Elizabeth M. Barnhard

Of Counsel

Elizabeth Barnhard is the Chair of the Pharma/Biotech Practice Group at Leason Ellis, where she draws on her in depth legal experience in law firms and the pharma industry to help clients create robust intellectual property portfolios that protect new inventions and products and add value to their businesses in a variety of industries and multi-disciplinary technologies. With experience in all phases of litigation and appeals of patent, trademark, copyright and unfair competition actions in federal and state courts, and Section 337 proceedings before the U.S. International Trade Commission, she works with clients to get issues resolved expeditiously so that they can focus on growing their businesses. Her clients include large and small companies, academic and research institutions, startups and solo entrepreneurs.

What excites Elizabeth about intellectual property is learning new technologies and her clients’ creative solutions for problems, and then figuring out how best to protect them. IAM Patent 1000 has repeatedly recognized Elizabeth in its annual rankings for patent prosecution and transactions as an astute risk manager, a percipient counselor with a fine-tuned understanding of her clients’ context and mission, and a global patent strategist whose clients are more than happy to give her an enthusiastic recommendation. Elizabeth gives back to her peers through the Women’s Bar Association of New York and the Westchester Women’s Bar Association and mentoring law students and young lawyers, to the special needs community, and by knitting for a social action knitting group and creating its motto “Repairing the World One Stitch at a Time”. She was involved in the energy industry as a Board member of the Mount Carmel Public Utility Company for nine years. Elizabeth holds a B.A. from New York University and a J.D. from New York Law School.

  • New York Law School, J.D., cum laude, 1981
  • New York University, B.A., Biology, 1975
  • New York
  • Registered Patent Attorney: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
  • U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
  • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
  • Pfizer/Wyeth, Senior Patent Counsel, 1995-2010
  • Bryan Cave, Associate, 1989-1995
  • Abelman Frayne & Schwab, Associate, 1986-1989
  • Itkowitz & Harwood, Associate, 1983-1986

Professional Memberships

  • Westchester Women’s Bar Association Board Member, Elected Director, Intellectual Property Committee and Awards Committee, Co-Chair
  • Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York, Intellectual Property Committee, Member
  • PARC: How Legal Connects

 

Board Memberships

  • Mount Carmel Public Utility Company, Board of Directors Member, 2013- 2022
  • Heartsong, Inc., Advisory Board Member
  • Super Lawyers New York Metro, Top Women, 2023
  • Super Lawyers New York Metro, Intellectual Property, 2021- 2022
  • IAM Patent 1000, Prosecution and Transactions
  •  “An interview with Elizabeth Barnhard,” Westchester Women’s Bar Association Newsletter, 2023
  • “Navigating the Sea Changes in Patent Law to Successfully Build Value,” Editor’s Choice article, Technology Transfer and Entrepreneurship, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2015
  • “Paradigm Shift for Preclusion in Trademark Litigation,” Westchester Women’s Bar Association WWBA News, 2015
  • “New U.S. Supreme Court Opinion on First Sale Defense: Why it Matters,” Westchester Women’s Bar Association WWBA News, 2013
  • Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York, “Understanding the Asset Value of Patents, Trademarks and Copyright,” 2023
  • Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York, “Insurance Coverage for Intellectual Property Infringement Lawsuits Under CGL,” Moderator, 2023
  • Port Chester-Rye Bar Association, Mamaroneck- Harrison- Larchmont Bar Association, “Why THAT Attorney and Not ME? How YOU Can be the Attorney Reporters Call,” 2022