John W. Crittenden is an Adjunct Assistant Professor, teaching Trademark Law. He is a Retired Partner of Cooley LLP in San Francisco, where he practiced for over 37 years, earning a reputation as one of the top trademark litigation attorneys in the United States. Although he enjoyed the courtroom, he loves teaching even more, and, in addition to teaching courses at UCLA and Berkeley Law as an adjunct, was engaged in attorney mentoring and training and lecturing to lawyers and law students for most of his career at Cooley. In 2023 he participated as faculty in the Stanford Law School Trial Advocacy Program.

Before retiring from practice in 2021, Mr. Crittenden received many honors, including recognition in The Legal 500 “Hall of Fame” for US trademark litigation and listings in the top tier of the World Trademark Review 1000, which quoted peers describing him as “A terrific trademark lawyer with a broad, sophisticated practice, [who] deserves special recognition – he is widely respected across the nation and is a progressive thought leader.” “Crittenden has a real depth of experience and his temperament makes him a great mediator and a reasonable opponent who is easy to work with.”

Mr. Crittenden has held many leadership roles with the International Trademark Association, including service on its Board of Directors in 2006-08 and as Chair of numerous committees, including its International Amicus Committee, through which he co-authored many influential amicus briefs on significant trademark cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and various Circuit Courts of Appeals.

He also served for many years as a mediator and neutral evaluator in trademark cases for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. From 1981 to 1983, Mr. Crittenden served as a Law Clerk to the Honorable Joyce Hens Green of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Mr. Crittenden supports UCLA as a volunteer with the Chancellor’s Society leadership giving organization and also serves on the board of Scrubs Addressing the Firearm Epidemic, Inc. (SAFE), a nonprofit led by physicians advancing evidence-based solutions to gun violence from a public health perspective. He is highly competent in French and Spanish, but not yet fluent, although that is something to which he aspires.