Randall R. Rader

The Hon. Randall R. Rader is principal of the Rader Group and former chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He is also a member of the board of the International IP Commercialization Council.

Rader began his career as a congressional staffer in 1975, becoming legislative director of the House Ways and Means in 1978 and then serving as counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee from 1980 to 1988. President Ronald Reagan appointed Rader to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in 1988. In 1990, he was named to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit by President George H. W. Bush. He became the circuit’s chief judge in 2010, retiring in 2014.

While on the Federal Circuit, Rader also served as a law professor, having taught patent law and advanced intellectual-property courses at the University of Virginia School of Law, Georgetown University Law Center, the Munich Intellectual Property Law Center, and the George Washington University Law School.

He received his bachelor’s from Brigham Young University and his JD from George Washington University Law School.