Our Community

Overview

In our legal work, MCC’s team members have an abiding interest in the world around them – from applying legal solutions to business challenges to connecting technical innovations to real-world problems.

Yet there’s more to us than the practice of law. By engaging in our communities, we are inspired to help others and improve our society, whether leading by example or rolling up our sleeves to contribute to the good work of other individuals and organizations. In the field of community service, we find that enthusiasm is contagious.

  • Leadership

    Our attorneys and agents serve on the boards of numerous legal and charitable organizations, including the Georgia Tech Intellectual Property Advisory Board, the Georgia State University College of Law Intellectual Property Advisory Board, the Board of Governors of the State Bar of Georgia, the State Bar Disciplinary Board, the University of Georgia Law School’s Advisory Board for the Journal of Intellectual Property Law, and Voices for Georgia’s Children.

    MCC’s attorneys and agents also serve as leaders and committee members of leading industry associations, including the International Trademark Association (INTA), Southeast Life Sciences, Georgia Bio, the Georgia Automotive Manufacturers Association, and many others.

  • Community Service

    At certain points in life, everyone needs a helping hand. We are humbled to be a part of the great work so many other people and organizations are doing both in our home base of Georgia and around the world. This work includes packing lunches for thousands of kids in need, fundraising for Georgia Legal Food Frenzy, gathering and delivering holiday food baskets, “adopting” needy families to help with holiday gift-giving, and fundraising in support of cures for diseases.

    Our practitioners are involved with numerous community organizations which include:

    • Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Georgia’s leading representative of domestic violence agencies, advocates, allied individuals, and survivors
    • Coralwood Foundation, which provides long-term financial support to Coralwood School, the only public school in DeKalb County dedicated to serving children with and without special needs between three and six years of age
    • ASIAM, which promotes the exchange of medical education and advancement between Asia and the Americas
    • Nicholas House, an Atlanta shelter that provides housing to homeless families
    • MedShare, a humanitarian aid organization that sources and delivers surplus medical supplies and equipment to communities in need around the world
    • Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the world’s largest voluntary health organization dedicated to fighting blood cancer

  • Pro Bono

    Lawyers have the unique opportunity and special responsibility to provide legal services to those who find it difficult to find adequate legal representation at difficult moments in their lives. Our firm subscribes to the notion that involvement in pro bono activities is an important part of the work of our firm and urges all our lawyers to involve themselves in pro bono legal work.

    We are a founding supporter of the Georgia Patent Pro Bono Project, and we regularly support pro bono projects from the Pro Bono Partnership of Atlanta. Our team members also lend help to the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation, the largest provider of pro bono legal services in Greater Atlanta. We are a proud sponsor of the Georgia Lawyers for the Arts, where we have provided complimentary legal services to local artists and inventors who would not otherwise be able to afford legal representation and counseling of their rights.

  • Education

    Advancing education is an important aspect of society. While we are involved with educational endeavors on many levels, such as supporting the Coralwood School which serves pre-K children with special needs, we naturally have a particular interest in contributing to education in the field of intellectual property law.

    A number of our attorneys have served as adjunct professors at universities, lending their skills and knowledge to future lawyers. For example, Steve Schaetzel served as adjunct faculty at the University of Georgia School of Law teaching patent law for 15 years. Chris Curfman and Steve Schaetzel have all served as adjunct professors at Emory University School of Law. Greg Carlin taught patent prosecution as an adjunct professor at John Marshall Law School in Atlanta, and Larry Aaronson has instructed students at Georgia State University College of Law on cyber law.

    In addition to teaching, our lawyers are involved in other educational activities in the intellectual property field, such as presenting on IP law to the Atlanta Japanese Research Group at Emory University and partnering with the Atlanta Science Festival Invention Protection project, where we educate children about IP through entertaining project-based activities.

Rachel Near, PhD,
Senior Patent Agent
We are a team of
Advisors
MEET THE TEAM

Let’s start a conversation

Contact Us