Chicago IP Attorney & Lawyer : R. David Donoghue : Chicago IP Litigation Blog

The patent pilot program started this month in the Northern District and across the country.  The pilot program is a ten-year look at ways to handle patent cases more effectively.  The main component of the pilot program is judges in pilot districts, including the Northern District, self-selecting as patent judges.  Patent cases will continue to be randomly assigned to all Northern District judges.  But when a non-patent judge is assigned a patent case that judge will have thirty days to order reassignment of the case.  When reassignment is ordered, the case will be randomly reassigned to one of the patent judges.  There will also be patent-related education and programs offered for the patent judges across the country. 

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In late January, the Northern District's six newest judges attended a Federal Bar Association* panel to offer insights into their practices and chambers. The recurring theme of the discussion was a call for civility: Civility in court. Civility in briefs. Civility in emails. Over the next several weeks, I will provide summaries of each judge's comments and insights. This post (the third in the series) focuses upon Judge Feinerman:

• Allege diversity jurisdiction properly (watch corporate entities)
   
• Assume he has read the papers when arguing
   
• Be prepared to argue motions when noticed
   
• Answer the question the court asks: If it is a yes or no question, the answer should start with "yes", "no" or "I cannot answer that because. . . ."
   
• Jury trials: respect juries and use humor sparingly

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Chief Judge Holderman recently gave the annual State of the Court address, concluding that the Northern District continues to be an active, growing district court. Civil case filings were up 6.2% from 2008 to 2009, and the Northern District remains in the top 10% of district courts for median time to disposition – 6.2 months. 

The Court began 2009 with one vacant judgeship – created by Judge Filip's March 2008 resignation. The Court ended 2009 with from after Judges Bucklo, Coar and Gettleman took senior status. In February 2010, Judge Manning also took senior status. Judge Feinerman was confirmed last month, reducing the vacant seats by one, but there could be five vacancies again at the end of July when Judge Anderson retires. 

The magistrate bench was also active. Judges Ashman and Keys shifted to recalled status. Judges Finnegan, Gilbert and Kim joined the bench. 

Finally, the number of registered e-filers is up 18% to over 25,000. And the daily filing rate is up 15% to an average 867 documents per day. 

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Late Monday night, the Senate confirmed Gary Feinerman as the Northern District of Illinois's next district judge.  Judge Feinerman was most recently a partner with Sidley.  He also served as a law clerk to Judge Flaum of the Seventh Circuit and then Justice Kennedy, after which he served in the Justice Department and as Illinois's Solicitor General.  Judge Feinerman fills the vacancy created when Judge Gettleman took senior status.

Welcome to the Northern District of Illinois bench Judge Feinerman.

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This week President Obama appointed Illinois Appellate Court Justice Sharon Johnson Coleman and Sidley Austin partner Gary Scott Feinerman to the Northern District of Illinois bench.  Here is biographical information from President Obama's press release:

• Justice Sharon Johnson Coleman sits on the Illinois Appellate Court in Chicago, a position she has held since 2008.  From 1996 until 2008, Justice Coleman served as a judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois.  Between 1993 and 1996, she held the position of Deputy State’s Attorney and Bureau Chief for the Public Interest Bureau of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.  From 1989 to 1993, Justice Coleman served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of Illinois.  From 1984 until 1989, she was an Assistant State’s Attorney in Cook County.  Justice Coleman received her J.D. in 1984 from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis and her B.A. in 1981 from Northern Illinois University.
   
• Gary Scott Feinerman is a partner in the Chicago office of Sidley Austin LLP, where he practices in the general litigation and appellate practice groups.  He received his B.A., summa cum laude¸ from Yale College in 1987 and his J.D. from Stanford, where he was a member of the Order of the Coif and the Law Review, in 1991.  After law school, Feinerman clerked for Judge Joel M. Flaum of the Seventh Circuit and for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the Supreme Court of the United States.  After his clerkships, Feinerman worked in the Justice Department’s Office of Policy Development (now known as the Office of Legal Policy).  From 2003- 2007, Feinerman served as Solicitor General of Illinois, where he received  Best Brief Awards from the National Association of Attorneys General in each year from 2004-2007.

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