Do you want extensive patent training from some of the most prominent female patent lawyers in the country?  Harrity is excited to host Harrity for Parity™, our 7th Annual Women’s Patent Workshop.  A select group of women will participate in this free four-day long program geared towards an introduction to the practice of patent law, patent skills, and career training.  The next program will take place virtually in May 2024, and is open to female science and engineering students, law school students, and recent graduates.

The participants of previous workshops rated the quality of the program as 9.5 out of 10!

The Harrity for Parity™ Women’s Workshop includes:

• Guest Speakers (Prominent women in the patent field)
• Patent Law Introductory Training
• Patent Preparation Skills Training
• Patent Prosecution Skills Training
• Writing Skills Training by Writing Expert, Julie Seitz
• Resume and Interview Preparation Workshops
• Law School Career Mentoring
• Patent Attorney Q&As
• Patent Bar Preparation
• Networking Opportunities

The application window for Harrity for Parity™ 2024 is now open!

Eligibility Requirements:

Candidates Must:
1. Be in good standing as a science/engineering student or law student at an ABA accredited school, or be a recent engineering or law school graduate of an ABA accredited school;
2. Demonstrate a record of academic achievement;
3. Have a sincere interest in Harrity and practicing patent law; and
4. Have or be obtaining a background in a technical field (e.g., B.S. in Electrical Engineering, B.S. in Computer Science, B.S. in Mechanical Engineering or like such); Now open to Life Science degrees!
5. Be eligible to sit for the United States Patent Bar and reside in the U.S.

Elaine Spector

Elaine Spector is a patent attorney with over 20 years of experience in intellectual property law and is Harrity’s first female Partner.  Her current practice consists primarily of prosecuting patent applications with a focus on electromechanical technologies. Prior to joining Harrity & Harrity, Elaine worked in private practice for over 15 years handling various intellectual property matters, including patent application drafting and prosecution, trademark prosecution and enforcement, as well as litigating complex patent cases in federal courts. Elaine’s extensive litigation experience provides her with a unique perspective in prosecuting patent applications. Most recently, Elaine worked in-house for 6 years at Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures, where she managed over 500 matters in medical and software related technologies.

Elaine is passionate about fostering diversity and inclusion in the legal field. She serves as Co-Chair of the Harrity Diversity Committee, Vice Chair of the IPO Diversity Committee, and Chair of the
IPO D&I Committee Outreach Subcommittee. Elaine is also serves on the AIPLA Women in IP Law Committee as Chair of the Global Networking Event, Chair of the Outreach Committee, and as an Executive Team Member. Elaine hosts weekly diversity-focused vlogs, Driving Diversity, and regular diversity and inclusion webinars in the Diversity Dialogue series, both part of the Harrity Diversity Channel. Elaine is also a Board Member at No More Stolen Childhoods.

Kelsey Milman

Kelsey Milman serves as Deputy General Counsel and Chief IP Counsel for Caterpillar Inc., managing Caterpillar’s worldwide Intellectual Property practice based in Peoria, IL, with offices in the U.S., U.K., Germany, China, Japan and India.  Ms. Milman has previously served in several leadership roles within Caterpillar, including managing the North America patent organization, the Asia Pacific Intellectual Property Office, based in Beijing, and the Trademark and Design Section.  Ms. Milman is active in the Intellectual Property Owners (IPO) Association, currently serving on the board of directors and on the IPO Education Foundation board of directors.  She is also a member of the Association of Corporate Patent Counsel (ACPC), serving on the executive committee.

Mareesa Frederick

Mareesa Frederick is a partner in the Washington, DC office of Finnegan, a global intellectual property firm.  Her practice focuses on complex patent complex, high-stakes intellectual property litigation, with a particular emphasis on Section 337 proceedings before the International Trade Commission (ITC). She was named by The Legal 500 U.S. as a Next Generation Lawyer for ITC patent litigation. Mareesa also has extensive experience counseling clients on pre-trial strategy, strategic licensing opportunities, and patent portfolios.  She is the partner-in-charge of Finnegan’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion department and co-chairs its Black attorney affinity group.  Mareesa is also a member of the IPO Diversity Outreach Committee.

Meredith Struby

Meredith Struby helps her clients channel the potential of their IP assets. Her clients trust her to understand their technology and business needs and to use her deep understanding of patent law and practice to protect and manage their IP assets. She leads client-focused teams of attorneys, patent agents, paralegals, and staff by channeling and maximizing the strengths of each team member and encouraging the culture of service, support, trust, and excellence at MCC.

Her practice focuses on obtaining valuable utility and design patent protection in the US and abroad for clients and providing thoughtful and insightful counseling regarding non-infringement and invalidity of third-party owned patents for mechanical and electro-mechanical technologies.

Investing in the success of others is very important to her. She has a strong commitment to mentoring and serving underrepresented groups in IP law and the STEM fields, fostering connections and encouraging them to channel their strengths, use their voices, and reach their goals. In addition to mentoring, she educates organizations about the value of diversity and inclusion and helps them to adopt policies and practices that increase the advancement of underrepresented groups. She also advises and serves on boards and committees dedicated to the inclusion, participation, and advancement of underrepresented groups in IP law and technology.

Molly Kocialski

As the Director of the Rocky Mountain Regional United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), since January 2016, Mollybeth (Molly) Kocialski carries out the strategic direction of the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO, and is responsible for leading the Rocky Mountain regional office. Focusing on the nine states within this region and actively engaging with the community, Ms. Kocialski ensures the USPTO’s initiatives and programs are tailored to the region’s unique ecosystem of industries and stakeholders.

Ms. Kocialski brings more than 20 years of intellectual property experience to the USPTO. Most recently, Ms. Kocialski was the Senior Patent Counsel for Oracle America, Inc., where she was responsible for managing an active patent prosecution docket and was also responsible for all of the post-grant procedures and patent investigations for Oracle and its subsidiaries. Prior to Oracle, she worked at Qwest Corporation and was also in private practice in both New York and Colorado focusing on intellectual property litigation for multiple high-tech companies while maintaining an active prosecution docket.

Ms. Kocialski is a recognized IP leader in the Rocky Mountain region. Ms. Kocialski currently serves on the Colorado Federal Executive Board’s Executive Committee. Ms. Kocialski is the President of the Colorado IP Inn of Court and was previously the Chair of the Planning Committee and a member of the Board of Directors of the Colorado IP Inn of Court. Further, Ms. Kocialski is a member of the Planning Committee for the Rocky Mountain Intellectual Property Institute, an annual two-day conference on intellectual property that attracts over 500 attendees. She was the Chair of the Intellectual Property Section of the Colorado Bar Association and served on the Colorado Bar Association’s Board of Governors. Ms. Kocialski served as the head of the IP Committee and was a member of the Board of Directors for the Colorado Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel and served on the National IP Committee of the Association of the Corporate Counsel. In 2015, Ms. Kocialski was recognized by ManagingIP magazine as one of its North America Corporate IP Stars.

Ms. Kocialski is a graduate of the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Law and received a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of New Mexico. Ms. Kocialski is a registered patent attorney and is admitted to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the New York and Colorado state bars as well as to the United States Courts in those jurisdictions.

Sophia Piliouras

Sophia Piliouras is Chief Operating Officer at the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA). As a senior member of the leadership team, Sophia is responsible for human resources; information technology; events and programming; strategic relations and membership. Sophia joined MCCA in 2016 as Senior Counsel, Director of Education and Research and most recently served as President of the MCCA Advisory Practice (MAP) where she partnered closely with MCCA’s members in increasing the impact, effectiveness and sustainability of their organization’s diversity, equity and inclusion strategic plans.

Prior to joining MCCA, Sophia was Vice President, Assistant General Counsel at JP Morgan Chase of the Consumer & Community Banking Regulatory, Operations and Controls team (CCB ROC).  Sophia served as the lead lawyer for the Auto Finance and Student Lending, Business Banking, and Asset Wealth Management lines of business providing strategic and transactional support on statutory and regulatory compliance including oversight and legal risk assessment of outside counsel. Sophia also practiced as litigation attorney at Seyfarth Shaw LLP where she represented clients in consumer financial services litigation.

Sophia has spoken at numerous conferences and programs on diversity, equity and inclusion in corporate America and currently serves as Trustee on the Foundation for Advancement of Diversity in IP Law Board. Sophia holds a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin, a J.D. New York Law School where she served as the United Nations Editor for the New York Law School Journal of Human Rights and an M.S. from Columbia University.

Teresa Rea

Teresa ‘Terry’ Stanek Rea is a partner and vice-chair of Crowell & Moring’s Washington D.C. office’s Intellectual Property Group and a director with C&M International (CMI), the international trade and investment consulting firm affiliated with Crowell & Moring. Terry is the former acting and deputy director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), as well as acting and deputy under secretary of commerce for intellectual property. She brings a wealth of domestic and international experience and skills to her practice, both legal and political. Her practice concentrates on working with clients in several key areas, including IP policies and strategies, patent enforcement and post-grant administrative proceedings, trade secrets policy and enforcement, and digital/Internet related copyright issues.

Tiffany Johnson

Tiffany Johnson is an IP Attorney at Boston Scientific Corporation (BSC) and supports the company’s Neuromodulation Division located in Southern California. Prior to joining BSC, Tiffany was a Patent Attorney at The Estée Lauder Companies, Inc. in New York and worked in private practice where her practice focused on patents, trade secrets, and intellectual property counseling.

Tiffany also worked as a Patent Examiner at the USPTO, and prior to attending law school, Tiffany worked as a Mechanical Engineer for an engineering consulting company. Tiffany received her Law degree from Texas Southern University and holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M.

As the 2022-2023 Secretary and Chief Collaboration Officer of the Foundation for the Advancement of Diversity in IP Law (FADIPL), Tiffany is passionate about achieving diversity in IP law.  She is also a member of Boston Scientific’s Inclusive Innovation Committee and a mentor in Harrity & Harrity’s Patent Pathways Program, which is dedicated to increasing registered African-American/Black women patent attorneys and agents.

Julie R. Seitz

Julie Seitz is owner of Seitz Effective Tutoring & Coaching, LLC and serves as a professional tutor and coach for attorneys and law school students. Julie is a writing coach for Harrity & Harrity and facilitates the improvement of attorney’s writing skills particularly in the area of patent application drafting. Julie has an interest in diversity, equity and inclusion policies and programs and serves as a writing coach for Harrity & Harrity’s diversity and inclusion initiatives. Her prior work as an attorney was in the field of labor law and education law with responsibilities including prosecuting employee discipline litigation, student misconduct hearings, drafting collective bargaining agreements, and policy writing for school districts, towns and municipalities. Julie has been in the field of education for over twenty-five years which included homeschooling her four sons and then going on to serve as a Professional Tutor for the State University of New York Educational Opportunity Program and TRiO Student Support Services Program at Dutchess Community College. Currently, Julie serves as an Academic Coach for the SUNY Educational Opportunity Program at Dutchess Community College. Julie earned her J.D. from Albany Law School of Union University and is admitted to the New York state bar.