Charles Hoffmann

Charlie has been fortunate to find a legal career that harnesses his lifelong curiosity about science. He is at his best finding elegant ways to convey its beauty to others.

Charlie brings his passion for science to his legal work. He studied physics and astrophysics at Harvard and then spent two years as a software engineer. Charlie’s scientific abilities—not only in physics or computer science, but also in fields in which he had no prior background, such as polymer chemistry and pharmaceuticals—have benefited his clients. For example, Charlie’s work contributed to the exclusion under Daubert of the opposing side’s primary experts in two separate multi-hundred-million-dollar patent cases, once (with Sean Marshall) leading to a directed verdict, another time leading to a grant of summary judgment and a rare award of attorneys’ and expert fees, which were affirmed by the Federal Circuit.

Since his first job out of college, teaching high school math and science, Charlie has worked to make complicated concepts accessible. While clerking in the Southern District of New York, Charlie learned that it isn’t enough to be knowledgeable and accurate; the best lawyers tell an engaging story. Charlie has applied these lessons to his work at all stages of high-stakes litigation, from taking and defending fact and expert depositions, to brief-writing, to trial and appeal. He relishes finding just the right analogy to convey his client’s position. He has also long been a team player, whether as a midfielder playing Harvard lacrosse or an attorney on a trial team.

Charlie has consistently dedicated time to public service. For his work protecting New York City public assistance recipients from unwarranted sanctions, Charlie was honored with a Legal Aid Pro Bono Publico Award. Charlie also successfully represented an immigrant seeking permanent residency at a contested evidentiary hearing and, while at Harvard Law School, represented juvenile and adult criminal defendants in court as part of the Criminal Justice Institute.

In his free time, Charlie practices simplifying complex concepts by explaining the science behind everyday phenomena with his wife and two curious children.

Education

Harvard Law School, J.D., magna cum laude, 2006
Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, Executive Articles Editor

Harvard College, cum laude, 2000
A.B. in Physics, Astronomy & Astrophysics

Clerkship

Hon. Robert P. Patterson, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 2006–2007

Bar Admissions

(Attorney is admitted only in the states and jurisdictions listed)
New York
S.D.N.Y.
Federal Circuit

Bar Associations

New York Intellectual Property Law Association