This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
IN UNCHARTED WATERS, AND I COULDN’T BE HAPPIER. – DANIEL H. MARTI


DANIEL H. MARTI


Daniel Marti is an intellectual property (IP) lawyer with the soul of a poet. While it may sound as if the road from Lannan Fellow in poetry as a Georgetown undergraduate to IP law was a circuitous one, it’s not quite the winding journey that one might think.


32 “Many lawyers major in or have a love for literature, the


arts, or philosophy,” says Marti. “For me it wasn’t a big leap from focusing on my creativity to protecting the creativity of others.” Daniel Marti is a partner at Kilpatrick Townsend in


his native Washington, D.C., where he concentrates his practice on the protection, management, and enforcement of intellectual property assets in the U.S. and abroad. Marti has represented clients in a wide range of cases involving false advertising, unfair competition, trade secrets, cyber- squatting, and computer fraud before various U.S. federal courts as well as the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Marti works with some of the best-known brands, including adidas, American Eagle Outfi tters, Butterball, Costco, and Marriott. Marti, who is of Spanish and Chilean heritage, also chairs Kilpatrick Townsend’s diversity council. Marti’s path to law began when he was an undergradu-


ate student interning at the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC). T ere, he met Carol Hayashida, the deputy director for the DOC’s Diversity Task Force, who advised, mentored, and introduced Marti to her contacts at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Offi ce. He eventually landed an internship in the Offi ce of the Assistant Commissioner for Trademarks. “While working there I was bitten,” says Marti. “I knew what I wanted to do.”


DIVERSITY & THE BAR® MAY/JUNE 2012 Marti worked at the Patent and Trademark Offi ce in


Alexandria, Va., during the summer break after his fi rst year at Emory University Law School in Atlanta where he focused on IP law. Afterwards, he interned at Atlanta-based Coca-Cola in its trademark department and never looked back. T e head of the Coca-Cola trademark department suggested that Marti might be interested in working for Leslie Lott, who founded one of the top IP law practices in the state of Florida, where Marti had spent part of his childhood. For the fi rst few years after law school he worked as a trademark lawyer with Lott & Friedland (now Lott & Fischer). While practicing in South Florida, Marti was appointed by then-Miami-Dade County Mayor Alex Penelas to the Community Relations Board. As a board member, Marti advised high-ranking offi cials on issues impacting intergroup relations, mutual understanding, tolerance, and respect among all economic, social, religious, and ethnic groups. Marti has had a few great mentors at diff erent stages of


his life and career, so he understands that any commitment to diversity and inclusion must focus on the day-to-day relationships. He believes that more experienced attorneys must make signifi cant investments in the next generation of attorneys to foster successful development and reten- tion of a diverse and competitive legal workforce. Younger lawyers need “super” mentors, who might be better defi ned as “sponsors,” Marti says. T is is not just someone who will have lunch with a young colleague once a month, but someone who will put more on the line. “A sponsor is a seasoned lawyer who will put some skin in


the game,” says Marti. “It’s someone who will invest their cred- ibility and reputation—or professional capital, if you will— into advancing a younger lawyer’s development and progress.” For Marti, one such key person is J. David Mayberry. A


senior partner at Kilpatrick, Mayberry is a well-respected IP attorney who has been exceedingly generous with his time and expertise as a sponsor, according to Marti. “He’s invested hundreds if not thousands of hours helping me to develop the necessary skill set to be a good lawyer,


MCCA.COM


SOME DAYS [IP LAW] FEELS LIKE AN EXPLORATION


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52