Till, Mary

Mary C. Till is of counsel in Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP’s Washington, DC office. She leverages her over 30 years of experience in patent law to provide patent prosecution counseling services to a broad range of clients. Drawing on her insider’s perspective with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), her capabilities range from the representation of large corporations to startups and universities needing patent procurement, portfolio evaluations, and portfolio management and strategy services. Mary’s technical background encompasses diverse technologies across various industries within the pharmaceutical and biotech technology sectors, including small molecules, antibodies, antibody drug conjugates, polypeptides, pro-drugs, drug formulations, and vaccines. Mary possesses a rare understanding of the intersection of patent law with the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) regulatory laws, having been involved in the USPTO’s collaboration group with the FDA for several years while also being principally responsible for administration of the patent term restoration provisions of the Hatch-Waxman Act on behalf of the USPTO. Mary is an adjunct professor teaching a course on intellectual property and medicines at Georgetown University Law Center. Mary began her career in patent law as a patent examiner, worked in private practice while attending law school part time and was a senior legal advisor in the Office of Patent Legal Administration at the USPTO for nearly 19 years earning several awards from the Department of Commerce before joining Finnegan. She received a B.S. in chemistry and M.S. in organic chemistry and holds a J.D. from American University, Washington College of Law.  She is a member of the Virginia, District of Columbia and patent bars.