Linda Thayer Receives Posthumous 2023 Women, Influence & Power in Law Lifetime Achievement Award

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 19, 2023

WASHINGTON, DC—Finnegan is honored to announce that our partner and friend, Linda Thayer, was posthumously named the recipient of Corporate Counsel’s Women, Influence & Power in Law (WIPL) Lifetime Achievement Award for her exceptional dedication to the legal profession. Linda passed away on May 16, 2023, and is remembered for being a true partner, colleague, mentor, and friend.

The 2023 WIPL awards recognize trailblazing women lawyers who have made a remarkable difference in the legal sector, including shaping the law, achieving outsized results for their clients, being an outstanding jurist or assisting those in need of legal services. The recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award represents a lawyer who has made a lasting mark on the legal profession over their years of dedication, innovation, and hard work.

Erika Arner, Finnegan’s managing partner said, “Linda was a trailblazer in the legal field, advocating for inclusion and authenticity even when it cost her personally. She changed our firm for the better, and so many of us will continue to benefit from her legacy for years to come.”

Linda joined Finnegan in 1996 as a summer associate. She was a founding member of the Palo Alto office and a long-time partner in Finnegan’s Cambridge and now Boston offices. At Finnegan, Linda led the way in intellectual property protection in encryption, cybersecurity, biometrics, data compression and storage, video games, artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, blockchain, and online transactions, and served as co-leader of the firm’s Robotics and Digital Health working groups. Linda was recognized as a leading patent litigator and patent prosecutor in Massachusetts.  

Linda was committed to advocating for LGBTQ+ rights. Until her passing, she served as co-leader of the firm’s LGBTQ+ affinity group and was an active member of the Massachusetts LGBTQ Bar Association and the National LGBTQ+ Bar Association. She was also involved with Finnegan FORWARD, the firm’s women’s business initiative. Linda was just as committed to the firm’s Veteran’s Pro Bono program, where she took on numerous Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC) appeals and forged a great relationship between Finnegan’s Boston office and the New England Center and Home for Veterans.

Contacts

Erika Arner, Managing Partner
erika.arner@finnegan.com

Anand K. Sharma, Chair
anand.sharma@finnegan.com

About Finnegan
Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP is one of the largest IP law firms in the world. From offices in Atlanta, Boston, London, Munich, Palo Alto, Reston, Seoul, Shanghai, Taipei, Tokyo, and Washington, DC, the firm practices European, German, UK, and U.S. IP law. In addition to services related to all aspects of patent, trademark, and copyright law, including counseling, prosecution, licensing, and litigation, Finnegan provides counseling and litigation services in advertising, privacy, and a wide spectrum of additional IP-adjacent commercial matters, including trade secrets, international trade, the Internet, e-commerce, government contracts, antitrust, and unfair competition. For additional information on the firm, please visit www.finnegan.com and follow us on LinkedIn.