John Thorne

John Thorne is a partner in the law firm Kellogg Hansen Todd Figel & Frederick LLC. Prior to joining Kellogg Hansen he was Verizon’s Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel in charge of intellectual property, competition and privacy.  

He graduated summa cum laude with high honors in mathematics from Kenyon College in 1978. He got a J.D. cum laude from Northwestern Law School in 1981, then clerked for the Chief Judge of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Walter Cummings. His first client at Kirkland & Ellis following his clerkship was Harold Washington, the first African-American mayor of Chicago. He has written several academic treatises and was an adjunct professor for 10 years at Columbia Law School and for two years at Georgetown University Law Center.

He is a long-time parishioner at St. Alban’s Parish in Washington, D.C., and was the founding board chair of the Bishop John T. Walker School for Boys. He and his wife Sara have four children and five grandchildren.