Michael E. Shanahan is a member of the Firm in its Intellectual Property Practice Group. Mr. Shanahan’s passion for technology law derives from his lifelong passion for, and appreciation of, technology itself. After earning multiple Masters degrees in Electrical Engineering, and prior to embarking on a legal career, Mr. Shanahan was a Staff Engineer at Allied Signal Aerospace (now Honeywell) where he worked on the guidance systems of numerous high profile projects including the International Space Station (ISS), Cassini (deep space probe to Saturn), Iridium (global cell phone network) the C130, F15, F16, and F22 flight control systems and the inertial guidance system for the Army’s Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS). Mr. Shanahan is listed as an inventor on 21 US patents.
Mr. Shanahan’s legal career began at the IP specialty firm of Fish & Neave where he spent 8 years representing a wide spectrum of high technology clients. Mr. Shanahan continued his career as a partner at McDermott Will & Emery where he focused his practice patent litigation, licensing, mergers and acquisitions, and complex patent prosecution for numerous Fortune 500 companies. Mr. Shanahan also regularly represented financial institutions in connection with the funding of various technology or IP-based deals, including assessing the outcome of pending litigation.
More recently, Mr. Shanahan, an entrepreneur at heart, was the General Counsel of General Patent Corporation where he was responsible for the management and monetization of dozens of technology portfolios and which included advising various start-up companies. His work included primary responsibility for assessing the viability of existing business and technology portfolios, strategic “hands on” management of high stakes patent litigation in District Courts across the country, and successful first chair representation of assets under management in licensing and arbitration, at the PTAB in IPR proceedings, and at the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Mr. Shanahan is the recipient of multiple National Law Journal “Hot List” Awards for Intellectual Property and Winning Litigators.