Leone and Scherer Appointed Co-Chairs of Dewitt’s Intellectual Property Group
MADISON | BROOKFIELD | MINNEAPOLIS – DeWitt Ross & Stevens S.C., and its affiliate DeWitt Mackall Crounse & Moore S.C., 
today announced that Shareholders, Joseph T. Leone and Christopher M. Scherer, have been appointed as Co-Chairs of the firm’s Intellectual Property (IP) Practice Group.
Leone and Scherer succeed Charles S. Sara, who chaired the Group from 1991 – 2018. The firm’s robust IP Practice Group and its attorneys are recognized as leaders in the Intellectual Property (IP) field by IAM Patent 1000, IP Stars, The PatentResearch Review, Martindale-Hubbell and others. Its team of attorneys works with clients around the world in all matters related to IP.
About Joseph Leone
Clients around the world turn to Leone to secure and enforce their intellectual property rights. This includes securing patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets, as well as asserting and defending these rights in the state and federal courts. Joe is frequently engaged in opinion work, drafting freedom to operate opinions for U.S. manufacturers and foreign companies importing goods into the U.S. He serves as an expert witness in state and federal actions regarding Patent & Trademark Office practices and procedures. Additionally, he regularly represents both applicants and opposers in actions before the Trademark Trial & Appeal Board. His clients run the gamut from multinational corporations and large research universities to startups and individual inventors.
Leone earned a J.D. from Marquette University, an M.S. in Organic Chemistry from Marquette University and an A.B. in Chemistry, Kenyon College. He is a member and past board member of the Wisconsin State Bar Intellectual Property Law Section, Member and Past President of the Wisconsin Intellectual Property Law Association and a member of the American Chemical Society. He is admitted to practice in Wisconsin and Illinois.
About Christopher Scherer
Scherer concentrates his legal practice at DeWitt on domestic and international patent prosecution, particularly for electrical and electronic circuits and systems, computer software, medical devices, medical patient monitoring and treatment technology, device fabrication, optical devices and systems, as well as mechanical devices. His clients include universities, small and large corporations, privately held businesses, corporations and foreign law firms. He is actively involved in the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI), and serves on the AIPPI-US National Steering Committee. The Executive Committee of AIPPI has also appointed Scherer to its International Standing Committee on the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).
Scherer, who earned his J.D. from the John Marshall Law School, and his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Marquette University, is a prolific speaker having given dozens of presentations to a variety of groups on the topic of intellectual property law, and created and taught an Intellectual Property Law course in the Marquette College of Engineering. He is a past President of the Wisconsin Intellectual Property Law Association (WIPLA), and he is a member of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA), the American Bar Association (ABA) and the Milwaukee Bar Association (MBA).He is admitted to practice in Wisconsin and Illinois.