Lance Topham is a registered patent attorney and advises clients–ranging from individual inventors and VC-backed startups to premium mid and large-cap technology companies–on a variety of complex IP-related matters, including: strategic planning, patent portfolio development and management, data privacy, licensing, and various other intellectual property related matters.  Lance has significant experience drafting and prosecuting patent applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Lance has technical expertise with a variety of software and hardware technologies including: front and back-end software systems; machine learning; enterprise system architecture; application performance monitoring; user and enterprise storage systems; data management and processing; product configuration; telecommunications; advanced robotics; embedded systems; autonomous driving systems; automotive technology; consumer electronics; mobile applications; social networking; e-commerce; optics; and digital electronics.

Lance earned his B.S. in Applied Physics, and then proceeded to law school at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law.  While earning his law degree, Lance served as the president of the Student Intellectual Property Law Association, participated in intellectual property moot court, and focused his studies on intellectual property and new ventures.  He also had the opportunity to spend a semester in Alexandria, Virginia where he worked with a non-profit organization on an ex parte reexamination, studied post-grant patent challenges, and externed at the United States Patent Office, where he worked with patent examiners to draft office actions.  After law school and prior to joining VLP Law Group, Lance worked for several years at a Bay Area IP boutique.

Education

  • J.D., S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah, 2014
  • B.S., Applied Physics and Minor in French, University of Utah, 2011