Hughes Hubbard Welcomes John F. Duffy as Of Counsel in the Firm’s Patent and Intellectual Property Practice

New York, January 14, 2015 — Hughes Hubbard & Reed announced today that Professor John F. Duffy has joined the firm’s patent and intellectual property practice as of counsel in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office.  

“John is not just one of the country’s foremost academic authorities on patent law; he is also a skilled and experienced in-court practitioner,” said Candace K. Beinecke, Chair of Hughes Hubbard. “Our clients will benefit greatly from John’s participation in their IP matters.”

Prior to joining Hughes Hubbard, Duffy was of counsel at Fried Frank Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP. In addition to his practice at Hughes Hubbard, Duffy is the Samuel H. McCoy II Professor of Law at the University of Virginia School of Law.

“Hughes Hubbard’s litigation practice is among the most respected in the United States,” said Duffy. “I’m delighted to join the firm.”

Duffy has been identified as one of the 25 most-influential lawyers in the nation by The American Lawyer and one of the 50 most influential lawyers in the world by Managing Intellectual Property. He was named a legal “visionary” by the Legal Times in 2009 and has been profiled in BusinessWeek. Duffy has co-authored a casebook on patent law, Patent Law and Policy, and has published articles on a wide range of regulatory and intellectual property issues. In 2007, Duffy was co-counsel for the prevailing petitioner in KSR v. Teleflex, 550 U.S. 298 (2007). In 2008, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit invited him to present oral argument to the en banc court on behalf of amici curiae in Bilski v. Kappos, a case that led to a 2010 Supreme court decision which substantially adopted Professor Duffy’s views. Duffy’s 2008 article, “Are Administrative Patent Judges Unconstitutional?” identified what became known as the “Duffy Defect” and led to the enactment of legislation that restructured the appointment process for Administrative Patent Judges.

Prior to entering academe, Duffy clerked for Judge Stephen Williams on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, and served as an attorney adviser in the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel.

A registered patent attorney, Duffy received an A.B. in physics cum laude from Harvard College and a J.D. cum laude from the University of Chicago Law School, where he was Articles Editor of the Law Review, Order of the Coif, and winner of the John M. Olin Prize for the Outstanding Graduate in Law and Economics.

Duffy is the latest addition to Hughes Hubbard’s intellectual property practice, which recently welcomed patent and intellectual property partners James W. Dabney and Stephen Rabinowitz.