SAN FRANCISCO, 2006 – LAWFUEL – Law News Network – Morgan Lewis is pleased to announce the addition of five partners and five associates to its global Intellectual Property Practice as of December 1. Based in San Francisco and Palo Alto, the attorneys will focus primarily on counseling, portfolio development and protection, due diligence, and litigation in the life sciences and high-tech industries.
The additions grow Morgan Lewis’s Intellectual Property Practice to some 150 attorneys in the United States, Tokyo, and Beijing combined. All five incoming partners have career roots with Flehr Hohbach Test Albritton & Herbert, a leader in the practice of life sciences and intellectual property law for 50 years.
“The group joining us brings a depth and breadth of experience that is extremely rare in the California marketplace,” said Jeffry Mann, Life Sciences partner and head of the firm’s San Francisco Intellectual Property group. “Their arrival demonstrates the firm’s commitment to offering our life sciences and technology clients the highest-quality and most innovative IP counseling.”
Mann said that the incoming attorneys augment the firm’s deep capabilities in IP portfolio strategy and development, and in due diligence for mergers, acquisitions, and financing placements for clients in California, across the United States, and overseas. The addition of the new partners and associates follows the arrival in October of Life Sciences-IP attorney Matthew B. Murphy, former vice president and general counsel for Pacific Biosciences of California Inc. and now senior counsel in Morgan Lewis’s San Francisco office.
The new partners, all from the Northern California offices of Dorsey & Whitney, include:
Robin Silva: Ms. Silva, most recently a partner in the patent group at Dorsey and co-chair of the firm’s life sciences group, focuses on portfolio strategic development, management, and counseling in domestic and international issues, with an emphasis in emerging biotechnology and biopharmaceutical companies. Capabilities include patent prosecution, opinion work (freedom to operate, invalidity, and noninfringement), IP due diligence (financings and licensing), mining portfolios for licensing and interference opportunities, and working with business development personnel and licensing managers to maximize portfolio value. Ms. Silva has represented a variety of biotechnology clients including universities, startups, emerging companies, and public companies. Ms. Silva earned her B.S. in molecular, cellular, and developmental biology from the University of Colorado, Boulder (1984) and her J.D. from University of California, Berkeley, School of Law (Boalt Hall) (1993). She worked for six years at Genencor in the protein chemistry department prior to law school.
David J. Brezner: Mr. Brezner focuses on intellectual property litigation emphasizing patents, trademarks, and trade secrets, and on counseling clients from startups through mature companies in all aspects of intellectual property, particularly in the areas of patent prosecution, due diligence, and freedom to operate analyses (validity and infringement opinions and intellectual property audits included). His representations have involved a broad array of technologies with an emphasis in the chemical and biotechnology fields, including chemical processes and compositions such as polymers and pharmaceuticals, nucleic acid and protein screening and drugs, diagnostic and therapeutic assays, medical devices, food technology, and chromatography equipment. Mr. Brezner was named a Top Lawyer in the Bay Area in IP Litigation (Bay Area Lawyer-2006) and voted one of California’s Top Patent Lawyers (California Lawyer). Mr. Brezner earned his B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Rochester (1962) and his J.D. from University of California, Hastings College of the Law (1965). He attended the Master in Patent Law program at George Washington University while working as a patent examiner.
Richard Trecartin: Mr. Trecartin’s broad practice—covering patents, technology commerce, venture capital, and emerging companies—emphasizes patent prosecution in the biotechnology and chemical fields; intellectual property portfolio management; validity and infringement opinions; and intellectual property due diligence. In the life sciences and healthcare industries, Mr. Trecartin has focused on transgenic animals and plants, engineered proteins, and stem cells, among other areas, as well as diagnostics and therapeutics. Mr. Trecartin also has broad chemical, microfluidic, and nanotechnology practices. He earned his B.S. from University of California, Berkeley, College of Chemistry (1970) and his J.D. from Golden Gate University School of Law (1983).
Maria S. Swiatek: Ms. Swiatek most recently was a partner in the patent group at Dorsey & Whitney and head of Dorsey’s Palo Alto patent group. She focuses her practice on strategic counseling, portfolio development, patent prosecution, and infringement and validity opinions, as well as intellectual property transactions including mergers and acquisitions and licensing—with an emphasis in the semiconductor, telecommunications, chemical, nanotechnology, energy, and medical device industries. Prior to entering private practice, Ms. Swiatek was senior IP counsel for Watkins-Johnson, a Silicon Valley–based technology company. Before entering law school, Ms. Swiatek worked as a chemical engineer in the pharmaceutical industry. She earned her B.S. in chemical engineering with a minor in materials science from California Polytechnic State University, Pomona (1986) and her J.D., with distinction, from University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law (1992).
Victor E. Johnson: Mr. Johnson’s practice includes counseling clients in various aspects of intellectual property matters, including the areas of patent and trademark procurement, due diligence, and opinion work (freedom to operate, invalidity, and noninfringement). Mr. Johnson has experience in the development and management of worldwide intellectual property portfolios for both startups and mature companies. He also has experience with various technologies, including molded containers and closures, semiconductor fabrication equipment, bioanalytical measurement systems, chromatography equipment, medical and dental devices, and agricultural and food processing equipment. Mr. Johnson earned his B.S. in mechanical engineering from University of Massachusetts at Lowell (1989) and his J.D. from George Washington University Law School (1999). While attending law school, he worked as an intern with the U.S. International Trade Commission and as a primary examiner for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Incoming associates, also from Dorsey & Whitney, include: Tao Huang (biotechnology and semiconductor industries, patent strategy counseling, due diligence review, freedom-to-operate analysis, portfolio management, patent prosecution); Tuan N. Nguyen (patent law in the life sciences industries, patent prosecution, freedom to operate opinions); Melissa Souza (patent prosecution, trademark prosecution, and corporate matters); Robert Edesess (preparation and prosecution of domestic and foreign patents in the mechanical, electro-mechanical, semiconductor, nanotechnology, agricultural, and biotechnology fields); and Diane J. Mason (trademark and patent law, emphasis on intellectual property litigation).
About Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
Morgan Lewis is a global law firm with more than 1,300 lawyers in 21 offices located in Beijing, Boston, Brussels, Chicago, Dallas, Frankfurt, Harrisburg, Irvine, London, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Palo Alto, Paris, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Princeton, San Francisco, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C. For more information about Morgan Lewis or its practices, please visit us online at www.morganlewis.com.
