Erin Hennessy

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Erin Hennessy grew up in Smithtown, N.Y., the daughter of two schoolteachers who believed deeply in making a difference. Law seemed like the natural path to do exactly that, even if, at the time, she had never actually met a lawyer.

"I just had in my head that being a lawyer was a way to make a difference in the world," Hennessy said. "But I didn't really know what that meant."

Nearly 30 years later, Hennessy is a partner at Akerman, one of the country's most respected intellectual property firms, with a practice that spans global brand enforcement, trademark portfolio strategy, and major mergers and acquisitions. As it turns out, trademark law found her the same way a lot of things would in her career: through a friend of a friend, a name in a booklet and a line at the bottom of a form letter.

After graduating from Miami University with degrees in English literature and political science, along with a minor in Western European studies earned through the school's Luxembourg branch campus, Hennessy arrived at Widener Law Commonwealth in Harrisburg with her sights set on becoming a prosecutor. The Suffolk County District Attorney's Office back home had given her a taste of courtroom work, and she loved it. Then her second year of law school changed everything.

A summer internship with the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office was formative in ways she didn’t immediately anticipate. Back on campus, she began working as a research assistant, helping with research on trademark law. Reading those cases sparked an interest in intellectual property.

"The more cases I read, the more I thought, well, maybe this is something interesting I could do with my law degree," Hennessy said. "I didn't even know what a trademark lawyer was."

She also completed an externship with the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, where some of her projects brushed up against trademark questions, including one involving whether a Pittsburgh building's historic neon signage could be replaced with a corporate brand. The threads were starting to come together.

Breaking into trademark law as a new graduate wasn't easy. Many of the major intellectual property boutiques recruited only through formal summer programs, which Hennessy hadn't participated in. So she networked. A friend of her mother's knew trademark attorney Joe Diamante at the storied firm Pennie & Edmonds, who handed her a copy of the International Trademark Association membership guide and told her she could write to anyone in it.

She typed letters. On a typewriter.

One came back as a form rejection, but a single line at the bottom said the firm would be happy to help if they could. She wrote back. Attorney Frank Colucci met her for coffee over Thanksgiving break, and by the time she graduated from Widener, he had offered her a position at his new Westchester office.

Her first two years in practice, working on trademark clearance and prosecution for Victoria's Secret, Bath & Body Works, and other Limited Brands properties, gave her a foundation she still draws on today. Trademark clearance involves researching whether a proposed brand name or logo is available for use and registration, essentially making sure a client isn't stepping on someone else's rights before launching a product.

From there, her career took her to Time Warner, where she handled trademark work for Warner Music Group, navigated HBO's rise as a prestige content powerhouse, and managed the intellectual property aspects of the sale of Warner Music Group, one of the largest media transactions of its era.

She followed her husband, a U.S. Army officer, across the country and back again, living and working in Seattle, Washington, D.C., Brooklyn and West Point while continuing to build her practice at every stop. Her career eventually led her to Haynes Boone before arriving at Akerman just this past month.

Today, roughly 75 to 80 percent of her practice involves trademark enforcement, including proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, an administrative court within the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that handles disputes over trademark registrations. Think of it as the federal courthouse for brand conflicts that do not require full civil litigation.

For students considering intellectual property law, Hennessy wants to clear up a persistent misconception: You do not need a STEM background.

Patent prosecution, the process of applying for and obtaining patents before the Patent Office, does require a technical or scientific background. Trademark and copyright law, however, tend to attract creative thinkers, writers, musicians and artists who find meaning in protecting the work of other creators.

Her advice for breaking in is straightforward: be tenacious and follow up.

"We're all busy, and we all want to help," she said, "but we all have hundreds of emails, if not thousands, in our inboxes. Just being scrappy and tenacious will really pay off."

As for the International Trademark Association membership guide that started it all, Hennessy has now served on its board of directors, held the role of counsel, essentially acting as general counsel for the organization, and currently chairs its Political Action Committee. The circles keep intersecting.

Interview conducted in Fall 2026.