Judges

PAULINE NEWMAN, Circuit Judge

PAULINE NEWMAN was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1984. From 1982 to 1984, Judge Newman was Special Adviser to the United States Delegation to the Diplomatic Conference on the Revision of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. She served on the advisory committee to the Domestic Policy Review of Industrial Innovation from 1978 to 1979 and on the State Department Advisory Committee on International Intellectual Property from 1974 to 1984. From 1969 to 1984, Judge Newman served as director, Patent, Trademark and Licensing Department, FMC Corp. From 1961 to 1962 she worked for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization as a science policy specialist in the Department of Natural Sciences. She served as patent attorney and house counsel of FMC Corp. from 1954 to 1969 and as research scientist, American Cyanamid Co. from 1951 to 1954. Judge Newman received a B.A. from Vassar College in 1947, an M.A. from Columbia University in 1948, a Ph.D. from Yale University in 1952 and an LL.B. from New York University School of Law in 1958.

HALDANE ROBERT MAYER, Circuit Judge

HALDANE ROBERT MAYER has been a member of the court since 1987.  He served as Chief Judge from 1997 to 2004.  Born in Buffalo, Judge Mayer was educated in the public schools of Lockport, New York, before attending the United States Military Academy at West Point, from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1963. He earned a law degree in 1971 at the Marshall-Wythe School of Law of The College of William and Mary, where he was editor-in-chief of the William and Mary Law Review as well as a member of Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Society.  He has served as a director of the William and Mary Law School Association. 

Judge Mayer served on active duty in the Army of the United States from 1963 until 1975 in the Infantry and the Judge Advocate General's Corps. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Army Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Combat Infantryman Badge, Parachutist Badge, Ranger Tab, RVN Ranger Combat Badge, and several campaign and service ribbons.  He resigned his Regular Army commission to take an Army Reserve commission, retiring in 1985 as a lieutenant colonel.

In 1971, Judge Mayer served as a law clerk for Judge John D. Butzner, Jr., of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Virginia.  He practiced law in Charlottesville, Virginia, in the mid-1970’s, simultaneously serving as an adjunct at the University of Virginia School of Law, as he did again in the 1990’s.  He has also been an adjunct at George Washington University National Law Center.

 From 1977 through 1980, Judge Mayer was the Special Assistant to the Chief Justice of the United States, Warren E. Burger, after which he returned to private law practice in Washington, D.C., until he became Deputy and Acting Special Counsel (by designation of the President).

President Ronald Reagan appointed Judge Mayer to what is now the United States Court of Federal Claims in 1982, and to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in 1987.  He assumed senior status on June 30, 2010.

S. JAY PLAGER, Circuit Judge

S. JAY PLAGER was appointed Circuit Judge by President George H. W. Bush in 1989. Prior to his appointment, Judge Plager served in the Executive Office of the President from 1987 to 1989, as Associate Director of OMB and as Administrator, OIRA. He served as Counselor to the Under Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services from 1986 to 1987. Judge Plager was Dean and Professor, Indiana University School of Law from 1977 to 1984. He was Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Illinois from 1964 to 1977, and from 1958 to 1964 was Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Florida. Judge Plager was Visiting Scholar, Stanford University Law School from 1984 to 1985, Visiting Fellow, Trinity College, and Visiting Professor, Cambridge University in 1980, and Visiting Research Professor of Law, University of Wisconsin from 1967 to 1968. Judge Plager served on active duty in the United States Navy during the Korean Conflict. Judge Plager grew up in New Jersey, where he attended public schools. In 1952, he received an A.B. degree from the University of North Carolina, a J.D. in 1958 from the University of Florida, with high honors, where he was editor-in-chief of the Florida Law Review, and in 1961 an LL.M. from Columbia University. He has three children. Judge Plager assumed senior status in 2000.

ALAN D. LOURIE, Circuit Judge

Circuit Judge Alan D. Lourie was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on April 6, 1990, by President George H. W. Bush.  He was formerly Vice President, Corporate Patents and Trademarks, and Associate General Counsel of SmithKline Beecham Corporation.

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 13, 1935, Judge Lourie received his Bachelor’s degree from Harvard University (1956), his Master’s degree in organic chemistry from the University of Wisconsin (1958), and his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania (1965).  He received his J.D. degree from Temple University in 1970. 

Before being appointed to the court, Judge Lourie had been President of the Philadelphia Patent Law Association, a member of the Board of Directors of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (formerly American Patent Law Association), treasurer of the Association of Corporate Patent Counsel, and a member of the board of directors of the Intellectual Property Owners Association.  He was also Vice Chairman of the Industry Functional Advisory Committee on Intellectual Property Rights for Trade Policy Matters (IFAC 3) for the Department of Commerce and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.  He was a member of the U.S. delegation to the Diplomatic Conference on the Revision of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, held in Geneva in October and November 1982, and in March 1984.  He was chairman of the Patent Committee of the Law Section of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association from 1980 to 1985. 

Judge Lourie was awarded the Jefferson Medal of the New Jersey Intellectual Property Law Association for extraordinary contributions to the field of intellectual property law in 1998; was a recipient of the Intellectual Property Owners Education Foundation Distinguished Intellectual Property Professional Award for extraordinary leadership in the intellectual property community and a lifetime commitment to invention and innovation in 2008; was a recipient of the Philadelphia Intellectual Property Law Association’s Award for outstanding IP achievement in 2010; was a recipient of the Boston Patent Law Association’s Distinguished Public Service Award in 2011; was a recipient of a “lifetime achievement” award from The Sedona Conference in 2011; and recently was a recipient of NYIPLA’s 10^th Annual Outstanding Public Service Award in 2012.

He was a member of the Judicial Conference Committee on Financial Disclosure from 1990 to 1998 and has been a member of the Committee on Codes of Conduct since 2005.  He is a member of the American Intellectual Property Law Association, the American Chemical Society, the Cosmos Club, and the Harvard Club of Washington.

Judge Lourie is married and has two daughters and four grandchildren.

RAYMOND C. CLEVENGER, III, Circuit Judge

RAYMOND C. CLEVENGER, III was appointed by President George H. W. Bush in 1990. Judge Clevenger received a B.A. from Yale University in 1959. As a Carnegie Teaching Fellow, he taught European History at Yale College in the 1959-1960 academic year. From 1960 to 1963, he was employed by the Morgan Guaranty Trust Company in New York City. He received an LL.B. from Yale University in 1966. Judge Clevenger served as a law clerk to Mr. Justice White in October Term 1966. Judge Clevenger joined Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering in 1967, serving as a partner in the firm from 1974 until his appointment to the bench. Judge Clevenger assumed senior status on February 1, 2006.