Ep2 Tim’s Travails: “The Importance of Embracing Change” is our topic today with attorney Stacey Kalamaras, founding partner of Kalamaras Law Office LLC, an intellectual property boutique in Chicago

June 2025 — This month on IP attorney and author Timothy Trainer’s podcast/video show we meet Stacey Kalamaras, the founding partner of Kalamaras Law Office LLC, an intellectual property boutique in Chicago, IL.

Today’s Topic: The Importance of Embracing Change

On today’s episode, Tim asks Stacey: 

• Tell us about the importance of ensuring small businesses protect their brand/logo/trademarks.
• Why is it so essential, and should this practice be part of a small business strategy?
• What is your opinion of what’s going on today with global trade and tariffs? How will it impact small businesses?
• What is your forecast for the future of small businesses and protections?

About Stacey: Having started her career in Washington, DC, close to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and more recently here in Chicago, Stacey worked for one of the world’s largest law firms, managing global trademark portfolios. She has spent over 30 years working for some of the world’s most beloved brands in more than 150 countries and for clients in diverse industries. In January 2018, with the founding of her eponymous firm, she now assists small and medium-sized businesses identify, register, protect and commercialize their brands both in the U.S. and abroad. Before going to law school, she was a brand manager and advertising director in the consumer-packaged goods industry, which gives her valuable insight into her clients’ businesses on a practical level.

Awards and Peer Recognition: Stacey has been recognized by her peers as a Super Lawyer® for the past six years for her outstanding knowledge and service in intellectual property law, a recognition and honor given to just 5% of the lawyers in Illinois. The firm was recently recognized by CorporateLiveWire as Trademark Law Firm of the Year for Illinois for 2024/25. Stacey was ranked among World IP Forum’s 2021 list of 250 Powerful Women in IP and was profiled by The Top 100 Magazine as a top lawyer for 2020. Learn more at klolegal.com.

Photos of Tim by AnnaGibbs.com

About Tim’s Travails: In this podcast/video sereis, IP attorney and author Tim Trainer introduce us to experts around the country who have insight into the law, international trade, and more, to help us better understand our world in 2025 and beyond.

Tim, himself, fits the bill for he worked for three decades for the US government and private law firms focusing on international trade, and has developed a deep understanding of global economics and politics.

Writing books is his passion. The author of seven books as of 2025, he has penned several non-fiction tomes, including his first book, Customs Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights; the 15th edition was published in 2020. Thomson Reuters’ Aspatore Books published Tim’s next title in 2015, Potato Chips to Computer Chips: The War on Fake Stuff.  Fiction was a genre he always wanted to try. In 2017, Pendulum Over the Pacific was released by Joshua Tree Publishing. “This political intrigue story is set in Tokyo and Washington, D.C., and centers on trade tensions between the U.S. and Japan in the late 1980s,” Tim explains. In 2023, his first series hit bookstores: The China Connection. In December 2024, he followed it with The China Factor. 

Stay tuned for more episodes on InkandescentRadio.com and Inkandescent.tv, and of course, log in regularly for new blog entries and other information on Tim’s website, www.TimothyTrainer.com.