Katherine Franco is a partner and registered patent attorney in the Houston office of Blank Rome LLP, an AmLaw 100 law firm. She concentrates her practice in the protection of innovation related to software and electronics. Katherine is skilled at assisting high-tech companies to protect emerging technologies. She is also skilled at guiding companies entering the software space through the software protection process. She is a frequent speaker on the importance of diversity and inclusion in technology and engineering, and works with clients to drive efforts within organization to promote more inclusive innovation.

Having a long history of voting rights work, Katherine serves as the Chair of Blank Rome’s Voter Protection Pro Bono Working Group. She has significant pro bono experience in the handling civil rights issues, including bail reform an inequitable sentencing guidelines. Katherine also serves on several public advisory boards for elected officials and government offices related to public policy and administration at the local, state, and federal level.

Katherine holds a B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a JD from the University of Houston Law Center.