Last week Dan Fischer joined the aera team, bringing the total number of employees up to 24. Dan comes from his position as Partner at the IP firm Knobbe Martens, and is now settling in at his new home in Vesterbro, Copenhagen.
Dan grew up in Naperville, Illinois, close to Chicago, before he moved to California for law school where he finished his education and began working for Knobbe Martens. In 2017 he moved to New York City where he helped open and build Knobbe Martens’ new office near Time Square. This year showed another big change for Dan, moving to Europe and joining aera:
“I love to take on new challenges and opportunities and coming to aera just felt like the right type of opportunity. While I have great memories of the States, I am excited to get to know a completely new continent! I think it is important to experience new places to gain a fuller perspective of the world” he says, and continues:
“I first took a Scandinavian trip when I was in law school, where I visited Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. In fact, when I moved out here in September, I stumbled past the same bar I vividly remember from my law school trip! Outside of that one trip, I admit I probably do not know Scandinavia too well… outside of IKEA of course.”
His interest in IP began after he graduated with an engineering degree: “I really enjoy learning all sorts of new technology and being a patent attorney allows me to see so much of that! IP also allows me to use the many technical skills I developed in college, especially allowing me to understand the complex technology that these brilliant inventors come up with. I have worked in a number of different IP areas in my career, but I think medical devices are fascinating. I relish being involved in such cutting-edge technology, especially when it comes to improving people’s lives. In fact, at one point I thought about becoming a doctor before deciding on the law” he explains.
His best IP experience was also connected to his high interest in medical devises: “I found out that someone I knew had undergone a medical procedure using technology that I had helped do patent work on. I thought that was a crazy coincidence and made me feel like I was truly helping to make a difference!”
Overlooking his new city through the window from the aera office at the 18th floor, which of course is a big change from his former office in Manhattan: “Copenhagen is a beautiful city and quite a change from NYC. Everything feels a bit slower, in the best possible way. I have already purchased a bicycle and I love how bike friendly everything is with the dedicated bike lanes. O, and I cannot wait to check out Tivoli” Dan says with a big smile on his face.
