James M. Silbermann is the USPTO’s Senior Counsel for Enrollment and Intellectual Property Legal Services in the Office of Enrollment and Discipline. He leads a team of attorneys that is responsible for all aspects of enrollment to practice before the USPTO, including development of the registration examination to measure an applicant’s knowledge of patent law and practice. He oversees and manages the USPTO Patent Pro Bono and Law School Clinic Certification Programs, and he is also responsible for Office of Enrollment and Discipline rulemaking and other non-disciplinary matters.
Prior to becoming Senior Counsel, Mr. Silbermann was a staff attorney in the Office of Enrollment and Discipline handling enrollment and discipline matters and also supervising the Law School Clinical Certification Program. Before joining the USPTO in 2005, Mr. Silbermann worked at the law firm of Dickstein Shapiro Morin & Oshinsky LLP in Washington, D.C. and the Washington, D.C. office of Foley & Lardner LLP, where he specialized in intellectual property acquisitions, patent litigation and prosecution, and client consultation.
Mr. Silbermann received his Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park, and his Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law, where he was an editor of the Journal of Contemporary Health Law and Policy