James Mueller is a veteran patent researcher who is motivated daily to find the best prior art for his clients. James is an experienced patent researcher who has conducted several thousand novelty, clearance, invalidity and state-of-the-art searches. He works with the Brooks Kushman prosecution and litigation teams for prior art in patent prosecution, invalidity studies, and post-grant reviews. He is a registered patent practitioner (Agent) and assists the prosecution team with patent application matters. He is an active member of the Patent Information User Group (PIUG) and regularly attends PIUG educational webinars in order to stay current with the best practices of patent search methodology. He has a particular interest in understanding how artificial intelligence is impacting patent research. Prior to joining Brooks Kushman, James worked for nearly two decades at a leading patent research firm based near the USPTO headquarters in Alexandria, VA. Clients ranged from multinational corporations to leading law firms to individual inventors in a wide range of technologies such as automotive components, medical devices, manufacturing processes, and educational products. He also provided management and mentoring to new employees in developing and executing effective search strategies. Before becoming a patent researcher, James began his career an analyst at a leading information and analytics company specializing in legal, regulatory, and business data services. He then spent several formative years as a systems analyst, project manager, and Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer at a prominent telecommunications company. He completed the scientific and technical training requirements for the USPTO Registration Examination in physics at George Mason University. In addition, he holds a master’s degree from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Delaware. In James’ spare time, he enjoys travelling with his wife and daughters, playing golf, and going on outings with the family boxer Leo.

Leen Mosa is an associate at Brooks Kushman with a background in mechanical engineering and experience in the automotive industry. Before joining the firm, she worked as a Summer Associate at Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox in Washington, D.C., focusing on mechanical and design patent prosecution, and as a Summer Associate at Brooks Kushman assisting on patent litigation matters. She also served as a Staff Editor for the Notre Dame Journal of Legislation and represented Notre Dame in the National Trial Competition earning Notre Dame’s Kyle D. Smith Excellence in Trial Advocacy award. Prior to law school, Leen held engineering roles at Ford Motor Company and ZF Group, where she worked on advanced driver-assistance systems. This combination of technical and legal experience informs her growing interest in patent prosecution, patent litigation, and matters before the International Trade Commission (ITC).

I have spent my legal career defending the little guy against big corporations. Everyday we help regular people fight the mortgage companies, insurance companies and the big auto companies. Without proper representation, citizens do not stand a chance against these large corporations. While taking on these cases is surely challenging the reward of helping those truly in need is unmatched.

I have over 30 years' experience as an attorney. My firm specializes in employment rights, including discrimination, civil rights, sexual harassment, wrongful discharge, whistleblower rights, medical leave and disability rights, unemployment benefits, and more. My goal is to maximize the recovery for those whose rights have been compromised.

R.J. serves as a strategic partner and counselor to his clients and their business needs across multiple industries, including automotive, finance, health care, leasing, property development, real estate development, staffing, technology, and telecom. He prioritizes developing an intimate understanding of his clients’ unique goals and challenges and applies his deep knowledge of the law to ensure proactive and results-based legal counsel. A formidable and accomplished advocate, R.J. also acts as lead trial counsel when legal disputes arise after exhausting preventive measures. Clients describe R.J. as an engaged litigator whose attention to detail, tenacity, and professionalism set him apart from other counsel. He obtains cost-effective results by quickly digging into the facts and leveraging the results in favor of his clients. R.J. previously served as chair of the State Bar of Michigan’s 2,300-member Litigation Section. Michigan Super Lawyers® has consistently recognized him as a Rising Star in Business Litigation, an award granted to only 2.5 percent of Michigan attorneys under 40. R.J.’s peers have elected him to the Fellows of the American Bar Foundation, an honorary society comprising one percent of each jurisdiction’s attorneys, judges, law faculty, and legal scholars whose public and private careers have demonstrated outstanding dedication to the highest principles of the legal profession and welfare of their communities. He is a founding member of his community’s Rotary Club.

Personable but tough, Chris Chesney honed his legal litigation craft through years of special investigations litigation serving corporate clients. Chris prides himself on thinking outside of the box to create novel and winning arguments. Before Chris cut his teeth in the courts, he developed practical skills at the Michigan House of Representatives, advised business owners in South Africa, and conducted grassroots research in Scotland. Not every litigator understands what it’s like working on 70-foot-high scaffolding in a Houston oil refinery. Chris currently serves as an officer and Governing Council member for the State Bar of Michigan’s Litigation Section, serving as Treasurer for the 2,400-member section. He also presents at industry symposiums to continue his rise as a next-generation litigator. At Cronkhite Counsel, Chris serves as trial counsel using years of investigative work and real-world experience to outwork and outmaneuver opponents.

From his earliest days of legal practice, Steve Couch’s approach to advocacy has been marked by two consistent qualities: fearlessness and creativity. Within his first six months in private practice, he helped his clients hold a Massachusetts police department accountable in a wrongful death case before a jury that only needed ninety minutes to reach its verdict. While Steve’s litigation practice would evolve over time, this event set the tone for the rest of his career. Born and raised near Detroit, Steve grew up in a family of small business owners, giving him insights into the challenges that entrepreneurs face daily. He internalized these early lessons, which informed his approach to getting to know his clients as well as possible when working with them to address their legal needs. After graduating from the University of Michigan, he attended Boston University School of Law. While at Boston University, he devoted himself to honing his skills in trial and appellate advocacy through the school’s clinical litigation programs and its National First Amendment Moot Court team. Over the years, clients have entrusted Steve with significant matters in that required unconventional strategies and tenacious advocacy to achieve the necessary results. In one case, Steve successfully defended a national insurance carrier against a $45,000,000 claim, guiding the client to a zero-dollar settlement. Steve was also a pioneer of tapping into the wealth of third-party data collections as a litigation tactic for investigating opposing parties’ fraud, perjury and other misconduct. In recent years, Steve worked with a boutique law firm litigating on behalf of clients across the country. He has successfully represented individuals and companies in both trial and appellate courts from coast to coast. He is excited to bring that base of experience to Cronkhite Counsel.

Born into a family with ties to the intelligence community, Greg developed a strong sense of service early in life. This background also shaped Greg’s ability to identify patterns, uncover insights, and notice details that others overlook. Greg pursued his undergraduate studies at Virginia Tech, where he further sharpened his investigatory, analytical, and problem-solving skills through his role as an Associate in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s (ODNI’s) Intelligence Community Center for Academic Excellence (IC CAE). His work culminated in a formal written and oral briefing presented to a representative of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Greg is also a graduate of The Heritage Foundations Young Leaders Program, where he gained deep insights into the federal government’s inner workings and regulatory landscape, while also contributing to the collection and analysis of data assessing military capabilities of foreign nations. Greg later returned to his home state of Michigan to contribute to the startup phase of a company that leveraged artificial intelligence and autonomous systems initially designed for military and intelligence applications to the highly regulated field of autonomous passenger vehicles. It was during this time that he realized his skills in investigation, analysis, and problem-solving would be best utilized in service to his community through a career in law. While in law school, Greg received the CALI Award in his Business Organizations class, an honor given to the student with the highest grade in the course and was elected as Secretary of the Hellenic Bar Association of Michigan. He refined his investigatory and regulatory skills as a Compliance Extern at the University of Michigan Athletic Department amid a nationally notorious and closely scrutinized NCAA investigation, where he researched and enforced internal compliance with NCAA bylaws and HIPAA regulations, drafted legislative relief waivers, and conducted Title IX audits to ensure internal policies and procedures complied with federal legislation. After law school, Greg began his practice as an attorney serving corporate clients in matters of civil litigation including special investigations and fraud. Today, he channels his commitment to service into effective advocacy for clients in business and employment disputes. His background has shaped his approach as an aggressive, tenacious, and diligent trial attorney who leaves no stone unturned in pursuing his clients’ interests.