Cheryl H. Agris, Ph.D. is Of Counsel to Hoffberg & Associates, and is a registered Patent Attorney with more than 17 years of experience in the intellectual property law field.

Dr. Agris' practice areas include all aspects of intellectual property law with special emphasis on biotechnology, pharmaceutical and chemical patent practice.  This includes preparing and prosecuting U.S. patent applications, overseeing the filing and prosecution of foreign patent applications and preparing patentability, validity and infringement opinions.  She also conducts searches, due diligence studies and prepares and reviews agreements (e.g. licensing and sponsored research).  She also serves as arbitrator and mediator in the areas of commercial and intellectual property.

Dr. Agris obtained a B.A. in Chemistry from Goucher College in 1979.  In January 1986, she received her Ph.D. from the Department of Biochemistry at the Johns Hopkins University.  From 1986 to 1988, Dr. Agris was a research fellow at the Sloan Kettering Institute.

Dr. Agris became a patent agent in 1990 and obtained a J.D. degree in 1992 from Brooklyn Law School. She was admitted to the New Jersey bar in 1992 and the New York bar in 1993. From 1992 to 1998, Dr. Agris served as Patent Attorney to Novo Nordisk of North America.   

Dr. Agris is a contributing writer to Nature BioTechnology and has published articles on a variety of patent issues such as patenting DNA  and protein sequences, intellectual property protection for plants and International patent filing.  Her recent article, “Biotechnology Applications: Depositing Biological Materials” appeared in  Intellectual Property Today, vol. 7, pp. 12-13 (2000).

Dr. Agris has lectured widely on the subject of Intellectual Property law, addressing such diverse groups as the American Women in Science, the New York Biotechnology Association and the National Association of Patent Practitioners.  Dr. Agris has given presentations on patent law matters at the BIO ’96 and BIO ‘98 meetings,  Law Seminars International Biotechnology Conference in 1999 and the New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Philadelphia Patent Law Associations’ Joint Seminar in 2000.

Dr. Agris is Co-chair of the solo/small law firm subcommitee of membership committee American Intellectual Property Law Association (2008), as well as member of the on-line programs committee and ADR committee.  She is also Member of the executive committee of Dispute Resolution Section New York State Bar Association (2008), and Liaison to the Intellectual Property Section. Dr. Agris was Chair of the Education Committee and member of Board of Directors National Association of Patent Practitioners (1999-2003).  Additionally, she is also an instructor at the Practicing Law Institute’s (PLI’s) Annual Patent Prosecution Workshop:  Advanced Claim Drafting and Amendment Writing. Other memberships include American Intellectual Property Law Association, American Bar Association (member, Intellectual Property Law Section), Association of the Bar of the City of New York and Westchester Women’s Bar Association.