Erik Puknys is a partner in Finnegan’s Palo Alto office. His career in intellectual property began more than 25 years ago, when he joined the US Patent & Trademark Office as a patent examiner. Erik started his legal career at Finnegan’s Washington, DC office in 1994, and moved to California in 1997 to help open the firm’s Silicon Valley office. He has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in district courts around the United States, in the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the Sixth Circuit, the Seventh Circuit, and in the US Supreme Court. He has worked for startups and Fortune 100 companies in a wide variety of technical fields, including in software, telecommunications, computer hardware, semiconductors, medical diagnostics, medical devices, and pharmaceuticals. He has served as the leader of Finnegan’s appellate section; managing partner of Finnegan’s Palo Alto office; as a member of the firm’s management and compensation committees; and as partner-in-charge of recruiting in the firm’s Palo Alto office.