MOVERS & SHAKERS
Who‘s hiring and who‘s moving
Akerman brings in healthcare patent litigator Jeffrey Toney
An experienced trial lawyer, Jeffrey Toney tries complex commercial disputes for pharmaceutical, medical device, chemical, and technology companies addressing business and technology issues arising from the design and manufacturing of products, most notably pharmaceutical delivery systems and medical devices.
“Jeff’s experience with companies in the pharmaceutical and healthcare space adds important depth to our national team in these sectors,” said IP practice group chair Brian Bianco.
“Atlanta is a key market for our clients and his presence provides us additional capabilities in the region.”
Toney also counsels clients in connection with regulatory matters, including matters before the US Food and Drug Administration, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as well as international agencies.
Toney has experience with resolving complex business divorce, particularly joint-venture disputes, and antitrust matters with multi-tier and international markets.
He has 25 years’ experience in international arbitration matters in Europe, the US, and Latin America, including proceedings before the International Chamber of Commerce, the Zurich and Stockholm Chambers of Commerce, the London Court of International Arbitration, and the American Arbitration Association.
“Jeff’s experience with companies in the pharmaceutical and healthcare space adds important depth to our national team.”
Brian Bianco
Mewburn Ellis boosts partnership by six
Mewburn Ellis has promoted two partners to its equity partnership, and appointed four new partners.
Sean Jauss and Katherine Green have been promoted to full members of the partnership, while Camille Terfve, Eleanor Maciver, Dan Thornton and Tom Furnival have been appointed as junior members. The promotions came into effect on April 1 2022.
Katherine Green joined Mewburn Ellis in 2006 before becoming a chartered patent attorney and European patent attorney in 2010. She specialises in oppositions and appeals at the European Patent Office (EPO), particularly defending patents in complex opposition cases involving very large numbers of opponents. She advises on European prosecution strategies for many important patent families, particularly divisional strategies for opposed patents.
Sean Jauss heads up the firm’s legal and dispute resolution teams. He has more than 20 years of experience advising on contentious and non-contentious IP matters, including patents, trademarks, designs, copyright, database rights and trade secrets across a range of industry sectors.
Camille Terfve joined Mewburn Ellis in 2019 and handles the full range of patent work in the life sciences sector, with a particular focus on bioinformatics/computational biology, precision medicine, medical devices and bioengineering.
Eleanor Maciver joined the firm in 2013, qualifying as a chartered patent attorney and European patent attorney in 2017. She drafts chemistry patents for UK and international clients and is experienced in the prosecution of global patent portfolios as well as opposition and appeals before the EPO.
“These appointments reflect an excellent balance of continued development across our practice group.”
Richard Johnson
Dan Thornton qualified as a European patent attorney in 2017 and as a chartered patent attorney in 2021. He works on all aspects of the patent application process in the mechanical, electronics, and engineering sectors.
Tom Furnival qualified as a European patent attorney in 2017 and a chartered patent attorney in 2018. He handles a wide range of patent work, including original drafting, prosecution and opposition, particularly defensive oppositions, in the engineering, electronics, computing and physics fields.
“These promotions are greatly deserved and I look forward to working with the team as we move on to our next phase of growth,” said Richard Johnson, chairperson at Mewburn Ellis. “We are delighted to promote Sean and Kath to full partners and Camille, Eleanor, Dan and Tom to junior members of the partnership, and are pleased that these appointments reflect an excellent balance of continued development across our practice groups.”
Stroock hires patent litigator David Barr
David Barr has joined Stroock as co-chair of the firm’s patent litigation practice and partner in the IP practice in New York.
Barr’s practice focuses on complex patent litigation involving therapeutic drug products, diagnostics, and medical devices. His experience includes serving as lead trial counsel for Novartis, Sanofi, Regeneron and other biopharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in patent matters, including generic challenges to branded companies in Hatch-Waxman litigation, disputes between innovator companies relating to biologic drug products and biosimilar challenges to innovator biologic products.
Barr has written numerous articles and is a frequent speaker on IP issues. He is co-author and co-editor of the Practicing Law Institute’s treatise “Pharmaceutical and Biotech Patent Law”, and co-chairs PLI’s annual programme on Recent Developments in Pharmaceutical and Biotech Patent Law.
“I’m thrilled to welcome David to our IP team as we continue to grow, strengthen and receive recognition across disciplines," said Timothy Gilman, co-chair of Stroock’s patent litigation group.
Barr commented: “Stroock’s technical knowledge and commitment to further grow its IP Group present an exciting opportunity for me to build a practice and expand my capacity to advise cutting-edge life sciences companies.”
Barr joins Stroock from law firm Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer.
“Stroock’s technical knowledge and commitment to grow its IP Group present an exciting opportunity for me to expand my capacity to advise cutting-edge life sciences companies.”
David Barr
K&L Gates enlists partners and 10-lawyer team in Boston
K&L Gates has hired two life science partners, Hannah Koyfman and David Lu, and their 10-person team to bolster the firm’s nascent Boston practice.
The two biotechnology and pharmaceutical specialists join K&L Gates from local Boston IP firm Lando & Anastasi, alongside their team of patent agents, lawyers, technology specialists and other professionals.
Bob Barrett, a co-leader of K&L Gates’ IP practice, said: “We are proud to welcome Hannah, David, and their diverse team to our burgeoning IP group. They have an incredible cutting-edge life science practice with a stable of well-known clients who we look forward to serving more fully through our expansive global IP practice.”
Koyfman has assisted clients in the biotechnology industry to design and execute global patent strategies and has guided clients on a variety of patent areas including strategic counselling, application drafting, patent prosecution, freedom-to-operate analysis, and non-infringement and invalidity opinions.
Lu focuses his practice on patent prosecution and IP counselling for life science companies. He has shaped global patent strategies for pharmaceuticals and biotechnology companies.
“This next generational group of life science lawyers is performing cutting-edge work in the ever-burgeoning biotechnology and pharmaceuticals market.”
Mark Haddad
Mark Haddad, partner at K&L Gates’ Boston office, said: “We are extremely excited to welcome David, Hannah, and their team to our Boston ranks.
“This next generational group of life science lawyers is performing cutting-edge work in the ever-burgeoning biotechnology and pharmaceuticals markets, and we look forward to partnering with them to apply their unique skills to servicing clients in the Boston region and across our international platform.”
Koyfman and Lu are among the 110 new partners and of counsel to join K&L Gates since the beginning of 2020. Core to the firm’s expansion has been the strengthening of its IP practice, which has grown its presence in Melbourne, Portland, Orange County, Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, Austin and Nashville within the past year.
The firm has also established an IP agency in Beijing, which was established in order to prosecute trademark applications directly with the China National Intellectual Property Administration.
A&O recruits five-strong Goodwin team, launches in Boston
Allen & Overy has hired five partners from Goodwin Procter to boost its US life sciences litigation practice.
Led by Elizabeth Holland, the firm’s new head of US life sciences, A&O also welcomed Bill James, John Bennett, Nick Mitrokostas and Daniel Margolis as partners, based in New York, Washington, DC, and a new office in Boston.
Bennett and Mitrokostas will be based in Boston.
Global head of litigation, Karen Seward, said: “The addition of this top-tier team with a proven track record of collaboration and success is a testament to A&O’s status as a leading global IP litigation advisor.”
Holland, who is known for her Hatch-Waxman patent litigation expertise, said: “A&O’s truly global IP litigation offering provides an ideal platform to continue expanding our innovator life sciences practice. We look forward to the opportunity to offer our clients a single, elite platform for worldwide IP litigation.”
The announcement follows the addition of eight partners from the White & Case Technology practice in August 2021, and recent hirings of life sciences-focused litigation partners Sapna Palla in New York and Stephen Neuhaus in Germany to A&O’s IP practice in July and May 2021, respectively.
US senior partner Tim House said: “Combining this renowned US life sciences litigation team with our recent technology litigation and antitrust lateral hires on the East and West Coasts, we offer a premier life sciences and technology litigation capability to cover the full spectrum of IP protection that our clients need in these rapidly converging sectors, in all the most important global jurisdictions.”
