On the first Friday night of spring, a scrum of yellow cabs and black cars unloaded men in tuxedos and women in gowns at the entrance to the Waldorf-Astoria in Manhattan. Bystanders searched for recognizable faces, trying to guess what fabulous event this must be. A presidential gala? A celebrity-studded awards show? “I think it’s a lawyer party,” a tourist whispered to his wife.
That’s right, it was the Patent Prom–technically the “Dinner in Honor of the Federal Judiciary”–now in its eighty-eighth year. Some 3,000 patent lawyers and their guests were in attendance, along with 125 federal judges. It is the largest black-tie event of the year at the storied Manhattan hotel, according to Jonathan Stas, marketing manager for the Waldorf.
