Spotlight on . . . Candace Lynn Bell
March 29, 2022
Candace Lynn Bell joined the firm’s White Plains, New York, office in 2011. Today she is based in the firm’s Buffalo, New York, office. She and her husband, Jonathan, share a historic home known as the Edward Harvey House in the Parkside Historic District. Built in 1898-1899, it is a three story late Victorian house just down the street from the Frank Lloyd Wright Darwin Martin Complex, the Buffalo Zoo, and Delaware Park, which was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. Candace has a history of living in interesting homes. As a child, she lived on Grand Island, a large island upstream from Niagara Falls, in New York State. Her home was right on the water, and her bedroom faced Canada on the opposite shore.
Candace focuses her practice on intellectual property matters for United States-based companies and individuals as well as foreign-based individuals and companies doing business in the United States. She has 30 years of experience in working with clients to develop and manage trademark and domain name portfolios on a national and international basis, including developing brands, policing marks, and portfolio and registration management. She advises clients in a broad range of industries including software, insurance, amusement park rides, entertainment, food service, bakeries, consulting, aviation, construction, precious metal refining, and retail. Candace also has an active trademark litigation practice representing clients in front of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the United States Patent and Trademark Office and in federal courts.
Candace and Jonathan have two sons, a daughter, two daughters-in-law and three grandchildren. Their son David is an attorney with the Public Justice Center in Baltimore Maryland and his wife, Alice, is completing her residency in pathology at Johns Hopkins. David and Alice are parents to one year old Marlow. Their son Benjamin is an internal medicine physician and academic hospitalist at the Yale/New Haven Hospital, and his wife, Rozzie, is a clinic fellow in pediatric hematology/oncology at Yale. Ben and Rozzie are parents to almost three year old Charlie and new born, Shayna. Candace and Jonathan’s daughter, Sarah, is a junior at Yale and a member of the Yale Equestrian Team.
Q&A
What led you to pursue a career in law?
I’m a lifelong learner and gravitated toward law because it is a field that is always changing and requires a natural curiosity and enthusiasm for seeking knowledge on a daily basis.
What do you enjoy most about your practice?
Working with the clients to protect their brands, which are the symbol of their company, and learning about all the different products and services our clients provide to the world. I also really like working with my colleagues in providing trademark and copyright advice to their clients. There is not a business out there that does not have trademark issues.
What is one of your hidden talents?
I worked at F.A.O. Schwartz 5th Avenue New York for several months during one Christmas season. Because I helped celebrities shop the store and worked private parties, I learned how to play “Chopsticks” on the floor piano – just like Tom Hanks did in the film Big.
What do you like to do on weekends?
Cook – I ran a catering business in college. Cooking for family and friends is a source of joy for me. The character Remy from the film Ratatouille is one of my heroes.
What is your favorite place?
Arowhon Pines in Algonquin Park, Ontario, Canada. It is a rustic and beautiful resort in the middle of the wilderness with an outstanding staff, an amazing chef, and fabulous food served in a huge octagonal log dining room with a massive stone fireplace in the center – the best Welsh rarebit ever!
What is a movie that you can watch over and over again?
Casablanca.
Who is a woman you admire and why?
My maternal grandmother, Evelyn “Honey” Lesniak. Born in 1919, she left school after 8th grade to help support her family after her father died in the line of duty as a railroad detective. She worked in factories doing soldering for equipment both before and during World War II, and even after marrying my maternal grandfather, Stan Lesniak, in 1938. She eventually moved into retail and held a senior management position until her retirement at the age of 70. All that time, she took care of our home, cooked, cleaned, helped raise me and supported my grandfather’s construction business. And she did it all with grace, spirit and style. She taught me to work hard, do a great job at whatever you’re doing, be financially responsible and independent, and love and support family and friends. I wore her wedding gown on my own wedding day.