Judge Pauline Newman

2018 Lewis F. Powell, Jr., Award for Professionalism and Ethics

ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA – Judge Pauline Newman has been selected to receive the prestigious 2018 American Inns of Court Lewis F. Powell. Jr., Award for Professionalism and Ethics. The award will be presented to Newman by Chief Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn at the organization’s annual Celebration of Excellence at the Supreme Court of the United States on October 20, 2018; the event will be hosted by Associate Justice Clarence Thomas.

Newman was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit by President Ronald Reagan in 1984, the first person to be appointed directly to the Federal Circuit. She has authored more than 1,100 opinions, including more than 800 majority opinions and 275 dissents.

For two years prior to her appointment, Newman served as special adviser to the United States Delegation to the Diplomatic Conference on the Revision of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. She also served on the State Department Advisory Committee on International Intellectual Property from 1974 to 1984.

From 1969 to 1984, Newman served as director of the Patent, Trademark, and Licensing Department of FMC Corporation, a publicly traded global company that develops chemical products for the food and beverage, health care, and agricultural industries. The company was founded in 1883 after its founder invented the first piston sprayer for agriculture. During her tenure at FMC, Newman also served on the advisory committee to the Domestic Policy Review of Industrial Innovation. She joined the company in 1954 as patent attorney and in-house counsel, following a stint as research scientist at American Cyanamid from 1951 to 1954.

Newman is a founding member of the first intellectual property-focused Inn, the Giles S. Rich American Inn of Court, and served as its first president from 1991 to 1992. A new IP-focused Inn was named for her in 2011, where she is an active member. Among other accolades, the New Jersey Intellectual Property Law Association honored her with its Jefferson Medal. She holds a PhD from Yale University and an LL.B. from New York University School of Law, where she has endowed a chair.