Q&A with Dan Pierron
Articles
Q&A
Q&A with Dan Pierron
Dan Pierron is a partner with Widerman Malek, P.L. in Melbourne, Fla. He focuses his practice on representing clients in the prosecution of patents and trademarks before the United States Patent and Trademark Office and counseling inventors and businesses on various intellectual property strategies.
A graduate of the University of Kansas, where he majored in physics, Pierron also focuses his practice on licensing his client’s intellectual property and enforcing the intellectual property rights of his clients in litigation.
A 2011 alumnus of Chicago-Kent College of Law, Pierron is involved in his community and serves on the Board of Directors and as the chair for the Nomination and Recruiting Committee for the March of Dimes Space Coast Division.
Q: Before becoming an attorney, what was your first job?
A: My first (and best) job was in high school working at a laser tag facility. My idle fantasy is to retire and open a similar facility to give high school students a similar experience.
Q: What motivated you to pursue a legal career?
A: My dad was a judge when I was growing up in Kansas, so I have always been around the law. I didn’t consider a legal career in my education until my junior year of engineering school, where, after working as an engineering intern, I determined I did not want to be an engineer. I happened to be in a class where we had to do some patent research, and it was kismet.
Q: Who was your chief mentor and how did he or she influence your career?
A: Certainly, Mark Malek helped me develop professionally as a supervising attorney. I feel a little sheepish in that I don’t truly feel like I’ve had a mentor per se, which I think is a result of becoming pretty self-sufficient at 15 when my mother was seriously disabled and passed away a year later. I do wonder if I don’t know what I’m missing by not having such a relationship, but I also try not to fret about FOMO – the “Fear of Missing Out.”
Q: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
A: Quaint as it may be, the Golden Rule. I have seen people who conduct themselves in ways contrary to that rule and, by and large, they are unhappy people. I feel better about myself by treating others how I would wish to be treated, so in a somewhat Randian way it may be selfish for me to promote this particular life rule, but I haven’t found anything much better or that helps to resolve difficult questions.
Q: What is one thing you would like to learn to do?
A: Speak French. Due to some generous policies, I have become a citizen of Luxembourg and I would like to have the ability to meaningfully live there. There are three official languages in Lux (French, German, and Luxembourgish), but I think I have the greatest chance of actually learning French.
Attorney Dan Pierron is pictured with his wife, Allison; their two children, Charlie and Amy; and their dogs, Lilly and Lucy.
Q: What is your proudest career achievement?
A: I had a client come to me who had been treated very unfairly in a business deal, had spent scads of money on prior patent counsel, and basically had one last shot to get his patent application issued in an appeal. The appeal brief I filed was persuasive, and I got my client his patent. He’s someone I know locally, so helping my community made that particular victory a little sweeter.
Q: What other career path might you have chosen?
A: The slight divergence would have been a tax attorney. A more major divergence would have been a software entrepreneur, developing some program or another to improve operational efficiency. I flex that muscle in my own practice frequently and usually find great satisfaction when things work out how I envisioned.
Dan Pierron
Q: What is your most treasured material possession?
A: I’d say a baby toy I have that looks like an hourglass with three differently sized and colored balls with three platforms with holes that either catch balls of a certain size or let them fall through to a lower platform to be caught there. While it connects me to my childhood, I also learned an important lesson when I let my son play with this toy. We were shopping in Target, and he, being under 2, chucked it to the ground where the handle broke. I’m not someone who is frequently devastated, but I was devastated in this moment. As my anger was rising, I reminded myself that this toy was merely an object, and what mattered wasn’t the object itself, but how it inspired certain feelings in me. I also had to recognize that this wasn’t something worth getting angry about, as my son was doing what toddlers do, and what was far more important was to prioritize building a loving, trusting, and healthy relationship with him instead of being upset about this toy.
Q: What is your happiest childhood memory?
A: I wish I had more specific memories to call out, but my mind just doesn’t work that way. What I absolutely cherish is the tradition of gathering with my mom’s side of the family at Thanksgiving. She and her two siblings moved from their hometown of St. Louis (where my grandmother remained) to Kansas City, Milwaukee, and Boston. Each year, alternating with St. Louis, we would travel to one of the siblings’ houses to gather with all our families to celebrate Thanksgiving and early Hanukkah, complete with brisket dinner and latkes. Having had to suspend this tradition the past two years for COVID, I am elated that we are resuming this tradition this year, renting a house in Florida as our numbers have swelled to 28! It’s also a little bittersweet, as the matron of the family is quite deliberately passing the torch for the substantial hosting responsibilities to the next generation. It’s an indirect reminder to be mindful of the time we have with the people in our lives who won’t always be there.
Q: What is your favorite movie and book?
A: Movie – “Chinatown.”
Book – either “Confederacy of Dunces” or “Infinite Jest.”
Q: What is the most awe-inspiring place you have visited?
A: The grandeur of the Rockies is pretty amazing. I suspect, when I eventually get to the Grand Canyon, it will take the top spot.
Q: What are your favorite leisure time pursuits?
A: Tennis and smart-home related tinkering.
Q: What is your favorite famous or inspirational quote?
A: “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” – Mark Twain
Q: Who is on your guest list for the ideal dinner party?
A: Dorothy Parker, Oscar Wilde, Truman Capote, Lenny Bruce, the usual suspects.
Q: What are the top three items on your bucket list?
A: I never have great answers to this question. I have had the great fortune to have many wonderful experiences. More of a life goal is to provide the same experience for my kids.