News @ Georgia Law May 2013 Alumni Profile

 

Name: L. Norwood “Woody” Jameson
Title: Partner at Duane Morris and chair of the Intellectual Property Practice Group
Employer Name: Duane Morris
Location: Atlanta, Ga.
Georgia Law graduation year: 1988
Other degree(s)/institution(s): B.A./ University of North Carolina / 1984
 

1. Why did you choose to attend Georgia Law?
My grandmother lived on Milledge Avenue, in what is now a place of business for an eye doctor, and my mother was raised in Athens and went to UGA, so I grew up a big “Dawg” fan even though I lived in Asheville, N.C. Following graduation from UNC Chapel Hill, I knew I wanted to start my career in Atlanta following law school, so Georgia Law was an easy choice once I finally was admitted.

 

2. Who was your favorite Georgia Law professor? Why?
Even though I never had her because she was actually a classmate of mine, it would be Professor Anne Dupre. Just a wonderful person, incredibly smart and could talk to anyone about any subject. With respect to professors I had while in law school, many good options, but I would have to say Professor Mike Wells. He just loves teaching and, though a bit reserved, I just had a great time getting to know him and interacting with him. Bantering with him in Torts was just awesome.

 

3. What is your most memorable experience from your time at Georgia Law?
Getting my first midterm exam grade from Mr. Smith in Property before I had even taken my next exam, and realizing I had the 4th lowest grade in the class. I was petrified that I was in way over my head. The good news is that test turned out to be an anomaly, and I did well on all the other midterm exams, and actually ended up being a pretty good student. But, rough start.

 

4. Where was your favorite place to study during law school?
I used to go hide in a study carrel in what was the “new” portion of the law library.

 

5. What was your favorite thing about living in Athens?
If I am going to be honest, it would be sorority mixers.

 

6. What advice would you give to current Georgia Law students?
Go to class, take good notes and get your studying done between classes rather than just killing an hour doing nothing. Next thing you know, you will have plenty of time to enjoy the social aspects of living in a great college town like Athens.

 

7. Please give a brief description of your responsibilities as partner at Duane Morris and as chair of the Intellectual Property Practice Group.
I am an intellectual property litigator, with a heavy emphasis on the defense of patent litigation cases. My cases are always in Federal Court and almost never in the Northern District of Georgia because of likely venues where plaintiffs file patent cases (E.D. Tex., N.D. Cal. and D. Del.) and because my clients are scattered about the country. I am also the head of a nationwide practice group of about 80 intellectual property attorneys. On the administrative side, the fun stuff is trying to continue to grow the IP practice through finding great legal talent that we believe would add value to our firm, both culturally and economically. The not so fun stuff is dealing with the economic side of the practice of law and making sure that lawyers in my group are getting bills out on time, are following up on accounts receivable and things like that. You don’t learn that skillset in law school.

 

8. What do you enjoy most about your job? What is the most rewarding aspect?
Trying cases and winning. It is a real challenge to be able to find a story in a patent case that will keep a jury’s attention, as well as distill and explain what at times can be very complex technology to folks who likely have no training in the technology and only have a limited amount of time to learn it.

 

9. What is one of the greatest challenges facing your field right now?
The effort to monetize patents by “non-practicing entities” (sometimes knows as “patent trolls”) has resulted in an avalanche of patent cases being filed against big technology companies over the last 10 or so years. The defense of these cases can be incredibly expensive, so a huge challenge for law firms and our clients is coming up with alternative billing arrangements (i.e. moving away from the billable hour) that will allow clients to fight the merits of cases, as opposed to paying cost of defense settlements, while at the same time ensuring our law firm can also be rewarded economically for our representation.



10. What do you do to handle the stress of your work?
Exercise is my great stress release.

 

11. What do you enjoy doing in your free time? What are your hobbies?
I am an avid golfer, and I love to exercise, but my favorite hobby is going to Falcons games with my two daughters (one being 18 years old and enrolling in UGA in the fall, and the other being 14 years old) and my son (11 years old).  They are just absolute die-hard fans, as am I. I had already made tentative plans to rent an RV and take them to the Super Bowl in New Orleans this year, when the trip of a life time was rudely put on hold by the 49ers.

 

12. What would you consider your greatest accomplishment in life?
Getting my wife to marry me, and still put up with me.

 

13. What book/resource do you find yourself referencing the most?
The Bible.

 

14. When you look out your office window, what do you see?
A beautiful lake at Piedmont Park with Stone Mountain way off in the distance.  Pretty cool.