James Toupin is a retired government lawyer (former general counsel of the US Patent and Trademark Office) who has lived for thirty-five years in DC. He began publishing his poems in 2009; about forty-five have appeared in journals, garnering a couple of Pushcart nominations. Most recently, his work appeared in District Lines, North Dakota Quarterly, Blast Furnace and Ardor Literary Journal. Toupin is also a published translator of Selected Letters of Alexis de Tocqueville on Politics and Society and a writer on legal topics. He is currently working on a third edition of a book on conduct issues in patent cases.