Georgia State University and Georgia Institute of Technology will honor four individuals for their outstanding contributions to the community at the Intellectual Property Community Service Awards luncheon from noon to 1:30 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 11, at the College of Law’s Marjorie & Ralph Knowles Conference Center. The event is co-sponsored by the IP Sections of the State Bar of Georgia and the Atlanta Bar Association.

The recipients of the award are Jamie L. Graham of Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton; Christopher P. Lightner of Alston & Bird; Rick McMurtry of Turner Broadcasting System; and William M. “Bill” Ragland Jr. of Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice.

“This award recognizes the importance of community service in our profession,” said Wade Walker (J.D. ’09), chair of the Intellectual Property Community Service Awards committee. “Community service contributions, whether related to intellectual property or other areas, strengthen the community and set a positive example for students and professionals. We are particularly proud of such contributions by members of the IP community, who continually devote their time to help those in need while facing very demanding professions.”

Graham, a partner at Kilpatrick Townsend, focuses her practice on intellectual property issues involving biological and chemical technologies. In her career, she has conducted enzyme isolation and characterization research at Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research, and cardiac and allergy drug disposition and metabolism research at Boehringer Ingelheim Ltd. Graham has been a leader in organizations such as the Atlanta Wellesley Club, the Huntington’s Disease Society of America, Childspring International, Atlanta-based Women in Technology, Women in Bio Chapter in Atlanta, the CDC Foundation and Georgia Bio, among others.

McMurtry is vice president and associate general counsel at Turner Broadcasting System, where he heads the Intellectual Property and Commercial Clearance Group in the Legal Department. He oversees Turner’s IP portfolio to support more than 100 media properties worldwide, including brands such as CNN, Cartoon Network and Bleacher Report. McMurtry has served on the board of directors for the International Trademark Association and Pro Bono Partnership of Atlanta. At PBPA, he has worked with more than 20 nonprofits and charities, many of them directed to helping low-income children, people affected by HIV and urban youth through the Street Law Corporate Legal Diversity Pipeline Program. In addition, he has motivated numerous employees in the Turner Legal Department to volunteer their time teaching students in South Atlanta High School classrooms about various legal matters, among other projects.

Ragland, a partner at Womble Carlyle, concentrates his practice on intellectual property litigation and complex business litigation. He has litigated more than 50 patent infringement and other patent-related cases in his career. Ragland has held numerous leadership positions at the Atlanta Bar Association, the Atlanta Bar Foundation, the State Bar of Georgia, the United States District Court and Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation and Old War Horse Lawyers Club. He has served on the National Board of the Smithsonian Institution and has chaired many of its committees since 2007. He is the vice president for Governance and Leadership at Atlanta Youth Academy and has served at Leadership Atlanta and the Atlanta City Council City Code Review Team, among other organizations.

Lightner is a senior associate at Alston & Bird, where he concentrates his practice on procuring patents for a wide range of technologies, with a focus on the mechanical arts. He was instrumental in creating Georgia PATENTS, a program operated through Georgia Lawyers for the Arts and overseen by the United States Patent and Trademark Office to connect low-income inventors with volunteer patent prosecution attorneys. He also serves on its advisory board. In addition, he has been chair of the IP Section and Member at Large with the Atlanta Bar Association, chair of the Patent Committee of the Georgia Bar Association’s IP Section and a member of the Board of Directors of Omosaze, a non-profit organization providing quality programs to elementary school-aged children.

To register, visit www.eventbrite.com/e/intellectual-property-community-service-awards-luncheon-tickets-36891794350.

The Intellectual Property Community Service Awards are given to deserving recipients every 3-4 years.