Clara Davis has been an attorney since 1995, and a registered patent attorney since 2002. Clara is a shareholder of the firm. She practices in the area of patent prosecution and related product clearance analysis, competitor analysis, and strategic patent portfolio management. Her technical areas in patent prosecution include: medical devices including pacemakers and defibrillators, bioinformatics, green energy production including photovoltaic and fuel cell technologies, semiconductor devices, optical films, touch screens, LCD/OLED display systems, high speed fabrication techniques for thin film electronic components, sensors, RFID devices, telecommunications, and disk drive technology.

Licensed to practice law in Minnesota
Licensed to practice before the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office

Education

B.S., Electrical Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina
M.S., Electrical Engineering, (minor emphasis in Biomedical Engineering), Clemson University
Ph.D., Electrical Engineering (minor emphasis in Solid State Physics), Clemson University
J.D., cum laude, William Mitchell College of Law, St. Paul, Minnesota

Industry/Academic Experience

Clara has twelve years of experience as a design engineer, researcher, and college professor. As an engineer, she was the lead design engineer for a token ring data acquisition system that connected hundreds of embedded processors, and was on the design team for a high speed, high volume blood analyzer. Clara researched material and electronic properties of developmental thin film solar cells, developed a sensor system capable of emulating the spectral response characteristics of various types of semiconductor materials, and designed hardware and software analytical tools supporting semiconductor research projects. As a college professor, she developed curricula and taught classes in the areas of digital electronics, microprocessor system design, semiconductor materials, and circuit analysis.

Other Professional Activities

Clara has dedicated countless pro bono hours towards helping low income people gain access to the legal system. Her work with the legally under-represented population began during law school when she volunteered with Minneapolis Legal Aid, primarily in the area of public benefits and housing law. Immediately after law school, she worked with Community Law Center and Catholic Charities to provide legal services to the working poor.

She has volunteered as a guardian ad litem for abused and neglected children in child protection cases, has represented children in Juvenile Court through the Children's Law Center, and has represented hundreds of low income family law clients. She volunteers regularly at legal advice clinics for Volunteer Lawyers Network and The Advocates for Human Rights. Clara represents clients who seek asylum in the U.S. due to torture and persecution in their home country.

Currently, Clara serves on the Board of Directors and as Program Director for LILA (Low Income Legal Assistance) Law, a non-profit organization working to provide technical support and mentoring for volunteer attorney teams serving low income immigration clients.