Pender & Coward

As of May 11, 2026

Pender & Coward, P.C. is a full-service regional law firm headquartered in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Founded in 1889, it is one of the oldest law firms in southeastern Virginia, with additional offices in Chesapeake and Suffolk. The firm has more than 30 attorneys and serves individuals, businesses, and government entities throughout Virginia and coastal North Carolina across a wide range of practice areas. Pender & Coward is not a specialized intellectual property boutique but a general practice firm with a complex litigation group.

The firm’s intellectual property practice is part of its broader litigation offerings. While the firm lists intellectual property among its capabilities, public information does not detail a specific focus on technology areas like software, semiconductors, or pharmaceuticals. The firm's recent publications address general IP topics such as AI-generated images and trademark scams, rather than patent-specific issues.

Based on tracked cases, the firm's patent litigation experience includes serving as local counsel on the defense side. This is evidenced by its role representing the defendant in Centripetal Networks, LLC v. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. This single data point suggests a practice of assisting operating companies rather than primarily representing patent licensors.

The most prominent patent litigation matter in which the firm has appeared is the high-profile network security case, Centripetal Networks, LLC v. Palo Alto Networks, Inc., where shareholder Robert J.L. Greb acted as local counsel. There is no publicly available information detailing a significant practice before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) for inter partes review (IPR) proceedings. Other attorneys noted for intellectual property work in firm publications include Duncan Byers, who was named to Virginia's "Legal Elite" for Intellectual Property in 2018.