Philip G. Hampton, II, a senior partner with more than four decades of experience as an IP lawyer, serves as Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer. In this position, he works collaboratively with the Board of Directors to establish the firm's diversity and inclusion strategy, including setting and monitoring goals for recruiting, retaining and advancing diverse legal professionals. He leads diversity-related activities and firm resource groups and subcommittees.

Phil has been involved in diversity, equity and inclusion programs and initiatives for most of his professional career. He has mentored dozens of minority and female IP students and young lawyers. While serving as the Assistant Commissioner for Trademark in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) during the Clinton Administration, minority attorneys increased by more than 400%. He proposed innovative solutions to foster diversity and inclusion, for which two of his former firms were awarded the Minority Corporate Counsel Association's esteemed Thomas L. Sager Award.

Phil is a former President and Scholarship Committee Chairman of Foundation for the Advancement of Diversity in Intellectual Property Law (FADIPL). In 2016, Phil was the inaugural recipient of the Diversity in Tech Award presented by the IP Section of the National Bar Association. Phil also teaches Trademark Law at Howard University School of Law, where he has served as an adjunct professor for more than a decade.

While serving as the Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer, Phil is an active member of Polsinelli's Intellectual Property Department. Phil’s decades of experience in patent and trademark litigation, patent and trademark counseling, trademark prosecution, enforcement, maintenance and licensing of all types of intellectual property, are valuable to less established department members. He has been an expert witness in almost three dozen trademark infringement actions and has served as a Special Master in several patent infringement actions for the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.

Phil has been involved in patent and trademark litigation in U.S. district courts, mini-trials, ITC Section 337 hearings, and Trademark Trial and Appeal Board opposition and cancellation proceedings. He always seeks creative, cost-effective solutions to his client’s legal problems.

Phil has prepared, filed, and prosecuted U.S. and foreign patent applications, and he has also prepared opinions regarding patentability, validity, and infringement issues. With his knowledge of the USPTO people and processes, Phil has conducted investigations of "atypical" prosecutions of patent applications within the USPTO.

Phil has represented U.S. and foreign clients in many capacities for trademark law, including:

• preparing, filing and prosecuting trademark applications
• preparing trademark opinion letters
• preparing and filing appeals to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board
• conducting opposition and cancellation proceedings

Also, during his tenure at the USPTO, Phil oversaw the reengineering of the agency. He promulgated almost 200 Commissioner's Decisions and oversaw the first new edition of the Manual of Trademark Examining Procedure in almost ten years.