D. Brian Shortell, Ph.D.

Brian leads Ballard Spahr’s Patents Practice Group and has practiced patent law for nearly 25 years. His work centers on patent prosecution, counseling, opinions of counsel and litigation, with significant experience in reexamination and due diligence matters. His practice focuses primarily on medicinal chemistry and small molecule therapeutics.

A registered patent attorney, Brian brings experience in industrial chemical research and postdoctoral research to his practice. His technical work has included organic and polymer synthesis, polymer characterization, molecular electronics, nanotechnology, and the synthesis and characterization of novel chiral atropisomers. He has also written academic grants, taught undergraduate chemistry and published articles and papers in legal and chemical literature.

• University of South Carolina School of Law (J.D. 2002)
  Member, South Carolina Law Review; Member, Moot Court Bar; Officer, Intellectual Property Law Society
• University of South Carolina (Ph.D. 1999, organic chemistry)
• University of South Carolina at Spartanburg (B.S. 1993, chemistry)

• Georgia 
• U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia
• U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia
• U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Chambers USA, Intellectual Property (Georgia), 2024-2026

Managing Intellectual Property, "Patent Star," 2022-2026

IAM Patent 1000 – The World’s Leading Patent Professionals, patent prosecution, 2021-2026

• Adjunct Professor of Law, Emory University, Patent Practice and Procedures, 2016-present
• Adjunct Professor of Law, Mercer University School of Law, Patent Law & Litigation, and Patent Drafting and Prosecution, 2010-2013
• Adjunct Professor of Law, Georgia State University College of Law, Patent Drafting and Prosecution, 2008-present
• Atlanta Intellectual Property American Inn of Court, Founding Member and, Master of the Bench, May 2010-present
• IPO Committee, Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology Issues
• Atlanta Bar Association, Intellectual Property Section, Board of Directors (Chair, 2011-2012; Vice Chair, 2010-2011; Secretary/Treasurer, 2009-2010; Member-at-Large, 2007-2009)
• Aria North Homeowner's Association, Board President, Sandy Springs, GA, 2024-present

Acknowledged by the authors of "Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor 5-Positive Allosteric Modulators for the Treatment of Schizophrenia (2004–2012)," appearing in Patent Review, 2013 2(1) 

"Patent Essentials Every Federal Researcher Should Know," Federal Laboratory Consortium, National Meeting 2026, Seattle Washington, May 14, 2026

"Special Topics in Patent Law for Academic Researchers," Academic Drug Discovery Consortium, 2025 Colloquium, St. Louis, October 28, 2025

"Patent Prosecution Roundtable," Atlanta Bar Association, Intellectual Property SpringPosium 2016, Adairsville, Ga., April 15, 2016

"Patent Eligibility in 2015," Atlanta Bar Association, Intellectual Property SpringPosium 2015, Adairsville, Ga., April 11, 2015

"Subject Matter Eligibility after Myriad & CLS Bank; Non-Practicing Entity Reform," Atlanta Bar Association, Intellectual Property SpringPosium 2014, Adairsville, Ga., April 11, 2014

"Chemical Inventorship," 2013 Southeast Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society, November 13, 2013

"Patent Eligibility for Life Science Inventions," Academic Drug Discovery Consortium, October 10, 2013 

"Hot Topics and Current Events in Chemical Patent Law," American Chemical Society, Georgia Section, March 20, 2012

Atlanta Bar Chair, Seventh Annual SpringPosium IP CLE Conference, Atlanta Bar Association IP Section and Georgia State University College of Law, April 29, 2011

Moderator and speaker, "Patent Litigation for Universities," Association of University Technology Managers 2010 National Meeting, February 2010

Guest lecturer, Emory University School of Law and Georgia State University College of Law, Patent Law, 2005-2010