Deputy Chief Administrative Patent Judge Jackie Bonilla is serving as the Senior Legal Advisor to the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). As the Senior Legal Advisor, she counsels the Director of the USPTO on a wide range of patent-related legal and policy issues, including those relevant to America Invents Act (AIA) proceedings at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB); the process for Director review of PTAB decisions; litigation before the Federal Circuit and Supreme Court; and PTAB and patent-related precedent, Director guidance, and rulemaking.

Since her appointment as an administrative patent judge in January 2012, Judge Bonilla has conducted numerous post-grant patent trials under the AIA, heard appeals from adverse examiner decisions in patent applications and reexamination proceedings, and rendered decisions in interferences. She has served in several leadership positions at the PTAB, including as Deputy Chief Administrative Patent Judge since March 2019, helping to shape agency policy as it relates to PTAB practice and lead the PTAB as it handles cases and renders decisions in all areas of its jurisdiction.

Prior to joining the USPTO, Judge Bonilla worked for 12 years in private practice, including as a partner at Foley & Lardner, LLP. She also served as a judicial law clerk to the now-retired Chief Judge Randall Rader at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Judge Bonilla graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law, and she holds a doctorate in pharmacology from the University of Virginia and a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley.