Attorneys

Mr. Western received his B.S. in Chemistry from Utah State University in 1961 where he completed graduate courses in organic chemistry and was also a teaching and research assistant. While working his way through school, he was employed as an assay chemist at Kennecott Copper Company in McGill, Nevada and as a laboratory technician at Thiokol Chemical Corporation’s rocket site in Brigham City, Utah.

While pursuing his J.D., he was an Examiner in the United States Patent and Trademark Office from 1961 to 1964. His area of examination was in organic chemistry. While a student at The George Washington University, Mr. Western was the runner-up for the Patent Office Society Student Award for a paper “Is 35 U.S.C. 103 Applicable to Chemical Compounds?” submitted as part of his course work at the law school, and published in the fall of 1964 in IDEA, The Patent, Trademark and Copyright Journal of Research and Education. He received his J.D. from The George Washington University with honors in 1964.

From 1964 to 1973, Mr. Western was a patent attorney for Shell Development Company in the Bay Area in California. While at Shell, Mr. Western was a guest lecturer in Chemistry at Merritt Junior College in Oakland, California. At Shell, he gained expertise in the areas of petroleum refining and other physical separation processes. He spent five years working with Shell Chemical’s Biological Sciences Research Division in the area of sustained drug release from polymers, e.g. the No Pest® Strip and related products. In 1973 he returned to Utah and began private practice. In 1979 Mr. Western became a founding member of Thorpe North & Western – and continues to be a driving force in the growth and development of the firm.

His particular expertise as a patent attorney is in the agricultural, pharmaceutical and medical product sciences. He has represented clients in the areas of transdermal, transmucosal and polymeric carrier based