Katherine A. ("Kassie") Helm, co-chair of the global intellectual property practice and head of the IP litigation group, is a first-chair lead counsel who represents top innovator pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in patent litigation and patent-adjacent litigation matters. Dr. Helm leverages her doctorate in neuroscience and legal acumen to develop and execute winning positions for life sciences companies in high-stakes patent litigation, including district court litigation, Federal Circuit and other circuit court appeals, and before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). She represents life sciences companies as both plaintiff and defendant in patent infringement actions and as both petitioner and patent owner at the PTAB. Patent-adjacent matters are an increasingly significant part of her practice, including complex commercial disputes in federal and state courts involving IP assets, breach of contract claims, equitable claims and defenses, as well as antitrust litigation involving pharmaceutical assets, and in arbitrating licensing disputes with joint ventures and drug development collaborations. She also regularly plays a leading role in coordinated European/U.S. proceedings. Fluent in French, Dr. Helm is frequently involved in patent disputes with multijurisdictional aspects, including international arbitrations and post-issuance patent proceedings worldwide. Dr. Helm and her team have also been successful in utilizing large-scale U.S. discovery mechanisms under 28 USC § 1782 to assist with foreign patent proceedings. 

In 2025, Dr. Helm was ranked by Chambers USA for Intellectual Property: Patents in New York. Her clients praised her for her “outstanding knowledge of the industry and the implications of a case in both the short and long term,” describing her as “super pragmatic in her advice,” “very creative, an out-of-the-box thinker [who] knows a lot about our business,” and “excellent at strategy development and believes personally in the case, assembling teams that are equally as good.” She was named among Managing Intellectual Property’s Top 250 Women in IP for the third consecutive year, as well as named a 2025 patent “IP STAR” by the same publication. She was also recognized as a leading Intellectual Property lawyer by The Best Lawyers in America 2025. In 2024, Dr. Helm was named a leading practitioner by Who’s Who Legal: Thought Leaders USA, listed as a Recommended Individual for Patent Litigation in Who’s Who Legal: Life Sciences, and named a Future Star by Benchmark Litigation. Dr. Helm was also shortlisted for 2024 Litigator of the Year – New York by the Managing IP Americas Awards. She is routinely listed as a Life Sciences Star by LMG Life Sciences and was shortlisted in the LMG Life Sciences Americas Awards for Litigator of the Year – NY in both 2023 and 2024. 

She has been recognized by numerous publications for her expertise, including routinely by IAM Patent 1000 for New York Litigation. In 2025, IAM stated that Dr. Helm is “Recognized by peers as a formidable trial attorney” and that she “collects accolades for her unparalleled expertise in patent law for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies,” with one client noting, “Kassie is a superb strategist. She is knowledgeable, well prepared and singularly focused on achieving the best outcome for clientele. She is appropriately aggressive and out-of-the-box in her thinking.” In 2024, she was described by IAM as “a smart choice for pharmaceutical and medical research clients,” as well as “a seasoned trial attorney familiar with a variety of arenas, including the PTAB and the district court of Delaware.” In 2023, IAM described Dr. Helm as someone who “excels in biologics litigation and is a go-to for some of the industry’s major players to handle their most important disputes.” Previously, in 2022, she was noted by IAM as the “fulcrum” around which Dechert’s Patent Litigation group turns, “who marshals the ensemble’s resources very effectively and gets difficult jobs done for her clients.” In 2021, she was praised by the same publication for being “gifted at handling global lawsuits” and in “cases with concurrent patent office proceedings” and “An absolute dynamo who makes significant contributions both to the Dechert practice and to the wider IP community, she never fails to impress.” 

In 2023, Dr. Helm was the sole female named a Global Elite Thought Leader for Patent Litigation, individuals who receive the highest number of nominations from peers, corporate counsel and other market sources, across North America by Who’s Who Legal: Life Sciences. She was highlighted for her ability to “assess and define a global strategy and suggest winning tactics.” Dr. Helm was highly commended by the Financial Times North America Innovative Lawyers Awards 2023 in the “Innovation in Healthcare & Life Sciences” category for her work on behalf of Eli Lilly & Co. in a transatlantic patent dispute with Novartis. She is routinely listed for Patent Litigation expertise in Life Sciences by The Legal 500 US (2021-2025) and was previously named a Global Leader in 2021 in life sciences patent litigation by Who’s Who Legal. In 2020, she was named an Intellectual Property Trailblazer by the National Law Journal, awarded “Best in Patents” in the U.S. by Euromoney’s Women in Business Law Awards, named a leading female lawyer who breaks barriers in Profiles in Diversity Journal’s Women Worth Watching in STEM Awards, and recognized as a Top Intellectual Property Litigator in New York by Super Lawyers. 

Dr. Helm’s patent litigation trial successes were profiled as contributing matters to Dechert’s recognition as a Law360 Life Sciences Practice Group of the Year in each of 2022 and 2020, and she was previously named the 2019 winner of the "U.S. Rising Star – Intellectual Property" award from LMG Life Sciences. 

Dr. Helm is an active participant in the IP community and an authoritative, sought-after speaker and writer on IP topics in the U.S. and Europe. She has authored over 100 articles, book chapters and commentary on legal and scientific topics, including as a former columnist for Law.com and the ALM media group. She is a current legal columnist on IP issues for Thomson Reuters/Westlaw. 

Dr. Helm is committed to advancing women in the profession as a founder of the New York chapter of ChIPs (Chiefs of Intellectual Property), a global nonprofit organization with thousands of members dedicated to advancing and connecting women in law, technology and regulatory policy. She is also a founder of the Lead Counsel Summit (LCS), a force for advancing female lead trial counsel. She has had several leadership roles on Federal Circuit Bar Association committees, Law360’s Life Sciences Editorial Board, and other bar association leadership positions. In 2021, Dr. Helm was individually recognized as a winner of Dechert’s Samuel E. Klein Pro Bono Awards, for her work on behalf of military veterans before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. In 2025, Dr. Helm was appointed as Co-Chair of the Patent Litigation Committee of the American Bar Association Section of Intellectual Property Law (ABA-IPL) and in 2024, was a signatory member of ABA-IPL’s Task Force on Improving the Durability and Reliability of the Patent Rights. Dr. Helm is also a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, The Trial Lawyer Honorary Society, and a member of the Trial Law Institute and Diversity Law Institute.