Biglaw, Intellectual Property, Women's Issues

Women Lawyers Left Behind In Patent Courts, But Some Law Firms Buck The Trend

Men dominate patent litigation, but women come out on top at several firms.

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Women may often be seen in courtrooms, but they’re rarely heard. In fact, according to a study released last month by the New York State Bar Association, no matter the level or type of court, women attorneys continue to be shut out from speaking roles, accounting for only 25 percent of lead counsel roles.

But what happens when we look to more specialized courts dealing with specific practice areas? The team at Docket Alarm looked to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) to analyze how women fared in terms of speaking roles, but the results were quite disappointing. Here’s a stunning quote from Docket Alarm’s study, which was recently published at Patently-O:

[P]atent litigation is dominated by male attorneys. Of the top 100 law firms, 55 have less than 10% female attorneys on cases, and 8 firms have never had a single female attorney work on their PTAB AIA-Trial cases. On average, attorney appearances are only 12% female. When representing patent owners, the percentage of female attorneys drops further to 9.8%.

This is incredibly disheartening for women who may be interested in pursuing a career in patent law, but thankfully, there are several firms where women’s appearances and speaking roles in PTAB cases are plentiful:

Rank Firm Percentage Female
1 Osha Liang 72%
2 Goodwin Proctor 48%
3 Crowell & Moring 47.3%
4 McCarter English 46.7%
5 Arnold & Porter 42%

According to Docket Alarm, there are a few more firms that qualify as runners-up in terms of women’s appearances on America Invents Act (AIA) trial matters before PTAB. At least 25 percent of the attorneys who argue in favor of their clients before PTAB at these firms are women: Kasha Law; Covington & Burling; Mayer Brown; Drinker Biddle & Reath; Ascenda Law Group; Keker & Van Nest; Ropes & Gray; WilmerHale; and Venable.

It’s obvious that there is still much, much more work to be done to improve women’s footing in patent practice and their representation of clients before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Change can’t come quickly enough, but we must congratulate these few firms for standing up, standing out, and bucking the trend by highlighting their women lawyers’ talents. More firms should strive to diversify their high-level patent practices like these firms. On behalf of all women who are interested in patent law, we thank you.

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Gender Analytics: Using Litigation Data to Evaluate Law Firm Diversity [Patently-O]

Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky has been an editor at Above the Law since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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