Supporting clients across a breadth of industries

Valerie Yu is an intellectual property attorney in the firm’s Houston office dedicated to safeguarding innovation and creativity. She is committed to protecting her clients’ intellectual property in a broad field of technologies including biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, chemicals, complex software and information technology, consumer products, medical devices and more. While her background is primarily in patent prosecution, Valerie also has experience in trademark and brand protection, litigation and dispute resolution, licensing and IP transactions, and risk assessment and compliance matters. Valerie has had the privilege of working with a diverse portfolio of clients ranging from individual inventors to multinational corporations, across various industries such as automotive and jet engines, steel manufacture, and biomedical devices.

Prior to attending law school, Valerie spent two years as an IP specialist for a full-service IP firm, where she supported multiple attorneys in patent prosecution. In this role, Valerie handled all types of patent office filings, as well as litigation and administrative matters. During her two years, she helped file and issue more than 300 national stage and non-provisional patent applications. This experience helped elevate her attention to detail, research skills, and ability to adapt to the evolving patent law and regulation landscape, as well as better serve her clients and their businesses today.

A client focused IP attorney with a love for public speaking

Valerie brings passionate advocacy balanced with a genuine, light-hearted demeanor to the table. She consistently seeks holistic client-centric legal solutions for every problem, and relishes in providing outstanding customer service. She readily embraces the challenges of a new case or task, including immersing herself in the technology to provide comprehensive legal counsel.

When advising clients, Valerie listens attentively, discerns their expectations and goals, and identifies how she can best support their business and legal strategy. She is a methodical but empathetic attorney who is not afraid to ask hard questions to deliver her clients a comprehensive response to any question.

A competitive spirit and leader

Valerie is a DMV (D.C., Maryland, Virginia) native and holds a Bachelor of Arts in biological sciences and philosophy from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She earned her J.D. from George Mason University School of Law in Arlington, Virginia.

In law school, she competed over seven oral advocacy competitions, winning and earning high placement in several including the Giles S. Rich National Moot Court Competition and the Thacher Intramural Mock Trial Competition. Upon graduation, Valerie received an Excellence in Oral Advocacy Award from George Mason University School of Law.

As an undergraduate student, she co-founded and helped lead the North American Intercollegiate Chinese Association (NAICA), a nonprofit that promoted cultural empowerment and professional networking amongst Chinese American students in the DMV region. Valerie is conversant in Mandarin and fluent in Cantonese. 

Outside of the office, Valerie is a board game enthusiast and hosts a weekly Dungeons and Dragons campaign. In her spare time, she also enjoys playing video games, traveling, cooking, and rock climbing.