Education: B.S. in Physics, Stanford University, 1966; J.D. Stanford School of Law, 1969.
Bar: Virginia, Missouri; U.S. Supreme Court, Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, Eastern District of Virginia; U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Bar related activities: Member, Circuit Court Committee (1994-present), and its Circuit Court Manual Subcommittee, Fairfax Bar Association; Past Chair, Section of Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law, Virginia Bar Association; Past Chair, Technology and the Practice of Law Committee, Virginia State Bar.
Family: married, 1969; two children; five grandchildren.
History:
Judge Advocate in the United States Marine Corps, 1969-1972; headed the defense section; served as a prosecutor in the only treason trial to come out of the Vietnam war. Trial attorney with the Antitrust Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, 1972-1984, served on trial staff of several large monopolization cases; part of a team that organized a staff and an eight million dollar budget increase for technology support to the Antitrust Division for large scale litigation; Intergovernmental Personnel Act detail to Council of State Governments, 1983-84. Private practice in Fairfax, 1985-2001; small software developers and other technology clients, in addition to wills and bankruptcies; handled court-appointed criminal cases; began handling patent cases in 1990; partner in the intellectual property law firm of Whitham, Curtis, Christofferson & Cook, P.C. 2001 to 2016 before retiring to part-time private practice in 2016.
Chaired the Law Related Education Committee of the Fairfax Bar Association and the Legal Network Committee of the Virginia State Bar; founded the Technology Committee of the Fairfax Bar Association; chaired the Electronic Filing Subcommittee of the Circuit Court Committee of the Fairfax Bar Association; Editor, Fairfax Circuit Court Manual; chaired the Electronic Data Interchange Committee within the ABA’s Section of Science and Technology; edited the technology section of the Computer Litigation Journal of the ABA’s Section of Litigation from 1989 to 1997; chaired the D.C. Computer Law Forum and the Computer Interest Group of the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association.
Nominated by the Virginia State Bar and appointed by the Governor in 1996 to the Board of Directors of the Virginia Information Providers Network Authority, which was set up by the Legislature to develop a central electronic network for public access to information maintained by the Commonwealth of Virginia. Elected by the Board as its first chairman in 1997. Appointed as a member of the Virginia Supreme Court Committee on Public Access to Court Records, 2006-2007.
Volunteer Activities
Member of the NOVA Community, an Intentional Eucharistic Community in the Northern Virginia area, since 1970; served on planning committees for 2009 and 2015 national conferences of Intentional Eucharistic Communities.
Currently serving on the boards of the American Catholic Council and Catholic Church Reform International; as a member of NOVA, attended Forum on the Family in Rome in September/October 2014.