Ahavath Achim, and a facilitator for Leadership Buckhead and LEAD Atlanta.

Mr. Feldman has also been recognized for his professional success by the Fulton County Daily Report, the Atlanta Business Chronicle, Super Lawyers, The Best Lawyers in America, and Lexology’s Client Choice. In fact, he is one of only 12 intellectual property attorneys in Georgia ever to receive the Client Choice award since its inception over a decade ago. In 2020 World Trademark Review recognized him as one of three “gold tier” trademark attorneys in Georgia.

When he has time off from his busy schedule, Mr. Feldman loves to spend time with his wife and two sons, including serving as the assistant coach of their Little League. His other hobbies include watching the Atlanta Braves baseball games, playing tennis, participating in escape rooms and karaoke, doing puzzles, reading fiction, collecting sports cards, and attending concerts.

When asked what he is most proud of about himself or his life, he cited the mentorship of his sons and younger colleagues at work, noting: “My mentors really shaped my personal and professional experiences, and I think it’s important to continue the cycle.”

Written by Susan Weller Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. (Washington, D.C., USA)

When Micheline Don is not practicing what she describes as “a mix of soft IP,” she is chairperson of Reprieve Netherland, the Dutch branch of Reprieve USA, which she founded with other Dutch-based former volunteers to provide U.S. firms working on death penalty cases with temporary volunteer Dutch interns. Motivated by her own life-changing experience taking a sabbatical and working six months as a paralegal at a capital defence firm in Texas, Ms. Don is now keen to raise awareness among Dutch people as to the human rights issues associated with capital punishment while providing U.S. firms that are fighting for clients on death row with much-needed legal assistance.

While a very different experience than her IP practice, Ms. Don credits her time in Texas as changing her outlook both in her work and in life. Always keen to pursue social justice issues in her youth and envisioning herself as a defender of people’s rights, the experience provided her with a renewed resolve to seek opportunities to effect positive change. It is this same commitment to act against injustices―small or great―that motivated Ms. Don to join INTA’s Pro Bono Committee (now under the umbrella of the Brands for A Better Society Committee). To her, pro bono IP work has an important role: “Many people/small companies are focused on getting their businesses up and running. They put in a lot of effort and (serious) personal investment, but oftentimes are not aware of the role of IP―that it can strengthen their position, but also that it can pose a threat to their business if they infringe someone else’s IP. It is therefore important to create awareness and offer assistance to those who need it but may not be aware that they do, or may not (yet) have the means to seek legal counsel.”

Ms. Don has been a regular INTA Annual Meeting attendee throughout her 20 year career, taking her six month sabbatical at the six year mark. She currently advises, litigates, and does transactional work in IP, and IP-related aspects of IT and commercial contracts and is a partner at Parker Advocaten.