Julia Kim is a registered patent attorney with more than 15 years of experience serving the life sciences sector and protecting pharmaceutical, chemical, biotech, medical device, and ag tech innovations. Julia’s breadth of knowledge and experience positions her well to handle sophisticated technologies and complex legal matters, and adapt to provide value-added patent services to a range of clientele including established companies, premier research institutions, growth stage companies, and start-ups.
Julia provides business-oriented counseling with a focus on value-creation. She prepares and prosecutes patent applications to safeguard intellectual property, and ultimately help secure funding, attract licensees, establish collaborations and joint ventures, and bring products to market. Her patent practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office includes preparing provisional, PCT, national stage, and utility applications; and seeking early allowance with tools such as expedited examination via Track 1.
Her practice includes serving as intellectual property counsel for start-ups and growth stage companies and strategically managing, strengthening, and de-risking patent portfolios with an understanding of business goals and any exit-strategies. Acting as in-house counsel, Julia represents clients in negotiating agreements for in-licensing and out-licensing intellectual property, particularly with respect to in-licensing IP from universities and out-licensing to commercial partners.
Julia also performs FTO or clearance studies, and provides non-infringement and validity opinions to support business growth and defend against claims of enhanced damages, attorney fees, and induced infringement. Julia successfully managed and led invalidity proceedings in foreign jurisdictions through foreign associates; and is prepared to help clients build strategies to challenge the validity of competitor patents.
Julia also conducts patent portfolio audits to maximize return on investment, and due diligence analyses in various contexts, including IPOs, financings, and merger and acquisitions.
Julia currently serves as Chair of the Intellectual Property Law Section of the North Carolina Bar Association, and previously served as Vice Chair (2022-2023), Treasurer (2021-2022), Secretary (2020-2021), Council Member, Biotech & Chemical Patent Committee Co-Chair (2020-2022), Outreach Committee Co-Chair (2018-2019), and Licensing Committee Co-Chair (2014-2018). She is also a member of the American Intellectual Property Law Association and the Wake County Bar Association.
Julia is licensed in North Carolina and the District of Columbia. She has a J.D. from the University of Arizona and a Bachelors in Molecular and Cellular Biology, magna cum laude and with honors, from the University of Arizona. Julia served as an extern for the Honorable Raner C. Collins, District Court of Arizona; the USPTO Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences; and the Honorable Randall R. Rader, Chief Judge, Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. She also practiced in DC at a life sciences patent firm for several years.