Douglas Portnow

A registered patent attorney, Doug Portnow also has engineering experience in the medical device industry. This practical experience gives him an in-depth understanding of clients’ perspectives.

Doug’s practice focuses on patent preparation and prosecution, IP due diligence, and strategic counseling in the medical device and mechanical technologies. Prior to joining Schwegman, Doug was a partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and an associate at Townsend and Townsend and Crew LLP (now Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton).

Before entering the legal profession, Doug worked for over a decade in the medical device industry. Doug worked at start-ups and publicly traded companies commercializing critical care products, vascular grafts, surgical instruments, stents, stent delivery systems, RF ablation catheters, embolic protection devices, and heart failure implants. This experience helps him understand the important role that IP can play, both for companies and the public. “As patent lawyers, we work on cutting-edge medical device technology that can help companies get funded to develop new products, and ultimately, that can provide patients with better treatments and therapies.”

Doug enjoys taking complex technical ideas and translating them into written form. He is detail-oriented, and is dedicated to keeping clients well-informed about project status.

Doug has been recognized as a Rising Star by Northern California Super Lawyers (by Thomson Reuters, 2013 – 2015). Outside of work, he loves to travel around the globe. He has visited 46 states and 6 continents.