Ernie Fok

Managing Associate

Santa Monica

Ernie Fok is an associate in the Santa Monica office and a member of Orrick's Intellectual Property Group.  

Ernie provides expertise and enthusiasm to help our clients resolve their intellectual property disputes. With a background in molecular biology, cognitive science, and intellectual property, Ernie is adept at helping resolve complex patent disputes across a wide range of technologies from wireless communications to life sciences matters. He also brings valuable litigation and legal writing expertise, having served as a law clerk at the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to the Honorable Judge Tiffany P. Cunningham. Ernie also has experience working hands-on with technical experts and in arbitration disputes over patented inventions.

Prior to joining Orrick, Ernie worked at a large law firm in the San Francisco Bay Area representing a client in a CRISPR gene editing patent dispute before the district court and Patent Trial and Appeal Board, as well as indigent clients seeking asylum in the United States.

Ernie graduated cum laude from Santa Clara University School of Law, earning the law school's Mabie Outstanding Graduate Award and a High Tech Law Certificate with a specialization in Intellectual Property Law. He also holds an M. Ed. from Harvard University Graduate School of Education and B.A.s from the University of California, Berkeley in Molecular & Cell Biology and Cognitive Science.