Alison Richards

Alison Richards is a Partner with Global IP Law Group.  She has been helping inventors and companies obtain compensation for their inventions for nearly 20 years.

She holds a law degree from Harvard Law School and has extensive courtroom and trial experience. She is a member of the Northern District of Illinois Trial Bar and has litigated cases in the Eastern, Western and Northern Districts of Texas, the District of Delaware, the Northern District of Illinois, and the Southern, Central and Northern Districts of California. She has successfully argued before the Federal Circuit. She has also successfully represented patent owners in multiple IPR proceedings and has won in PTAB IPR trials.

In addition to litigation, she has extensive expertise with patent licensing. She also advises litigation funding entities about financing investments in patent cases.

Alison frequently works to monetize patents in the mobile phone industry, including standard essential patents (SEPs) relevant to the LTE, 4G, 5G, and other standards. Alison has monetized technologies relating to automobile sensors, radio telephony, wireless navigation, antenna signaling, inertial sensors, cybersecurity, semiconductors, photolithography, integrated circuits, imaging systems, wearables, and medical devices.

Alison started her career as an analyst at Goldman Sachs after obtaining a B.S. (summa cum laude) in finance from the University of Illinois. Prior to joining Global IP Law Group, she served as a partner at Fitch Even Tabin & Flannery for six years and an attorney at Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago for five years. Alison began her legal career after law school at WilmerHale in Boston.

Alison was selected as a Super Lawyer for 2021 and to the “Illinois Rising Stars” for Intellectual Property Litigation list published by Super Lawyers (2013 – 2017), and as an Emerging Lawyer in Intellectual Property Law, Leading Lawyers Network (2015 – 2019). She is licensed to practice law in the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern District of Texas, Western District of Texas, Illinois, Massachusetts, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Alison is a Co-Founder of Chicago Women in IP (ChiWIP). Alison spoke about “Licensing: Monetizing the Value of Your IP Assets” at the MIP International Womens’ Leadership Forum 2019.