Michelle K Lee

Childhood

Of Chinese descent,Michelle Lee built her own television as a child. During her senate confirmation hearing, Lee testified that she was first exposed to technology and innovation when she built a Heath Kit Radio with her father.

Education and pre-PTO career

Lee simultaneously obtained a B.S. in electrical engineering and an M.S. in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1989; her master's thesis was on qualitative behavior and nonlinear circuits. She obtained her J.D. from Stanford University School of Law in 1992.

She was admitted to practice in California in 1992, and is a registered US patent attorney.

Before her legal career, Lee worked as a computer scientist at Hewlett-Packard Research Laboratories and at MIT's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

She served as a clerk for two federal judges: Vaughn R. Walker of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and Paul R. Michel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Prior to joining the USPTO, she was an attorney with the law firm of Keker & Van Nest, and partner at Fenwick & West. She served as Deputy General Counsel and Head of Patents and Patent Strategy for Google from 2003 to 2012. While at Google, she co-founded Chief IP Counsels (ChIPs), a networking organization for female patent attorneys.

PTO career

Lee's first position with the USPTO was as Director of the Office's’s Silicon Valley satellite office. She was appointed Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Deputy Director on January 13, 2014.

In October 2014, President Barack Obama announced that he intended to nominate Lee to the office of Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property, heading the USPTO on a permanent basis. Obama officially nominated Lee on November 11, and her initial confirmation hearing was held December 10. However, Congress adjourned without her confirmation, and the nomination was returned to the President on December 17.

Under Senate rules, in order for Lee to be confirmed, Obama needed to re-nominate her to the Senate of the 114th Congress, and he did so on January 8, 2015. Her second confirmation hearing was held January 21, and the Senate Judiciary Committee voted unanimously in favor of her confirmation on February 26.

Lee was confirmed by the full Senate by voice vote on March 9, 2015, and took the oath of office on March 12, when she was sworn in by Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas.

Lee resigned from the PTO on June 6, 2017.