An Interview with Junyi Chen

Junyi Chen is an intellectual property lawyer at CPST Intellectual Property. She practices patent litigation and prosecution, with a focus on chemical and pharmaceutical patents. Chen has appeared before the Federal Court and the Federal Court of Appeal. She holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from Yale University and received her law degree from the University of Toronto.

From Chemistry to Litigation

Chen first considered law school after deciding during her Ph.D. program that she did not want to continue working in chemistry. She enjoyed the process of problem-solving and trying new things but admits she “didn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.” Although Chen felt disillusioned with chemistry, she decided to continue on a path that would enable her to think about problems deeply, quickly settling on law.

After starting law school, she originally avoided litigation entirely. “I didn’t think about it at all because English isn’t my first language. I did my undergrad in the States, so my English was fairly good, but I felt like I couldn’t think on my feet and I was uncomfortable speaking in public.” Chen knew that intellectual property would be good for her, as she has a STEM background, and she landed a summer job at the IP firm Smart & Biggar. It was only after starting this role that Chen had her first exposure to litigation. “When I was at Smart & Biggar, they were very good at taking me to court. You get a chance to really see how first-class litigators work and pick up tricks,” she says.

After securing a position with Smart & Biggar, Chen was put into training to work on patent litigation. Despite her initial hesitations, she found the transition to be smoother than expected because of the training they provided. “Normally, they don’t put you right into it. They want to train you, to feel like you’re ready.” This preparation helped guide Chen smoothly into a career as a litigator.

Chen’s Career as a Patent Litigator

Chen admits that much of her work is outside the courtroom, focused on reaching a settlement. One thing that makes a good litigator, she says, is working with the client to understand their ultimate goals and working to fulfill them as easily as possible. “Part of the skill is to understand what the critical terms are. Litigation is very costly, especially for pharmaceutical litigation. Sometimes it is not in the client’s interest to go to trial. Basically, they just want to protect their patents, or the generics just want to enter the market as early as possible.” These varying goals are not always best served through a trial, so often Chen works to meet such goals through settlement.

Of course, Chen still appears in court. Unlike other kinds of litigation, patent litigation is exclusively governed by federal law and prosecuted in federal court, so Chen does not appear before provincial courts. Chen likes this peculiarity of patent litigation. “It’s a very efficient kind of centralized system,” she says, largely because the federal court is governed by a specific set of guidance documents, notably the Federal Courts Act and the Patent Act. Patent litigators do not need to familiarize themselves with the procedural guidelines of multiple levels of courts, which Chen says makes it easier for her to understand the rules and do her job.

Although Chen does go to court, this happens rather infrequently because of the length of trial proceedings. It takes around two years to bring a case to trial. “The federal court normally tries to assign a hearing date early so that you can plan all stages of the preparation.” The Court will typically try to deliver decisions in two to three years. For pharmaceutical cases like the ones Chen frequently oversees, the Court is bound by statute to deliver a decision in two years. Although this may seem like a relatively long period, Chen clarifies that there are still many deadlines to be met before the trial concludes, so she remains consistently busy. “It’s a very tight schedule, so it’s important to be very prepared and meticulous.”

Preparing for Trial

Chen says that most of her litigation work is done well in advance of a trial. “The ideal situation is that when you start the case, you know how to tell the story. You know the strengths and where the shoe pinches. It’s quite intense, but a very good mental exercise,” she says.

Chen spends a significant amount of time in the discovery stage. “Discovery is when you prepare affidavits and you have an obligation to produce all relevant documents. Then, you look, and review, and ask questions. It is a very intensive and extensive [process].” A unique feature of Chen’s chemistry and pharmaceutical focus is that she will occasionally be asked to review old lab notebooks, which come from many different countries and are written in different languages. “I think I have dealt with Swedish, German, or French, and I have to use Google Translate!”

Chen says that the discovery stage is also an important part of the role of a junior associate. “A big part of the job is preparing questions, answering discovery charges, and handling motions. You always work as a team,” she says. At her current firm, juniors are also charged with working to identify and call the right experts and meet with them to prepare reports. Preparing for trial is an all-hands-on-deck experience, and the junior staff are also important in the process.

Chen also says that much of her preparatory work involves being on top of the case law. “I have a habit of reading whatever the Federal Court of Appeal circulates whenever there’s an IP decision that comes out,” she says. Chen believes that keeping up with the case law helps her be a more successful litigator because she often remembers cases while working. “I can recall seeing this case with similar facts, so I just think ‘let me check that.’”

One thing that has made a difference in her workload is the court’s transition to electronic filing. Before this transition, she recalls, Chen often saw lawyers rushing into the court before closing to complete final tasks. “Normally, the federal court closes at 4:30 PM, but the elevator closes at 4:00 PM. You would always have people lining up trying to file their documents, and you have a set of clerks on the phone. But now everything is electronic, so it’s pretty easy.”

Outside the Role

While Chen enjoys her work, she admits that it can be challenging to balance her job with her personal life. “I had two young kids,” she shares, “and although they aren’t that young now, they still remember that day when they slept under my desk while I was working,” she recalled. On the other hand, however, she is happy that her kids see how hard she works and will hopefully take after her good habits. The key to achieving any level of balance, she says, is to have a strong support network. “It takes a community.”

Chen has also found time to occasionally watch legal movies and television, though not very frequently. “I’m not that crazy about Suits,” Chen says. “But if anything, when I first came to the States, Philadelphia with Tom Hanks was a very, very good one,” she said. She clarified that although this isn’t a legal movie per se, “there is a legal element to it. There’s some litigation, I think.”