“I am excited to announce that Onyx IP Group has awarded its inaugural scholarships to high school seniors who will be pursuing an education in STEM!! Onyx IP Group has been operating for almost a year now and we are so excited to be able to award scholarships to a couple of high school students at Evans High School – a high school we have been working with this academic year. James Bennin, Founder of Onyx IP Group, shared the following statement. Harrity is thrilled to announce that Onyx IP Group, PLLC, the first minority-owned patent law firm to launch from our Minority Firm Incubator Program, has awarded two scholarships to diverse students studying STEM.
To learn more about the Patent Pathways program, click HERE.Ĭlick HERE to read the full article by Samantha Handler. This program was created to help address the significant lack of diversity found in IP Law.
Patent Pathways is a Diversity & Inclusion Program dedicated to increasing numbers of registered African-American/Black women patent attorneys and agents through free patent skills training, mentoring, career counseling, and expenses paid to prepare for and take the patent bar exam. ‘Women and racially diverse inventors are inventing or showing up on patents at a lower rate, and there is that correlation, to make sure that they can go to attorneys that represent them.'” ‘We want to make sure that innovation is expanded across all of our populations,” Spector said. The inaugural program’s 20 participants could ‘move the needle quickly,’ said Elaine Spector, a Harrity partner leading Patent Pathways. Harrity & Harrity will help women who complete the program find law firm jobs afterward. The initiative, called Patent Pathways, starts this summer.
“Harrity & Harrity LP-after conducting a diversity and inclusion study that found that there are more patent attorneys and agents named “Michael” than there are racially diverse women in those roles in the US-launched a program to register more Black women as patent practitioners. The article, Black Women Lawyers Still Sparsely Seen at Federal Circuit, refers to Harrity as a law firm focused on moving the needle by creating programs that target the pipeline problem of a lack of women and minorities sitting for the patent bar, including quotes from Diversity Co-Chair, Elaine Spector, on our Patent Pathways program. Harrity & Harrity has recently been recognized by Bloomberg Law for our diversity initiatives, specifically with respect to increasing the representation of African-American/Black women within patent law. Read more about John’s involvement with the American Heart Association here.
It is an honor to extend my involvement with this incredible organization as a member of the AHA Greater Washington Region Board of Directors to increase awareness of heart disease, fund life-saving research and education, and encourage heart healthy lives across the globe,” says John. “So many lives depend on the critical work of the American Heart Association, including my own. John’s term on the Board of Directors, from July 2022 – June 2024, will be a further opportunity for him to leverage his experiences in a way to make a positive impact on the community and to help save lives. CPR and medical advances from the AHA saved John’s life, and he has since been dedicated to promoting their vital mission through Harrity 4 Charity and as Co-Chair of the annual Lawyers Have Heart event. John has been involved with the American Heart Association since 2016, after suffering a near-fatal widow maker heart attack. We are thrilled to announce John Harrity‘s new position on the American Heart Association Greater Washington Region Board of Directors.