Dara L. Onofrio is Patent Counsel to the firm. Her practice focuses on intellectual property matters with special emphasis on patent prosecution and licensing in numerous fields of science and technology.

Ms. Onofrio is admitted to practice in Connecticut and New York, and before the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and the United States Supreme Court.

Ms. Onofrio graduated with her B.S. in chemistry from Southern Connecticut State University (cum laude, 1981) and received her J.D. from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law (1987). She attended Yale University as a Special Student in the Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry Department and thereafter completed international studies in art history at the University of Urbino, Italy (1981), and in EEC and Maritime Law at Cambridge University, England (1985). Her post-graduate research included work at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in the fields of Somatic Cell and Developmental Genetics, as well as graduate studies at Cornell University Medical School. She speaks conversational Italian.

Ms. Onofrio is a newly elected Board of Finance member in the Town of Clinton Connecticut as well as an elected member of the Alumni Board of Directors for Southern Connecticut State University (New Haven, CT). She is also a member of both the Connecticut Bar Association and the New York Intellectual Property Bar Association. She previously served as the Village Justice for the Village of Grand View-on-Hudson on Rockland County, New York, for nine years and was a member of the New York State Magistrates Association. She was a Staff Officer in Flotilla 10-10 and Division 10 in Hackensack, New Jersey, of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary for thirteen years before transferring to Flotilla 24-08 in Clinton, Connecticut.

Selected Articles & Publications

• “The End of an Era – The USPTO Goes Paperless – Almost,” RPJ – May 4, 2023
• “How to Close the Diversity Gap in Patent Law,” RPJ, with RPJ Associate Nafsika Karavida – April 30, 2021
• “Patent Rights and Wrongs in the COVID-19 Pandemic: EU and U.S. Approaches to Compulsory Licensing,” IPWatchdog.com, with RPJ Associate Nafsika Karavida and Partner Deena R. Merlen – May 19, 2020
• “Dara Onofrio: A Quick Connection to Clinton,” by Eric O’Connell, Shoreline Times, featuring Ms. Onofrio – June 5, 2019

Noted Speaking Engagements

• “Navigating the IR Waters So You Don’t Drown,” Co-Moderator with RPJ Partner Deena R. Merlen, International Trademark Association Roundtable – June 24, 2016
• “Intellectual Property and Business Issues in Art and Design,” Featured Speaker, FIT School of Art & Design Annual Dean’s Lecture, with RPJ Intellectual Property Group – March 4, 2010