Leading By Example: Words of Wisdom from Women Leaders in IP

• Author: Erika Harmon Arner - Jessica L. A. Marks
• Position: Erika Harmon Arner is a partner at Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP in Washington, DC. She represents clients before the Federal Circuit, where she has argued and won appeals from the PTAB and district courts in technologies ranging from graphical user interfaces to complex telecommunications systems to large scale scent...
• Pages: 45-48

Published in Landslide® magazine, Volume 10, Number 4, a publication of the ABA Section of Intellectual Property Law (ABA-IPL), ©2018 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved.

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O ver the course of an inspiring week in the fall of 2017,

we interviewed eight women leaders from the United

States Patent and Trademark Ofce (USPTO), the judi-

ciary, and IP-savvy companies. We asked each to recount

how she became a leader and to share her advice for oth-

ers, especially other women, who hope to follow in their

footsteps and blaze new trails in intellectual property (IP). The

conversations were as varied as these remarkable women, with

stories of edgling leadership skills emerging in places like sum-

mer camp and the Girl Scouts, lessons learned from good (and

not-so-good) bosses, and leadership tips both lofty (“give back to

your country”) and action-ready (“get out of your ofce and talk

to people in person”). Here, we summarize common themes that

emerged, mostly letting the women speak for themselves.

You Are Already a Leader

For many, the rst step to becoming a leader is recogniz-

ing situations where you already are one. As Federal Circuit

Chief Judge Sharon Prost recognized, “a lot of us have been

leaders for a very long time. Women just x things; girls just

x things,” which naturally leads them “to be called on to

exercise leadership throughout their lives.”

This view was shared by Chief Judge Susan Braden of the

United States Court of Federal Claims, who recalled being a

leader at a very young age. “I was always the best seller of

Girl Scouts cookies in my troop.” When she was eight or nine

years old, Chief Judge Braden also started a fan club for her

favorite comic book star, Katy Keene. “I became president

of our local club, which I formed, and I would hold weekly

meetings” for the boys and girls in the neighborhood. Toke

Vandervoort, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel for

Under Armour, had similar early experiences in leadership:

“As a teenager, I was chief of my tribe in summer camp.”

Vandervoort noted that women may not initially recognize

these early leadership roles as important in developing as a leader.

“I never thought of my early leadership roles that way. But when I

look back on that, I see it. Those same skills sort of set you up for

later leadership roles. You learn to work hard. You learn to carry

yourself in a way that other people are watching. You know that

other people are counting on you in ways large and small.”

Leading by Example

Words of Wisdom from Women Leaders in IP

By Erika Harmon Arner and Jessica L. A. Marks

Erika Harmon Arner is a partner at Finnegan, Henderson,

Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP in Washington, DC. She represents

clients before the Federal Circuit, where she has argued and won

appeals from the PTAB and district courts in technologies ranging

from graphical user interfaces to complex telecommunications

systems to large scale scent diffusion devices. She can be reached

at erika.arner@nnegan.com. Jessica L. A. Marks is an associate

at Finnegan in Reston, Virginia. She specializes in the protection of

sustainable products, plant patents, and ANDA litigations. She can be

reached at jessica.marks@nnegan.com.