GTC Law Group is pleased to announce that Adam Brooke, Shea Leitch, Stanislav (Stas) Zakharenko, and Raymond W. Zenkert, III, have been named Principals of the firm and Brian Taillon has been named Counsel of the firm.
“These promotions are well-deserved,” said GTC Managing Director Lisa Trainor. “Each of these five attorneys has demonstrated exceptional skills, leadership, and commitment to our clients and our firm. We look forward to their continued success and contributions.”
Adam is a member of GTC’s Patent and M&A groups. He advises clients on domestic and international patent strategies, with a focus on building and defending high‑value patent portfolios that align with business objectives. A former electrical engineer, Adam draws on years of hands‑on industry experience to understand complex technologies, communicate effectively with inventors, and translate innovation into strong, commercially meaningful patent protection. He has handled thousands of Office Action responses across a wide range of technologies, helping clients secure and maintain patent protection in the United States and key foreign jurisdictions. Drawing on this depth of prosecution experience, Adam counsels companies from early‑stage startups to global enterprises on patentability, freedom‑to‑operate, infringement, and validity issues, often as part of an offensive or defensive pre‑litigation strategy to position clients for favorable resolutions. In addition to his patent practice, Adam regularly supports M&A and intellectual property transactions. His experience delivering clear, practical advice on IP and due diligence issues enables clients to quantify IP risk, optimize deal terms, and capture the full value of technology assets. Adam holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Grove City College and a J.D. from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. Adam can be reached at [email protected] or at 571.319.6425.
Shea is the head of GTC’s growing Data Privacy & Cybersecurity group and a member of the Artificial Intelligence group. With over a dozen years at the forefront of privacy and data protection law, Shea serves as a strategic partner, assisting her clients to innovate and bring products and services to market. Shea acts as a trusted advisor to clients, from multinational companies to startups, in an array of industries who rely on her to provide timely, strategic and practical advice as they grow and innovate. Clients seek Shea’s guidance with data strategy and compliance counsel, from targeted product advice to ground-up development of their global privacy and security programs. Working hand-in-hand with product, marketing, business, and legal teams, Shea provides strategic guidance to clients regarding a wide array of data protection concerns from the development of enterprise-wide privacy and security compliance programs and cybersecurity assessments to targeted guidance on discrete data use or data protection issues. With CIPP/US and CIPP/E certifications from the International Association of Privacy Professionals, Shea provides tailored guidance on privacy and cybersecurity issues, including data strategy and governance, AI, regulatory compliance and risk management, security assessments and remediation, and security incident preparation and response. Shea also provides targeted guidance on data strategy and use and privacy and security compliance for clients applying emerging technologies, including biometrics, AI, and AdTech. As a strategic advisor, Shea helps clients bring products to market by identifying practical solutions that facilitate business growth and innovation, while mitigating legal and regulatory risk. She holds a B.A. in Political Science and Government from The Ohio State University and a J.D. from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. Shea can be reached at [email protected] or at 614.917.7522.
Stas is a technology and AI-focused attorney and member of GTC’s Technology Transactions Group, where he also co‑leads the firm’s Artificial Intelligence practice. Since joining GTC as counsel in 2024, Stas has advised clients on a broad range of AI and technology transactions across industries such as media, communications, hardware, software, insurance, financial services, security, healthcare, automotive, biotech, and mar‑tech, including M&A matters totaling over $1 billion in aggregate value. He is known for delivering practical, forward‑looking counsel that supports innovation while managing regulatory and commercial risk. Stas brings 20 years of experience at the intersection of intellectual property, technology, digital media, and emerging technologies. Prior to joining GTC, he served in senior in‑house legal roles at leading global technology companies, including as General Counsel of Audible, Senior Counsel at Amazon, Director of Product & Tech Legal at Netflix, and counsel at Sage Software. This background enables him to provide pragmatic, business‑aligned advice to organizations ranging from startups to Fortune 50 companies. His representative focus areas include AI governance and responsible AI programs; data and model licensing; SaaS and cloud transactions; product counseling; and AI risk assessment in M&A and software due diligence. A frequent speaker and panelist, Stas presents on topics including SaaS licensing, AI governance, AI licensing challenges, and AI risk in due diligence at CLE programs and major industry conferences. Stas holds a J.D. from Boston University and a B.A. in Music from Stony Brook University. Outside of his legal practice, he is an avid musician. He can be reached at [email protected] or 908.301.6933.
Ray is a member of GTC’s Patent group. Ray has significant experience in drafting and prosecuting patent applications in a variety of technologies and jurisdictions worldwide Some examples include network protocols; automation and SCADA technologies, including data acquisition, industrial control protocols, and signal conditioning; electrical engineering; software engineering; computer network architectures and topology; network security; and AI. Ray’s patent-related experience also extends to advanced medical devices, including MRI/PET and other imaging systems, as well as image registration algorithms. In addition to patent prosecution, Ray has been involved in patent and trademark litigation actions, including ITC patent litigation, in several district courts and at the appellate level. Before practicing law, Ray served as a U.S. Air Force Special Operations Officer where he managed and operated on military network infrastructure including classified network systems. Ray received a B.S. in Computer Science from the United States Air Force Academy and a J.D. from the University of Connecticut School of Law. Ray can be reached at [email protected] or at 413.537.1761.
Brian is a member of GTC’s Trademark group. Brian focuses on trademark and copyright law, as well as intellectual property transactional matters. For more than two decades he has supported clients’ acquisition, management, and monetization of intellectual property rights. His experience includes the prosecution of hundreds of applications to register U.S. and foreign trademarks in addition to numerous applications to register U.S. copyrights. His experience also includes complex licensing and the structuring, negotiation, and execution of strategic intellectual property transactions. Brian’s advice to clients is informed by over a decade of prior intellectual property litigation experience in U.S. District Courts, and he presently conducts trademark opposition and cancellation proceedings, including successful Trial Briefing and Oral Argument, before the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office’s Trademark Trial & Appeal Board (TTAB), as well as internet domain dispute proceedings before the National Arbitration Forum. Brian holds a B.A. from the University of New Hampshire, an M.P.A. from Northeastern University, and a J.D. from Nova Southeastern University. Brian can be reached at [email protected] or at 561.676.2547.