Innovation & Technology: Jennifer Hoekel

Partner
Husch Blackwell
St. Louis

Jennifer Hoekel began her legal career with a clerkship before the Honorable Ann Covington of the Supreme Court of Missouri. She has since become a highly regarded intellectual property litigator, representing Fortune 500 companies and emerging innovators as lead trial counsel before federal courts, the United States Patent and Trademark Office and the International Trade Commission. Known for stepping into complex cases at critical moments, she has tried four ITC cases and several jury trials over the past four years.

Hoekel’s practice spans patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets and false advertising, including Federal Circuit appeals and proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board and the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. She chairs the Patent Rules Committee for the Eastern District of Missouri.

Often the only woman in the room in patent litigation, Hoekel has championed women and diverse attorneys throughout her career. She said she would have chosen “to be more myself and advocate for myself more forcefully” at the beginning of her career.