Madison attorney returning to Comic-Con

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A Madison attorney is heading to an international pop culture convention for the third year in a row — not as someone in attendance but as a presenter.

Jessica Mederson is a managing partner at Hansen Reynolds’ Madison office and litigates business and intellectual-property matters. But she’s also a huge fan of science fiction.

That second passion led her and fellow attorney Josh Gilland of California to launch Legal Geeks, a blog that explores legal questions raised by movies, television shows and other products of popular culture. They have been panelists for the last two years at Comic-Con, which starts Wednesday and runs through Sunday in San Diego.

Mederson and Gilland will be moderating a panel Friday called “Judges on Star Wars.” The panel will explore various legal questions raised in the Star Wars universe. The panel includes:

• California Supreme Court Justice Mariano-Florentino Cuellar;
• 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge John Owens;
• Federal Magistrate Judge Mitch Dembin, U.S. District Court of the Southern District of California;
• Federal Magistrate Judge Stacie Beckerman, U.S. District Court of Oregon;
• California Superior Court Judge Carol Najera, Los Angeles County;
• former Federal Magistrate Judge Paul Grewal, deputy general Counsel of litigation at Facebook; and
• former federal magistrate judge in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California.

Mederson said she is looking forward to being back at Comic-Con and having another panel at the event.

“Every year Comic-Con finds a way to pull out more impressive panels,” she said. “This year, I have the privilege of presenting Comic-Con fans with an amazing panel of distinguished judges giving their opinions on the law of Star Wars.  That’s the amazing thing about Comic-Con – it really allows me to bring my two passions together: my love of the law and my love of sci-fi.  It’s truly a unique opportunity for a litigation attorney.”