Richard Linn was appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1999 and assumed the duties of the office on January 1, 2000. Prior to his appointment, Judge Linn was a Partner and Practice Group Leader at Foley and Lardner from 1997 to 1999. He was a Partner and Head of the intellectual property department at Marks and Murase, L.L.P. from 1977 to 1997. Judge Linn served as Patent Advisor, United States Naval Air Systems Command from 1971 to 1972, was a Patent Agent at the United States Naval Research Laboratory from 1968 to 1969 and served as a Patent Examiner at the United States Patent Office from 1965 to 1968. He was a member of the founding Board of Governors of the Virginia Bar Section on Patent, Trademark, and Copyright Law and served as Chairman in 1975. He received a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1965 and a Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1969. He served as an Adjunct Professor and Professorial Lecturer in Law at George Washington University Law School from 2001 to 2003 and served on the Law School’s Intellectual Property Advisory Board from 2001 to 2012.