Bald, Stephanie

Stephanie Bald focuses her practice on trademark litigation, disputes, and strategic counseling. She represents clients in federal courts across the country and before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB). She also handles domain name disputes under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) and has significant experience managing global trademark portfolios and advising clients on the selection, use, registration, enforcement, and licensing of trademarks.

Stephanie has been consistently recognized as a top trademark lawyer nationally. She has been named to Managing Intellectual Property’s Top 250 Women in IP (2014-2019), named to the World Trademark Review 1000 (2016-2020), and recognized as an “IP Star” by Managing Intellectual Property (2014-2020). In World Trademark Review 1000, clients describe Stephanie as “perfect in the trusted advisor role,” “an invaluable part of her client’s internal teams,” “a jack of all trades who does a fabulous job in everything,” “a fierce advocate with a wealth of experience,” “a real joy to work with” and someone clients can “always count on . . . to deliver a great result regardless of the issue.” Clients also praise Stephanie’s “strategic vision,” “ability to foresee short-term and long-term issues coming down the road,” “business-minded outlook,” and “top-notch” understanding of the law.

In December 2018, Stephanie was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to serve a three-year term on the USPTO’s Trademark Public Advisory Committee (TPAC). TPAC reviews the policies, goals, performance, budget, and user fees of trademark operations and advises the USPTO on these matters. Ms. Bald also has long been active with the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA), where she has served as the chair and vice chair of the Trademark Law and Trademark Litigation Committees. She is currently a member of the Executive Committee of AIPLA’s Women and IP Committee and began serving a three-year term on AIPLA’s Board of Directors in the Fall 2020. Since 2014, Stephanie has been an Adjunct Professor at American University’s Washington College of Law, where she teaches an advanced course on trademark practice and procedure.

Before co-founding Kelly IP, Stephanie practiced trademark law as an associate and partner at Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP in Washington, D.C.