Myers Bigel Attorney Julie Richardson Tapped to Join Raleigh Local Advisory Council of Legal Aid of North Carolina

Myers Bigel patent attorney Julie Richardson has accepted an invitation to serve on the Raleigh Local Advisory Council of the statewide nonprofit Legal Aid of North Carolina.

The organization provides free legal services in civil matters to low-income people in order to ensure equal access to justice and to remove barriers to economic opportunity.

“We provide a supportive environment for our attorneys to further best practices in patent law and also share their wide-ranging expertise with a multitude of different organizations in the Raleigh area and across the country,” said David Purks, managing partner.

Purks explained that in addition to important pro-bono work, members of the Myers Bigel legal team are active in groups such as the Carolina Patent, Trademark & Copyright Law Association; North Carolina Bar Association; American Bar Association; American Intellectual Property Law Association; American Society of Mechanical Engineers; Association of University Technology Managers; and Triangle Intellectual Property Law Association.

Legal Aid of North Carolina asked Richardson if she could help its Raleigh office, serving on the local advisory council to examine issues impacting the community. She had previously clerked for Legal Aid while at the Duke University School of Law, and was one of the originators for Project Together, a volunteer lawyer program providing help for indigent clients in domestic violence court proceedings.

“Legal Aid of North Carolina is a valuable organization which is underfunded, so one of the ways I hope to help is to find ways to support it to reach more of those in need of legal services,” Richardson said.

The organization operates field offices throughout the state to help individuals, families and communities with legal problems affecting basic human needs, such as family, housing, education, employment and income. It manages seven statewide projects focusing on special areas of the law: Advocates for Children’s Services, Battered Immigrant Project, Domestic Violence Prevention Initiative, Fair Housing Initiatives Project, Farmworker Unit, Mortgage Foreclosure Prevention Project and Senior Law Project. Through these projects, Legal Aid of North Carolina provides one-on-one counseling as well as outreach such as free health care enrollment and education events and day-long training seminars covering the design and construction requirements for building accessible multifamily housing.

To learn more, visit www.legalaidc.org.

Practicing law since 1995, Richardson now focuses on patent prosecution in the electro-mechanical arts with an emphasis on biomedical devices. She has expertise in patent licensing, patent opinion work, and trademarks and has also prepared and prosecuted hundreds of patents directed to various technologies including MRI-based inventions.

Richardson is past Chair of the Intellectual Property (“IP”) Section of the North Carolina Bar Association and has been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America® (2013-2015), Super Lawyers (2006) and Business North Carolina’s Legal Elite (2004, 2006-2011, 2013-2014).

She is part of a six-member team in the Myers Bigel Mechanical practice group, joining David Beatty, Needham Boddie, Jim Cannon, Laura Kelley, and Stephen Petroski representing clients in a broad range of technologies such as automotive, connectors, manufacturing devices and methods, semiconductor fabrication and biomedical devices. The team works seamlessly with fellow attorneys in the firm’s Biotechnology, Chemical, Electronics/Computer, Litigation and Trademark practice groups.

Like Richardson, many of these attorneys are recognized for their expertise by industry groups and organizations. Recently, attorneys Randy Ayers, David Beatty, and Mitch Bigel were recognized in the 2015 edition of Best Lawyers®, while Jim Cannon, Lance Lawson, Shawna Lemon, Grant Scott, and Ken Sibley were named to the 21st Edition of The Best Lawyers in America.