Judge Garbis is a Johns Hopkins University electrical engineering graduate. In his law practice, he tried cases as a public defender, a Justice Department trial attorney, and in private practice in federal courts throughout the country. Judge Garbis has presided over patent cases and is a co-chair of the ALI-ABA Course on Patent Trials. In 1998, Judge Garbis served as an Honorary Justice of the Federal Court of Australia, with Chambers in Melbourne, Victoria.