The American Lawyer Named Fish Principal Christina McDonough a 2021 "Northeast Trailblazer"

Fish principal Christina McDonough was named to The American Lawyer's 2021 "Northeast Trailblazers" list. The inaugural list honors lawyers in the Northeast region of the U.S. who "have moved the needle in the legal industry and are agents of change, making significant marks on the practice, policy, and technological advancements in their sector."

McDonough is a principal in Fish's Boston office and her practice emphasizes patent prosecution, portfolio management, reexamination, counseling, and due diligence in the computer software and electrical fields. She has particular expertise in the areas of digital therapeutics, bioinformatics and medical systems (e.g., telehealth, medical registries, readmission reductions, modeling and predictive analysis of biological data, genetic codes, and immunotherapy response), computational fluid dynamics (e.g., simulation of acoustic and fluid flow properties), complex data processing (e.g., big data and complex events), financial algorithms (e.g., predictive modeling and forecasting of real-time security trades), and semiconductor and acoustical device fabrication (e.g., via Micro-electrical-mechanical systems (MEMS) fabrication techniques).

When asked what made her a trailblazer, McDonough told The American Lawyer, "I bring a diverse background to my patent prosecution practice. I earned my B.S. in computer science and engineering from MIT and worked in the industry prior to law school. I was a patent litigator at Fish before transitioning to patent prosecutor and that trial experience informs my work. When I looked at the traditional way most patent lawyers build portfolios, I realized it wasn't enough to simply patent what is new and innovative." She said, "Most of my clients are leading players in big data, bioinformatics and medical systems and they must constantly innovate or they risk becoming obsolete. I realized if we could 'patent the difference,' we could more effectively keep competitors from encroaching on clients' multibillion dollar markets. I call it patenting the 'competitive differential.'"

View the May 2021 publication of The American Lawyer's Northeast Trailblazers.