Brett W. Doyle, Chairman of the U.S. International Trade Commission (Commission or USITC), announced today that Lisa A. Murray and Benjamin S. Richards have been named USITC Administrative Law Judges (ALJs). Murray and Richards will manage an active litigation docket, preside over evidentiary hearings, and make initial determinations in the Commission’s investigations involving unfair practices in import trade under section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930. These investigations most often involve allegations of patent and trademark infringement.

About Lisa A. Murray

Prior to her appointment as ALJ, Murray served as an Administrative Patent Judge (APJ) on the Patent Trial and Appeal Board at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office from 2024 to 2026. Prior to her appointment as APJ, Murray worked as an investigative attorney in the USITC’s Office of Unfair Import Investigations from 2008 to 2024, where she represented the public interest in section 337 investigations involving patent infringement and trade secret misappropriation. 

Murray began her career as a judicial law clerk to the Hon. Dominick L. DiCarlo, Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of International Trade, and practiced intellectual property and international trade law at various private firms before rejoining the federal government.

Murray holds a juris doctor degree, cum laude, from the University of Michigan Law School, a master of science degree in computer science from the George Washington University, a masters of arts degree in political science (world politics) from the University of Michigan, and a bachelor of arts degree, with honors, in history and music performance from Oberlin College.

About Benjamin S. Richards

Before his appointment as ALJ, Richards served as Of Counsel at Winston Taylor LLP in Washington, DC. Previously, he served as an attorney-advisor in both the Office of the General Counsel and the Office of the Administrative Law Judges at the USITC. In those roles, he advised the Commission and ALJs on section 337 investigations and represented the Commission in appellate litigation before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. 

Earlier in his career, he served as a trial attorney in the Intellectual Property Section of the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Division, where he represented the United States in patent, trademark, and copyright litigation. 

He holds a juris doctor degree from the George Washington University Law School and a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Utah.

About the U.S. International Trade Commission

The USITC is an independent, nonpartisan, factfinding federal agency that investigates and makes determinations in proceedings involving imports claimed to injure a domestic industry or violate U.S. intellectual property rights; provides independent analysis and information on tariffs, trade, and competitiveness to the President and the Congress; and maintains the U.S. Harmonized Tariff Schedule.