RatnerPrestia is pleased to announce that attorneys, Jacques L. Etkowicz, Jonathan H. Spadt, and Kevin A. Keeling have been honored as 2005 Pennsylvania Rising Stars by Law & Politics magazine. Mr. Etkowicz and Mr. Spadt received the honor for Intellectual Property Law and Mr. Keeling for Intellectual Property Litigation. Pennsylvania Rising Stars are published in Super Lawyers – Rising Stars Edition magazine and Philadelphia Magazine. One of our Rising Stars, Jonathan H. Spadt, was profiled in Super Lawyers – Rising Stars Edition magazine, in an article entitled, “Tops in his Field: There are few things Jonathan Spadt enjoys more than tending to his 20-acre farm.”

Jacques L. Etkowicz is a Shareholder with RatnerPrestia with over 20 years of engineering experience. Prior to joining the firm in 1996, he worked for the United States Navy, first as a Research Laboratory Design Supervisor and then as a Team Leader for Presidential Helicopter Programs. Mr. Etkowicz focuses his practice in the areas of IP litigation, IP counseling, e-commerce, trademark procurement, copyright procurement, and patent procurement in the electrical, computer science, and electro-mechanical arts.

Jonathan H. Spadt is a Shareholder who began with the firm as a Summer Associate in 1996. He gained industry experience assisting in building and retro-fitting chemical manufacturing facilities to support Merck’s pharmaceutical manufacturing. Mr. Spadt currently practices all aspects of intellectual property law, including litigation, domestic and international patent prosecution, portfolio development, and counsels clients ranging from large multi-national companies to small high-tech startups.

Kevin A. Keeling is an Associate with the firm and, prior to entering law school, spent six years in the U.S. Navy’s nuclear power program, where he was trained in the operation and theory of electrical power distribution and generation, nuclear engineering, and mechanical and hydraulic systems. Mr. Keeling is primarily involved in litigating intellectual property disputes, patent prosecution, and client counseling.

Rising Stars are nominated based on the personal observations of the most recent group of Super Lawyers; the top 5 percent of attorneys in the state, elected by their peers. Those selected as Rising Stars must either be under 40 years of age or practicing law 10 or fewer years. Once the votes are in, the attorney-led research team at Law & Politics magazine reviews the credentials of potential Rising Stars and those attorneys that make the final cut, according to SuperLawyers.com, are “…approximately 2.5 percent of the best up-and-coming attorneys in the state…”