Edell, Shapiro & Finnan, LLC (ESF) offers a broad range of sophisticated intellectual property (IP) law services related to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and well beyond. 

From drafting and filing hundreds of patent and trademark applications each year to handling high-stakes inter partes proceedings and due diligence for mergers and acquisitions (M&As), and everything in between, our team’s legal and technical experience enables us to serve our clients’ IP-related needs with the utmost skill and confidence.

We routinely offer services for licensing and IP-related agreements, IP litigation, international IP portfolio management, freedom-to-operate analyses, invalidity and non-infringement opinions, strategic counseling, and corporate IP infrastructure and logistics. 

Many of our professionals previously worked in the corporate sector either as scientists or engineers or as in-house counsel, and still others have advanced degrees in engineering and science.

A substantial number of our professionals have also served as patent examiners at the USPTO, bringing valuable insight into the operations of that agency, thus helping us to even better navigate the subtleties of prosecution and post grant proceedings.

Several of our attorneys have extensive litigation experience, and we can represent clients in contested matters in U.S. district courts, the USPTO and International Trade Commission (ITC). We also often team with other firms to contribute our experience with litigation, the client or the technology at issue.

This diversity and depth of experience in all areas of IP law enable our professionals to provide comprehensive counseling for our clients.

Our engineering and scientific expertise runs the full gamut of technologies from wireless communications, secure networking, computer architecture, video coding and streaming, electronics, software, and machine learning, to consumer and industrial products such as sporting goods and apparel, cosmetics, toys, and welding systems, to life sciences, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and medical devices including neuro-prosthesis implants.

Increasingly, innovation requires  interdisciplinary know-how such as the application of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to the life sciences field and the proliferation of “smart system” and “Internet of Things” capabilities in consumer products and industrial installations. 

ESF attorneys with different backgrounds frequently collaborate to combine their technical knowledge in support of IP matters that span multiple disciplines.

Our technical prowess is routinely acknowledged by inventors, expert witnesses, co-counsel and, grudgingly, by opposing counsel.

ESF’s exceptionally high employee retention rate is among the keys to our steady growth over the past two decades to our current size of about 30 IP attorneys and agents. 

Our clients frequently mention that working with the same core team of attorneys and support staff year after year is central to their high level of satisfaction. 

Behind this stability and continuity is our ever-present pursuit of a friendly, supportive, and adaptive firm culture. 

We provide extensive and ongoing training and feedback both to our attorneys and to our support staff to ensure quality and consistency.

And, we continually review and update our processes and tools to improve efficiency, reduce mistakes, and make it easier for our employees to do their jobs. 

Some of the world’s leading innovators entrust ESF with their IP matters. 

We serve a diverse client base, which includes small start-up companies, academic institutions, and Fortune 500 companies having some of the world’s largest IP portfolios. 

This client base values our knowledge, experience, commitment, and cost effective approach to help them achieve their business objectives.  

The practice of law remains one of the least diverse professions in America. The statistics become even worse for the practice of patent law. The STEM field has unquestionably been dominated by men, particularly in the areas of computer science, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering.

ESF is taking an active role in creating out of the box strategies to expand the pipeline.  We are committed to creating and supporting an environment of diversity and inclusion. We actively recruit individuals who are devoted to superior service and who can enhance the firm through diverse backgrounds, perspectives, abilities and demographics.