About Scott R.
Scott R. Cleere built a foundation in science before he turned to law. He earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Brigham Young University in 1996. He went on to study law at the University of Idaho, completing his J.D. in 2000. He returned to graduate study and received an LL.M. in Intellectual Property from the University of Washington School of Law in 2006. Those credentials sit at the intersection of technical training and legal analysis.
Early in his legal career, Cleere combined that technical background with courtroom and transactional work. He has taken roles that required translating complex technical issues into clear legal arguments. That blend of chemical engineering and intellectual property study informed his approach to counseling clients and handling patent-related matters. Over the years he has handled matters that drew on both his engineering training and his graduate IP education.
He holds licenses to practice in Idaho, Illinois and Wisconsin. Those admissions have allowed him to advise clients across different regional markets and to appear in a variety of forums. Rather than limiting himself to a single jurisdiction, he has worked where clients and cases required multi-state coordination. The ability to move between those bars has been part of his professional profile.
Colleagues and clients have noted his methodical approach to technical documentation and patent claims. He tends to break problems into discrete elements, which helps in patent drafting and in assessing freedom-to-operate issues. He also has experience on transactional matters where IP assets intersect with business deals. His background in engineering informs how he evaluates inventions and how he explains technical concepts to nontechnical audiences.
In practice he has balanced written advocacy and advisory work. He has participated in preparing patent applications, reviewing design-arounds and advising on licensing arrangements. He has also worked on disputes that required careful tracing of technical contributions and patent scope. His work has ranged from bench-level technical description to negotiation of intellectual property terms in contracts.
Outside of casework, Cleere’s path from chemical engineering to an LL.M. in intellectual property reflects a deliberate pivot toward the legal side of innovation. That trajectory shapes how he frames issues for clients and how he marshals technical evidence. He currently concentrates his practice on intellectual property matters in Idaho, Illinois and Wisconsin.
