Nikhil T. Pradhan is a senior counsel and intellectual property lawyer with Foley & Lardner LLP. He is a member of the Mechanical & Electromechanical Technologies Practice and Innovative Technology Sector. Nikhil leads teams for building patent portfolios across a broad range of technologies, including energy, automotive, aerospace, computer vision, machine learning, artificial intelligence, medical device and surgical methods, and control system technologies. Nikhil provides high-level intellectual property counseling, including competitive strategy, clearance, and invalidity/noninfringement opinions. He also provides counsel for litigation, post-grant proceedings, and transactional matters, including performing due diligence and preparing licensing and development agreements. Nikhil also regularly advises founders and emerging technology companies on critical early actions from protecting foundational intellectual property to university licensing to negotiating with first customers and partners.

Nikhil provides experienced counsel to clients across all sectors seeking to develop and deploy AI technologies. He helps clients create and execute on comprehensive risk management frameworks to address issues from data privacy and confidentiality obligations to negotiating licenses for external AI technologies to IP protection for AI innovations. Nikhil is frequently sought out as a speaker for IP and AI events, including for TED AI, the AI Summit, and the EIRA Initiative.

Nikhil was a summer associate with Foley in 2013. He also served as a summer associate with Ford Motor Company in 2012.

Prior to joining Foley, Nikhil served as an intellectual property intern with the U.S. Forest Service Patent Program. He completed a judicial externship with the Wisconsin State Court of Appeals. During law school, Nikhil worked as a graduate teaching assistant for the University of Wisconsin, Madison’s Chemical Engineering Department. He holds experience as a research intern for the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence (CCI).