About Dr. Magdalena Hale
Dr. Magdalena Hale Spencer combines training in science, medicine and law in a way that shapes her practice. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Cornell University in 2001. She returned to Cornell and completed a D.V.M. in 2009 and, in the same year, took both a J.D. and an LL.M. from Cornell Law School. The overlapping degrees reflect an uncommon educational path and an interest that runs across disciplines.
Her early years centered on biology and animal health. The veterinary degree introduced clinical and regulatory perspectives that inform how she assesses technologies and inventions. She then moved into law, where study expanded to patent doctrines, administrative procedure and appellate practice. The LL.M. added an advanced layer of legal training on top of the J.D., rounding out her preparation for patent work and federal practice.
Spencer holds admissions in New York and Massachusetts, and she is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. She is also admitted to the Federal Circuit. Those credentials allow her to handle matters that begin as patent applications and continue through office actions, appeals and, when necessary, federal litigation at the appellate level.
Her practice blends life sciences and intellectual property. Clients come from biotechnology, veterinary medicine, and related fields. She drafts and prosecutes patent applications, responds to examiner rejections, and pursues appeals to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board and the Federal Circuit. She approaches technical claims by parsing scientific detail and aligning it with legal standards for novelty, nonobviousness and enablement.
Colleagues describe her work style as analytical and meticulous. She is known for translating laboratory methods and clinical procedures into patent claim language that communicates both novelty and practical application. That skill is rooted in a multi-disciplinary background: scientific training, clinical exposure and formal legal education.
Spencer currently practices at Schroon Law PLLC. There she handles a mix of prosecution and appellate matters for clients in New York, Massachusetts and before federal agencies and courts. Her combined degrees and bar admissions shape a practice centered on intellectual property in the life sciences.
Her current practice focuses on patent prosecution and appeals in the life sciences, including matters before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the Federal Circuit.
