Fish & Richardson Principals Betsy Flanagan and Jennifer Huang Named 2018 Up & Coming Attorneys by Minnesota Lawyer; Megan Connolly and Jill Strand Named Unsung Legal Heroes

Fish & Richardson principals Betsy Flanagan and Jennifer Huang have been named 2018 "Up & Coming Attorneys" by Minnesota Lawyer, which honors young attorneys who have distinguished themselves through professional accomplishment and community leadership. Megan Connolly, Human Resources manager, and Jill Strand, senior manager, Library & Knowledge Information Systems, have been named 2018 "Unsung Legal Heroes," which recognizes the most talented and dedicated legal support professionals in Minnesota.

Flanagan focuses on complex patent litigation, with an emphasis on life sciences, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical litigation. In April 2018, in an exceedingly rare ruling, she was on the team that led and won a unanimous Federal Circuit opinion that affirmed Fish's June 2016 post-trial wipe-out of a $200 million jury verdict against client Gilead. In 2017, she helped achieve significant wins for Coherus BioSciences and Mayo Collaborative Services. Flanagan handles pro bono cases for Immigration Equality and is the senior chairperson of Fish's Twin Cities EMPOWER women's initiative. She received her J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Minnesota Law School in 2008 and her B.A. in chemistry from Cornell University in 2003.

Huang's dual practice emphasizes patent prosecution and litigation. In the patent prosecution area, she handles portfolio management, due diligence, and post-grant proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. In her patent litigation practice, Huang focuses on leading technology companies, including a multi-billion dollar international technology enterprise operating in optics and optoelectronics industries. Huang is the firm-wide Asian Affinity Group Leader and a member of Fish's 1L Diversity program selection committee.She received her J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Minnesota Law School in 2008 and her B.E., magna cum laude, in electrical engineering from the University of Minnesota in 2005.

Connolly handles the human resources function for Fish's 12 offices. She oversees the employee life cycle - from hiring to retiring - and provides coaching and consulting for staff as well as training and development for managers. She is also critically involved in updating administrative systems and leading launches of new work modules like Fish's new compensation module which simplified how merit increases, bonuses and promotions are managed. She received her B.S. in Human Resources and Industrial Relations (HRIR) from the University of Minnesota - Carlson School of Management in 2007, and received her Professional in Human Resources (PHR) Certification in 2011.

Strand oversees Fish's library and knowledge information systems department. In addition to managing library resources, services, staff, and budget, she is in charge of most of Fish's intranet content. Strand and her staff also provide legal research assistance to attorneys and work with the marketing function on competitive intelligence research. In 2017, her assessment and evaluation of legal research services vendors resulted in a savings of over $1 million for the firm. She received her M.L.I.S. from Dominican University in 2003, a certificate from the Publishing Institute from the University of Denver in 1994 and her B.S. in journalism from the Honors Tutorial College at Ohio University in 1990.