Kevin Kercher
Intellectual Property Attorney
McKee, Voorhees & Sease, PLC
Membership Development Committee
AUTM Member since 2010
What is your favorite food and why? 
Vegan Maitake Mushroom Dish. I try to eat mostly vegan. It tastes great and is excellent for my health.
 
What’s the best advice you ever received? 
No one ever died from rejection, and everyone is in some form of sales. The more you put yourself out there, the more oblivious you are to rejection, so I was able to work on myself to go from being painfully shy in high school to giving lectures to hundreds and being on the radio.
 
Do you have any hobbies?  
My favorites are pickleball and weightlifting. As a child, I was very sickly and weighed about one hundred pounds. Inspired by Teddy Roosevelt’s autobiography, I have been lifting weights since college and the results with regard to my overall fitness and health are nothing short of amazing! I would recommend weightlifting to everyone.
 
How did you get involved in intellectual property? 
I was working as a robotics engineer at Caterpillar, Inc. Numerous robotic patents came across my desk, and I found the field fascinating. Since most of my colleagues pursued additional education, like an MBA, due to the fact that most successful engineers rely on additional skills outside of engineering, it seemed to me that patent law would be a fascinating path to pursue.
 
What’s something that surprised you from your career path? 
Intellectual property law is extremely global, and I have had the opportunity to travel all over the world.
 
What’s something you’re working on right now that really excites you? 
I am currently working on projects involving artificial intelligence, complex medical devices, blockchain, and drones, which are very interesting and exciting.
 
What is a current challenge you are facing professionally? 
My professional challenge was that at my prior law firm my hourly rate kept increasing every year until it was too costly for intellectual property prosecution work. This challenge has been rectified by my new firm.
 
What advice would you give to someone new to the IP legal space? 
Be flexible in learning new technology and not be intimidated. Every patent involves only a finite amount of technology and if you apply yourself, you can understand it.
 
What do you find to be the most valuable reason for being an AUTM member? 
The opportunity to work with some of the most knowledgeable and intelligent people in the world who are also genuinely nice and kind.
 
What does AUTM membership have to offer that you can’t get from other organizations? 
The opportunity to interact with not only educational and research institutions but also corporations and investment entities. It also provided me with a skill set that allowed me to travel overseas and give lectures on technology transfer.

What’s your favorite memory from a past AUTM event? 
The last AUTM Central Region Meeting was outstanding since I was able to connect with people on both a professional and personal level on a one-to-one basis. My other favorite memory is attending an AUTM Western Region Meeting where a European pop star was filming a music video at the hotel where I was staying, i.e., Roosevelt Hotel, in Hollywood, California.