Erica Navar is an Associate at McAndrews. She is a registered U.S. patent attorney with a background in electrical engineering. Erica was previously a primary patent examiner at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), where she examined patent applications in payment architectures, digital information transmission, electric digital data processing, radio transmission systems, telephonic communications, wireless communications networks, radio navigation, location determination, and reducing energy consumption. Erica has issued over 250 patents in the above technologies. While at the USPTO, Erica received a Master’s Level Art Certification for her technical expertise in wireless communications. She also worked as a detailee at the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) under the supervision of a PTAB administrative judge.

Prior to working at the USPTO, Erica worked for an IP research company, where she performed searches and oversaw search teams in software, communications, electrical, and business methods technologies.

Prior to becoming a patent attorney, Erica worked as a telecommunications engineer at Nokia (formerly Alcatel-Lucent) where she worked on troubleshooting complex computing and network systems for telecommunications service providers, and also on installing and testing software and hardware systems at customer facilities.

Erica received her B.S.E.E. from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, and her J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law in Chicago, IL, where she graduated with a certificate in intellectual property.