Lucas is an associate with the firm. He handles patent preparation and prosecution for clients in chemical and electrical arts. He focuses on domestic prosecution of battery technology.
For three years prior to joining Lerner David, Lucas was a patent attorney at a global intellectual property boutique with a significant client base in China. Lucas worked closely with his firm’s team in Xiamen City and Chengdu as well as with clients throughout China. In addition to handling patent prosecution matters in design and utility applications across a wide cross section of technologies, Lucas drafted an IPR petition which resulted in institution of IPR proceedings against the challenged patent. Lucas also successfully represented clients in the Amazon Neutral Patent Evaluation program.
Prior to entering private practice, Lucas was a Patent Examiner at the USPTO for 14 years including eight years as a Primary Patent Examiner. He examined patent applications related to liquid purification and separation and granted over 600 patents covering technologies of drinking water treatment, environmental remediation, ship ballast water treatment, supercritical water oxidation reactors, advanced oxidation, reverse and forward osmosis, water softening/ion exchange, and biocidal treatment of water. As an examiner, Lucas was challenged by applicants at the PTAB in 23 appeals and was affirmed 19 times and affirmed-in-part once. Lucas further filled temporary assignments as a trainer with the USPTO Patent Training Academy, as an assistant in the Technology Center 1700 Quality Assurance Specialist group; and as a Technology Center Trainer in division 1780. Over the course of his tenure at the USPTO, Lucas was rated Outstanding by the agency 12 years in a row and was awarded the Exceptional Career Award in 2019 and the Department of Commerce Bronze Medal Award in 2014 for outstanding service.
Lucas attended law school at the Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law in Washington D.C. During law school Lucas was a member of the Intellectual Property Law Student Association and concentrated in studying patent law. While attending law school, Lucas was a judicial intern in the chambers of the Hon. Susan G. Braden (ret.) of the Court of Federal Claims.
Lucas earned a Bachelor of Science degree, cum laude, in Physics and Chemistry from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). While a student at RPI, Lucas was involved in undergraduate research and focused on studying the surface micro-/nano-layer of water using GC-MS, HPLC-MS, and NMR.