Keisha Hylton-Rodic, Ph.D., Esq.
Managing Principal

Keisha Hylton-Rodic, Ph.D. is a registered patent attorney with a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry.  She specializes in assisting pharmaceutical companies, start-ups, universities, chemical companies, and venture capital funds, achieve their IP objectives.  Dr. Hylton-Rodic’s practice includes patent procurement, patent-related risk assessments (including freedom-to-operate, IP due diligence investigations, non-infringement, and validity), design-around strategies and opinions.  She has extensive experience developing and managing domestic and foreign patent portfolios in a variety of technical areas including biotech, chemical, pharmaceutical, materials, food, polymers, and paper.

Dr. Hylton-Rodic received alternative dispute resolution training through the Florida Dispute Resolution Center and was certified by the Florida Supreme Court as a county court mediator.

Dr. Hylton-Rodic’s doctoral research focused on W(CO)6-catalyzed carbonylation as an alternative to phosgene or phosgene derivatives such as 1,1-carbonyldiimidazole (CDI) for the conversion of amines to ureas.  Specifically, her research included preparing the core structure of the HIV protease inhibitors DMP 323 and DMP 450 by catalytic carbonylation of diamine intermediates. Her research also included intermolecular urea formation in related acyclic systems by catalytic carbonylation of O-protected phenylalaninol derivatives and W(CO)6-catalyzed carbonylation as successfully applied to the preparation of analogs of DMP 323 and DMP 450.  Her research further included carbonylating amino alcohols to selectively form hydroxyl ureas.

Dr. Hylton-Rodic is actively involved in the legal community. She served as a judge 2008-2010 at the American Bar Association (ABA) Law Student Division’s National Appellate Advocacy (NAAC) Competitions, Washington DC Regional.  She also graded Briefs for the 2009 American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA)’s Giles Sutherland Moot Court Competition.

She is also actively involved in the IP Law Section of the ABA (ABA-IPL) where she currently serves as a Council Member (the governing body for the ABA-IPL Section.  Dr. Hylton-Rodic is also Liaison to the ABA Health Law Section and ABA Health Law Coordinating Group, respectively. She serves on the Editorial Board of Landslide® magazine, the flagship publication of the American Bar Association Section of Intellectual Property Law (ABA-IPL).

She previously served as a member of the ABA-IPL Task Force on Reverse Settlement Payments in Pharma Litigation and ABA-IPL Task Force on Proposed USPTO Ethics Rules, respectively.  Dr. Hylton-Rodic is past chair of Patents in the Chemical and Life Sciences Committee, and the ABA-IPL’s USPTO Affairs (Post Grant and Inter Partes) Committee. She is former Vice-Chair of ABA-IPL’s USPTO Ex-Parte Patent Practice and Policy Committee Committee and formerly served as a member of the Life Sciences Working Group

She is President and a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation for Advancement of Diversity in IP Law (formerly the American Intellectual Property Law Education Foundation).  She is also a former Board Member of Women Owned Law.  

She is a two-time recipient of the ABA-IPL Award for Recognition of Outstanding Leadership Contribution. 

In her spare time she enjoys reading, running and gardening. She especially loves traveling with family.

Awards

2013 Recognition of Outstanding Leadership Contribution (American Bar Association (ABA), Section of Intellectual Property Law) 

2017 Recognition of Outstanding Leadership Contribution (American Bar Association (ABA), Section of Intellectual Property Law) 

Speaking Engagements and Publications

• Retrospective: Lessons Learned from Deals that Fell Through at the Eleventh Hour (November 2022)

• FTO Workshop: A Comprehensive Tactical Guide to Mastering the FTO Search (November 2020)

• Mastering the FTO Search: Avoiding Blockades, Identifying Third Party Rights, and Evaluating the Likelihood of Infringement (November 2019)

• AUTM IP Portfolio Management: Working with Internal and External Patent Counsel (November 2019)

• Lawyers Behaving Badly: Avoiding Messy Transitions and Complying with Your Ethical Obligations: Managing Multi-Jurisdictional Traps (October 2019)

• AUTM IP Portfolio Management: Working with Internal and External Patent Counsel (November 2018)

• Working with SPEs: Best Practices Guide for Life Sciences Patent Practitioners, ACI’s Advanced Summit on Life Sciences Patents (January 2014)

• The Nuts & Bolts of Patents and Drug Approval (ABA-IPL Webinar, November 2013)

• Reverse Payments Update: Key Strategies to Bring to the Settlement Table, American Conference Institute (July 2013)

• Patent Procurement In The Age Of Harmonization: Strategies For Building A Solid Global Patent Portfolio, ABA-IPL Spring Conference 2013

• Single Claim Restriction Webinar

• A Patent Law Primer For Start-Ups seminar, Peninsula Technology, Hampton, VA (January 2013)

• Recent Developments in Patent Term Adjustments and Extensions, ABA-IPL Spring Conference 2012

• Intensive Deep-Dive into the Orphan Drug Act: Demystifying the Designation Process and Discovering the Accompanying Incentives, ACI Orphan Drugs and Rare Diseases Conference (November 2012)

• Cutting Edge Issues Surrounding Pharmaceuticals and Patents, Sixth Annual Intellectual Property Law Seminar (March 2009)

• Larson Mfg. Co. v. Aluminart Products Ltd.: Did the Federal Circuit Break New Ground in Inequitable Conduct? Maryland State Bar Association

Technical Publications

• Diaz, D.J., Hylton, K-G. McElwee-White, L., "Catalytic Oxidative Carbonylation of Amino Alcohols," Journal of Organic Chemistry, 2006, 71, 734-738.

• Hylton, K-G., Main, A.D., McElwee-White, L., "Catalytic Carbonylation of Functionalized Diamines: Application to the Core Structure of DMP 323 and DMP 450," Journal of Organic Chemistry, 2003, 68, 1615-1617  

• Ji, Y., Fang, Y., Tymoshenko, D., Hylton, K-G, Katrizky, A.R., "The Synthesis of 2, 3, 5-Trisubstituted Phenols," ARKIVOC, 2001, 4, 20-28