Robert M. Fernandes

Robert is an attorney in Taft’s Chicago office focusing on patent litigation proceedings. He counsels clients regarding infringement and invalidity of patent portfolios to support and oppose patent assertion campaigns. Robert has technical experience in the power distribution and transmission industry.

Prior to joining the firm, Robert was a law clerk to the Hon. M. Kendra Klump, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana and to the Hon. Jeremy C. Daniel, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. He also practiced law at a  full-service intellectual property firm in California.

Robert earned his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School and his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Ohio Northern University. While in law school, he served as an Associate Editor for the Michigan Journal of Law Reform. Robert worked as a student attorney for the Michigan Innocence Clinic, where he worked with scientific and medical experts to identify wrongful convictions based on faulty expert testimony. Prior to law school, Robert worked as a substation engineer for American Electric Power.

Robert is licensed to practice law in California and before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office only.