Linda Joy Kattwinkel is a visual artist as well as an attorney. She practices primarily copyright, trademark, and arts law. Ms. Kattwinkel received her arts training at Virginia Commonwealth University, where she graduated cum laude in 1975 with a B.F.A. in communication arts. Thereafter she worked for thirteen years as a graphic artist in editorial, corporate and advertising design and typography. She has designed many corporate and product logos, and has produced illustrations for educational books and other publications. Today she paints in plein air and at her studio in San Francisco, where she sometimes participates in Open Studios. Her artwork has been shown in more than thirty-five museum and gallery exhibitions.  Some of Linda Joy’s more recent artwork can be seen here.

Ms. Kattwinkel received her law degree cum laude from Hastings College of the Law in 1991. At Hastings, she co-founded, edited, and designed the logo for the Hastings Women’s Law Journal. Ms. Kattwinkel published an article and artwork in the journal, On Motherhood and Working, 3 Hastings Women’s LJ1 (1992). During law school Ms. Kattwinkel externed with the Honorable Marilyn Hall Patel, United States District Judge for the Northern District of California. Ms. Kattwinkel was admitted to the California Bar in 1992. Before joining Owen, Wickersham & Erickson, Ms. Kattwinkel served as a long-term judicial clerk to the Honorable Claudia Wilken, United States District Judge for the Northern District of California.

Ms. Kattwinkel received her alternate dispute resolution training from the Arts Arbitration and Mediation Services of California Lawyers for the Arts (CLA), the Center for Understanding in Conflict, and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. She has been mediating and arbitrating intellectual property disputes since 1987, and currently serves on the ADR panels of CLA and the Northern District.

Ms. Kattwinkel is the author of Legalities, an online column on legal issues for artists and designers hosted by AIGA|SF  and various published articles, e.g., for STEP magazine and AIGA. She is a co-author of the AIGA’s Standard Form of Agreement for Design Services.  She currently serves as the Chair of the Copyright Society of the U.S.A., Northern California Chapter, and is also a member of the GAG Advocacy Committee. She speaks frequently to artists and lawyers, and provides training to mediators regarding artists’ issues.