The POWER List 2022: Judith L. Carlson

Stinson, Kansas City

As a former engineer for a telecom company who concentrated on the design of fiber optic transmission systems, Judith Carlson was quick to put her electrical engineering degree to good use.

She still is. The 1996 KU Law graduate, who began work as a patent attorney at a forerunner of Stinson immediately after school, has compiled a reputation as a strategic problem solver in interacting with a diverse array of technology from LiDAR systems and voting machines to RF heating equipment and high-speed digital cameras. Her work in the health care arena has included the protection of light and ultrasound devices for therapeutic applications, multi-modal drug delivery methods and microcurrent items for the treatment of eye disease.

Carlson assists universities in gaining patents and has dealt with both domestic and foreign applications.

She is a 2017 recipient of the Patent Pro Bono Achievement Certificate from the United States Patent and Trademark Office thanks to her work in helping make its Patent Pro Bono Program available to financially disadvantaged investors and businesses.

Her law firm bio describes her as a “strategic problem-solver” who has drafted and negotiated patent license, software development and merger and acquisition agreements.

“Judy counseled financial and insurance companies on strategies for navigating the current legal landscape in the U.S. and globally concerning patent eligibility of software and computer-implemented business methods,” it said.