Robert F. Hartsmith

As a member of Smith Anderson’s Business Litigation team, Robert Hartsmith partners with clients to navigate high-stakes business disputes, with a focus on intellectual property and patent litigation. His undergraduate degree in physics and chemistry provides a strong scientific background for Rob to help clients tackle the technical complexities at the heart of patent disputes.

Before joining Smith Anderson, Rob practiced at a law firm in Washington, D.C., where he litigated complex patent disputes between life science companies in various district courts, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. His experience includes drafting expert reports, leading meetings with experts, taking fact and expert depositions, preparing witnesses for deposition, and drafting pleadings, appellate briefs, substantive and procedural motions, and inter partes review papers on behalf of both petitioners and patent owners.

Rob also completed two federal clerkships, one for Judge Todd M. Hughes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the other for Judge Colm F. Connolly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. During his clerkships, a substantial volume of Rob’s work was on patent matters, including district court patent actions and their appeals as well as appeals from the PTAB.

Rob balances his practice with an active lifestyle, including running, hiking, and tennis, and values time spent at home with his wife and two children.

NOT ADMITTED TO PRACTICE IN NORTH CAROLINA

Clerkships

• Law Clerk to the Honorable Todd M. Hughes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
• Law Clerk to the Honorable Colm F. Connolly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware

Education

• Duke University School of Law, J.D., summa cum laude, 2020
  • Elected to Order of the Coif
  • Notes Editor, Duke Law Journal
  • Managing Editor, Duke Law and Technology Review
• Duke University School of Law, LL.M. Law & Entrepreneurship, 2020
• New College of Florida, B.A., Physics & Chemistry, 2017

Bar & Court Admissions