🎙Episode #009: Andrew Trask (Scientist Turned Patent Litigator)

Greetings from Washington, D.C.!

In today’s episode of How I Lawyer I speak with Andrew Trask, a patent litigator at Williams & Connolly LLP here in Washington. The amazing thing about Andrew’s story is that he has basically played every role in the life of a patent. He started his career as a scientist. Then he worked as Patent Agent at a large law firm while earning is JD at night at Fordham. Upon graduation he clerked at the Federal Circuit, practiced as a patent litigator, and then went in-house at Google to work on patent litigation. He returned to Williams & Connolly several years ago and was elected to the partnership in January.

In our conversation, we discuss his path from scientist to lawyer, what it was like to simultaneously work as a big law patent agent and complete law school at night, the unique nature of practicing before the federal circuit, the differences of working in-house and at a private law firm, and some tips and tricks to succeed as a patent litigator. 

You can find Andrew online @avtrask on Twitter. As always let me know if you have any comments, thoughts, or suggestions for the podcast and feel free to share!

See you in the next episode,

Jonah