Ryan T. Holte was confirmed by the United States Senate in June 2019 and sworn in as a judge on the United States Court of Federal Claims in July 2019.  Prior to confirmation he served as the David L. Brennan Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Intellectual Property Law and Technology at The University of Akron School of Law (2017-2019) and an assistant professor of law at Southern Illinois University School of Law (2013-2017).  He was the recipient of multiple research fellowships on patent law topics, including awards from the George Mason University School of Law and Case Western Reserve University School of Law.  As an academic, Judge Holte taught a wide variety of courses, including all intellectual property subjects and property law.  Judge Holte has written and presented widely on patent law subjects and empirical legal studies of Federal Circuit and district court patent law cases.  His most recent articles were published in the Iowa Law Review (2019), George Mason Law Review (2018), and Washington Law Review (2017). In practice, Judge Holte served for six years as general counsel and partner of an electrical engineering technology company and is co-inventor of two patents related to Systems and Methods for Countering Satellite-Navigated Munitions (originally held under U.S. Army Secrecy Order until June 2016).  Prior to entering academia, Judge Holte practiced as a litigation attorney at the Federal Trade Commission, an associate in the Intellectual Property Practice Group at Jones Day, and a patent prosecutor at Finnegan.  Prior to practice, he served as a law clerk to Judge Stanley F. Birch, Jr. on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and as a law clerk to Judge Loren A. Smith on the United States Court of Federal Claims. While in practice, Judge Holte represented numerous pro bono clients on IP matters and served as lead court-appointed habeas corpus counsel in the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.  Judge Holte also served in intellectual property bar leadership positions on the Atlanta IP Inn of Court (Executive Committee), and the State Bar of Georgia (IP Section Trademark Committee Chair). Before law practice, Judge Holte owned a car dealership in the San Francisco Bay Area specializing in biodiesel vehicles and worked as an engineer for Agilent Technologies/Hewlett Packard in Sonoma County, California. Judge Holte received his JD from the University of California Davis School of Law where he served as a staff editor of the UC Davis Business Law Journal.  He received his BS, magna cum laude, in engineering from the California Maritime Academy where he was a First Class graduate of the Corps of Cadets Third Engineering Division and sailed as a U.S. Merchant Marine oiler.  Judge Holte is the recipient of the 2018 California Maritime Academy Distinguished Alumnus award. Judge Holte is married and the proud father of two young children.  He has been active for many years in various church and community organizations and his outside interests include classic car and truck restoration, motorcycle riding, and chasing after his kids.

Richard A. Epstein is the James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Law and Senior Lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School. Epstein started his legal career at the University of Southern California, where he taught from 1968 to 1972. He served as Interim Dean of the Law School from February to June 2001. He is also the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law at New York University, and the Peter and Kirsten Bedford Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He received an LLD, hc, from the University of Ghent in 2003. He has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1985 and a Senior Fellow of the Center for Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago Medical School since 1983. He served as editor of the Journal of Legal Studies from 1981 to 1991, and of the Journal of Law and Economics from 1991 to 2001. His books include The Classical Liberal Constitution: The Uncertain Quest for Limited Government (Harvard 2014); Cases and Materials on Torts (Aspen Law & Business; 10th ed. 2012) (with Catherine M. Sharkey); Design for Liberty: Private Property, Public Administration, and the Rule of Law (Harvard 2011); The Case Against the Employee Free Choice Act (Hoover 2009); Supreme Neglect (Oxford 2008); Antitrust Decrees in Theory and Practice: Why Less Is More (AEI 2007); Overdose: How Excessive Government Regulation Stifles Pharmaceutical Innovation (Yale University Press 2006); How Progressives Rewrote the Constitution (Cato 2006); Torts (Aspen Law & Business 1999); Principles for a Free Society: Reconciling Individual Liberty with the Common Good (Perseus Books 1998); Mortal Peril: Our Inalienable Rights to Health Care (Addison-Wesley 1997); Simple Rules for a Complex World (Harvard 1995); Bargaining with the State (Princeton 1993); Forbidden Grounds: The Case against Employment Discrimination Laws (Harvard 1992); Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain (Harvard 1985); and Modern Products Liability Law (Greenwood Press 1980). He has written numerous articles on a wide range of legal and interdisciplinary subjects. He has taught courses in administrative law, antitrust law civil procedure, communications, constitutional law, contracts, corporations, criminal law, criminal procedure, employment discrimination law, environmental law, financial regulation, health law and policy, legal history, labor law, military law, property, real estate development and finance, jurisprudence, labor law, land use planning, patents, individual, estate and corporate taxation, Roman law, torts, water law, and workers' compensation.

This convening is open to all invitees who are compliant with UChicago vaccination requirements and, because of ongoing health risks, particularly to the unvaccinated, participants are expected to adopt the risk mitigation measures (masking and social distancing, etc.) appropriate to their vaccination status as advised by public health officials or to their individual vulnerabilities as advised by a medical professional. Public convening may not be safe for all and carries a risk for contracting COVID-19, particularly for those unvaccinated. Participants will not know the vaccination status of others and should follow appropriate risk mitigation measures.

This is a mask-optional convening. We strongly encourage unvaccinated individuals and those preferring to wear masks to do so.