Lance Lawson is a partner of the Firm in the Intellectual Property Law and Litigation Group. He concentrates his practice on intellectual property, with a focus on patent infringement and other intellectual property litigation, strategic counseling, IP portfolio management, and licensing, as well as commercial disputes involving technology. Mr. Lawson was elected to Business North Carolina magazine’s "Legal Elite" list as one of the top patent attorneys in North Carolina. Mr. Lawson is named in The Best Lawyers in America and has been recognized as a North Carolina Super Lawyer for his experience in Intellectual Property Litigation. Mr. Lawson currently serves as the Chair of the Local Patent Rules Committee for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina.

Mr. Lawson has represented companies in more than forty intellectual property disputes in federal courts in Alabama, California, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Virginia, and the International Trade Commission. Mr. Lawson has handled intellectual property disputes in diverse technology areas including medical devices, mobile wireless telephones, hand held scanners, computer software and hard disk drives, spread spectrum chip technology, breathable film and nonwoven fabrics, cervical cancer screening systems and preservative solutions, high speed knitting needles, mechanical discharge constriction apparatuses, and athletic and comfort footwear.

Mr. Lawson is a former law clerk to The Honorable Robert D. Potter, Senior United States District Court Judge for the Western District of North Carolina. He is a member of the Intellectual Property Owner’s Association, Federal Circuit Bar Association, Intellectual Property Law Section of the North Carolina Bar Association, and the Carolina Patent Trademark and Copyright Law Association. He is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office and is a licensed professional engineer.

Mr. Lawson is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, as well as a number of U.S. District Courts throughout the country. He received his B.S. in civil engineering at the United States Military Academy at West Point and his M.S. in environmental engineering from Stanford University. He earned his J.D., cum laude, from the University of Notre Dame in 1996, where he was a member of the Notre Dame Law Review.

Prior to attending law school, Mr. Lawson served nine years on active duty as a civil engineer officer with the United States Army Corps of Engineers, including three years as chief of engineering and design in a construction unit, and one year commanding a construction unit in Iraq and Saudi Arabia during Operations Desert Shield and Storm. Mr. Lawson served as an attorney at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army Reserves providing legal assistance to soldiers and their families in North Carolina. Mr. Lawson is a member of the board of directors for the Hospitality House of Charlotte. In addition, Mr. Lawson serves as a college liaison counselor to local high school students interested in attending a service academy, and on Congresswoman Myrick’s Service Academy Selection Panel. Mr. Lawson also coaches youth athletic teams, including a high-school-age boys AAU basketball team.

Representative Experience

• Represents designer and manufacturer of medical devices that repair structural heart defects.
• Represents designer and manufacturer of state-of-the-art athletic and comfort footwear.
• Represented telecommunications client in several U.S. and international patent-related matters.
• Represented defendant designer and manufacturer of materials handling equipment in a patent infringement lawsuit. Obtained summary judgment of non-infringement based on the claim construction advocated by defendant and affirmed by the Federal Circuit.
• Lead counsel in obtaining a favorable settlement for the defendant in a case for alleged infringement of a patent for a filter and shroud assembly for computer hard disk drives.
• Represented defendant accused of breaches of contract, misappropriation of trade secrets, unfair competition, and patent infringement with technology related to reagents and methods for determining the amount of certain analytes in human blood samples. Case resolved on favorable business agreement after court granted defendant’s motion for summary judgment that plaintiff was not entitled to damages for lost profits and dismissal of plaintiff’s unfair competition claims.
• Represented plaintiff and obtained a favorable settlement in a breach of contract and unfair and deceptive trade practices matter concerning hand-held scanners.
• Represented patentee regarding technology relating to spread spectrum electronic chips used on brake systems and warning lights for the heavy trucking industry. Case resolved on business arrangement including patentee granting some licenses regarding its spread spectrum technology.
• Represented the defendant in complex patent, antitrust, and Lanham Act cases in the District of Delaware and the District of Massachusetts relating to a system for screening for cervical cancer. The case resolved on a business arrangement.