Jacqueline Bonilla

Jacqueline Bonilla is a director in the Biotechnology & Chemical and Trial & Appellate Practice Groups at Sterne Kessler Goldstein & Fox, specializing in life sciences patent litigation and pre-litigation matters. Her practice encompasses complex technologies including biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, biologics, medical devices, chemical compositions, personalized medicine, and diagnostics. With a Ph.D. in cellular and molecular pharmacology, she brings deep scientific expertise to her intellectual property practice. Bonilla's experience includes representing clients on the plaintiff side in federal district court, as evidenced by her appearances in Tempus AI Inc. v. Guardant Health Inc.

Prior to joining Sterne Kessler in September 2025, Bonilla had an extensive career at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). She served for over a decade at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), including six years as Deputy Chief Administrative Patent Judge. During her tenure at the PTAB, she presided over hundreds of cases under the America Invents Act (AIA), including inter partes reviews (IPRs) and post-grant reviews (PGRs), as well as reexaminations and interferences, across a wide range of technologies.

Her PTAB experience also included developing and implementing USPTO policy and serving as Senior Legal Advisor to the USPTO Director and Acting Director for the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU). In private practice, she advises on PTAB challenges and policy, ex parte reexaminations, complex patent interferences, and coordinated litigation strategies for matters before district courts and the International Trade Commission (ITC).

Bonilla earned her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, where she was Editor-in-Chief of the Virginia Journal of Law & Technology. She also holds a Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology from the University of Virginia and a B.A. in Biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley. Her legal career began with a clerkship for the Honorable Randall R. Rader on the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, followed by private practice at Finnegan and as a partner at Foley & Lardner, LLP.