How a Secondment Added Value to My Career: The Story of Kara Specht

Secondments are temporary assignments for attorneys and serve as opportunities for them to get a glimpse into a client’s legal department. In 2019, Kara Specht, a young woman attorney at Finnegan’s Atlanta office, spent 5-months serving as in-house litigation counsel for a large technology company. In this one-hour webinar, Kara Specht discusses how this experience provided unique perspectives that increased her value to both the firm and its clients. Ms. Specht also covers how her secondment opened interesting networking opportunities.

Ms. Specht has experience in all aspects of patent litigation before district courts, the International Trade Commission (ITC), and the Federal Circuit. Before district court and the ITC, she gained experience from both a plaintiff and defendant perspective, ranging from pre-filing planning and strategy, discovery management, motion practice, offensive and defensive depositions, claim construction, and summary judgment. Additionally, Ms. Specht has experience before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) in inter partes review (IPR) and covered business method (CBM) review proceedings, including prior art searching and analysis, petition preparation, motions to exclude evidence, and expert depositions. Beyond trial level litigations, she also has experience before the Federal Circuit, preparing appeal briefs and amicus briefs.

Ms. Specht serves as an editor for Finnegan’s Federal Circuit IP blog. She serves as the Vice Chair of the Trials Committee at the PTAB Bar Association for 2021-2022 and Secretary of the Precedential Opinion Nomination Sub-Committee of the PTAB Bar Association Trials Committee for the PTAB Bar Association for 2021-2022. She also serves as the Secretary for the Atlanta Bar Association’s IP Section.