Finnegan Partners Erika Arner and Leslie McDonell named “Top 250 Women in IP” by Managing Intellectual Property

Managing Intellectual Property (MIP) named Finnegan partners Erika Arner and Leslie McDonell to its 2019 “Top 250 Women in IP” list. MIP recognizes female practitioners in private practice who have performed exceptionally for their clients and firms in the past year and are involved in IP advocacy and/or corporate social responsibility initiatives in their jurisdictions.

Erika Arner is a nationally-recognized leader in trial practice before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) and was named 2017 “PTAB Litigator of the Year” by MIP. Erika, who is currently past-president of the PTAB Bar Association, focuses on patent office trials, client counseling, and appellate litigation, with an emphasis on electronic technology, computer software, and the Internet. She has represented patent owners and petitioners in more than 100 PTAB trials, most as lead counsel. Erika is also a well-known authority in the area of patent-eligibility jurisprudence. Since representing the petitioners before the U.S. Supreme Court in Bilski v. Kappos, she has handled dozens of cases involving issues related to patentable subject matter before the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, U.S. district courts, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Leslie McDonell, managing partner of Finnegan’s Boston office, provides strategic counseling to both startups and larger companies on the procurement and protection of intellectual property, primarily in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. With more than 30 years of experience in bio and pharma patent office practice, Leslie has represented clients before the USPTO in patent appeals, interferences, reissues, reexaminations, and inter partes reviews (IPRs). She coordinates worldwide patent portfolio strategies, evaluates and analyzes competitors’ patent positions around the world, and advises and renders opinions on issues of patentability, inventorship, validity, claim scope, infringement, and freedom-to-operate. Leslie has earned a reputation for excellence in her field as acknowledged by MIP, who has recognized her every year since its inaugural edition in 2012.