"Why Her & Not Me?”: How You Can Be the Attorney Reporters Call Without Losing Your License

Pat Werschulz is an intellectual property lawyer and a registered patent attorney with many years of industrial experience in product development and manufacturing. Prior to entering law practice, Pat was a chemist in the pharmaceutical industry, holding positions from bench chemist to Research Director.

She chose intellectual property law, as a second career because of a long-held fascination with patents and trademarks. After spending decades in the pharmaceutical industry working with patents, either researching for submission in new patent applications or developing a non-infringing alternate to a competitor’s patent, she wanted to help others file their own applications.

Pat’s patent practice has not been limited to just life sciences, but also includes a wide range of industrial consumer products. She has helped clients obtain patents in a wide range of art, from clothing to automobile parts, from baby accessories to sporting equipment.

Ms. Werschulz received her B.S. degree in Chemistry from Chatham College of Pittsburgh, her M.B.A from Fordham University and her J.D from Rutgers School of Law–Newark. Ms. Werschulz has a history of academic excellence, receiving the ABA/BNA Award for Excellence in Intellectual Property Law at Rutgers, the Dean’s Award for Academic Excellence at Fordham, graduating with the highest G.P.A. in her class and the American Chemical Society Outstanding Senior Chemistry Major as an undergraduate.

Janet Falk is a communications professional with more than 25 years experience in-house and at public relations agencies. Prior to launching Falk Communications and Research in 2009, she served as Media Relations Counsel for more than 350 attorneys in the Corporate & Securities, Private Equity, Financial Industry, Bankruptcy, Securities Litigation and New York Commercial Litigation practice groups at Reed Smith LLP. Janet arranged for these attorneys to speak on timely legal and business issues with reporters at The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Law Journal, CNBC and Time magazine, among other top-tier legal, business and trade media. These interviews led to quotes in front-page articles and other news stories, which generated new clients for the law firm, resulting in more than a million dollars in new business.

Earlier in her career, Janet worked in Public Relations and Marketing Communications for Wall Street firms, including Deutsche Bank, Smith Barney and Bear Stearns, in various market sectors (private equity, investment banking, equity research, fixed income and securities clearing). In addition to managing press relations, she composed articles, conference presentations and speeches for senior executives, as well as digital content. Janet has a Ph.D. in Spanish Literature and speaks Spanish and French.