Leanne Stendell

Leanne Stendell focuses her practice in the area of intellectual property law. She concentrates on procuring, prosecuting, and enforcing trademarks and copyrights for clients with domestic and international portfolios.

Her intellectual property experience includes:

• U.S. and international trademark clearance, protection, and enforcement strategy.
• Social media counseling and enforcement.
• Copyright, trade dress, non-traditional trademark, and Customs counseling and enforcement.
• Evaluating product and packaging designs for trade dress and other intellectual property issues.
• Maintaining and enforcing clients' trademark rights through U.S. Trademark Office and court proceedings.
• Enforcing clients' intellectual property rights through online and domain name disputes.
• Various trademark and copyright infringement suits.

Leanne began her career at Haynes Boone. She most recently served as the Chief Trademark Counsel and Associate General Counsel at TGI Friday’s Inc., managing intellectual property, licensing, marketing, digital, information technology, data security and privacy, and other matters. She was TGI Friday’s first dedicated intellectual property attorney. She also developed the company's intellectual property procedures and processes.

Prior to joining TGI Friday’s, Leanne was the Global Managing Director, Trademarks and IP, for Yum! Brands, Inc. and its restaurant brands KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell.

Leanne is an active member of the International Trademark Association. She served on the Board of Directors during the 2019-2022 term and as Chair of the In-House Practitioners Committee during the 2018-19 term. She has previously held roles on the Internet Committee, Online Reference Committee, and Young Practitioners Committee.

Leanne received the State Bar of Texas IP Section’s 2019 Annual Trademark Award for her accomplishments in the trademark community. She was named to the World Trademark Review’s WTR 300: The World’s Leading Corporate Trademark Professionals list each year from 2019-2024 and to the World Trademark Review’s Global Leaders 2024 list.

Leanne is a summa cum laude graduate of the Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law.