Mintz Levin Makes Significant Expansion to West Coast; Acquires Prominent Intellectual Property Boutique in Silicon Valley
4/4/2006
Acquisition of the Reed Intellectual Property Law Group Deepens Formidable Experience in IP and Life Sciences Areas; Establishes Platform for Future Growth in California
Boston, MA - Marking a significant expansion to the West Coast, Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. -- a full-service, AmLaw 100 firm with offices throughout the U.S. and in the U.K. -- announced it has acquired the Reed Intellectual Property Law Group, a prominent, Palo Alto-based boutique with extensive experience representing clients in the life sciences, chemical and technology sectors.
Already among the most active major law firms in the intellectual property area, Mintz Levin has more than 90 attorneys, scientists and other professionals focused on the protection, licensing and enforcement of intellectual property rights. The firm's roster of more than 400 intellectual property-related clients includes many of the most prominent names in the life sciences and technology industries including: StemCells Inc., Merck, 454 Life Sciences and Neuromolecular Pharmaceuticals Inc. The firm also represents a number of life sciences companies in other areas including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic alliances, and public and private financings. These clients have included Coley Pharmaceutical Group, Inc., Curagen Corporation, OSI Pharmaceuticals and Qiagen, to name only a few.
As part of the acquisition, Dianne E. Reed, founder and managing partner of The Reed Intellectual Property Law Group, and approximately ten other attorneys, agents, and patent specialists, will join Mintz Levin, bringing complementary experience and backgrounds. The Reed group represents a number of U.S. and foreign clients, including start-ups, major corporations, investment groups, foreign law firms, research institutes, and universities. The group is well known for its expertise in patent preparation and prosecution, opinion work, strategic counseling, patent portfolio management, due diligence investigations, and FDA-related patent analyses and submissions. The acquisition is the first in the 73-year history of Mintz Levin, which was founded in Boston in 1933 and has grown to more than 450 attorneys.
"Mintz Levin has established one of the largest Intellectual Property practices of any major U.S. law firm," said Steven P. Rosenthal, the firm's co-managing Member. "As our IP practice and our firm as a whole continue to grow, this acquisition presents a significant opportunity to increase our geographic footprint in an area that is seeing enormous growth in the life sciences industry; it also establishes a platform for the firm's future expansion. The establishment of our Palo Alto office is just the beginning of our significant expansion plans in California."
"Dianne and the other talented attorneys have deep experience in a variety of technical areas, from chemistry, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology to engineering and applied physics, and they have established an outstanding reputation on the West Coast and beyond for their work on behalf of an impressive list of companies and institutions such as Bayer Corporation, SRI International, IBM, Labcyte Inc., Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, and the California Institute of Technology," added Ivor Elrifi and Jason Mirabito, Co-Chairs and Members of the firm's Intellectual Property practice. "That background, combined with the similarities in our approach to client service and our shared commitment to culture and values created a natural fit as well as a significant business opportunity."
"Mintz Levin has been a leader in the field of intellectual property for many years," said Ms. Reed, a former partner at Morrison & Foerster who founded The Reed Intellectual Property Law Group in 1992. "We are thrilled to be joining this exceptional group of attorneys and to be at the forefront of the firm's exciting expansion to the West Coast. We are looking forward to bringing our experience to bear in further enhancing the firm's intellectual property capabilities as well as the opportunity to expand our existing client relationships by calling on the firm's depth and breath of expertise in other areas of the law, including business and finance; healthcare; employment, labor and benefits; regulatory matters and litigation, among others."
A veteran of the intellectual property field, Ms. Reed has expertise spanning a wide variety of technology areas in the life sciences as well as in the physical sciences and engineering, and is perhaps best known for her patent work in the areas of complex chemistry, drug delivery, and nanotechnology. She has prepared and prosecuted about 2000 United States patent applications, has handled all types of work related to the generation, acquisition, and maintenance of intellectual property, and has served as a patent expert in patent infringement litigation. In her 22 years in private practice, Dianne has worked closely with numerous clients in creating and managing valuable and often complex patent portfolios, assessing and re-assessing patent strategy on an ongoing basis, preparing opinions of counsel, conducting due diligence reviews, and handling all matters related to the preparation and prosecution of patent applications. She also has experience handling FDA-related patent matters, including analysis of patent issues associated with ANDA submissions and preparation of patent certifications and related documents. Her clients have included SRI International, Copley Pharmaceutical, Cohesion Corporation, Corium International, Labcyte Inc., IBM, Quantum Dot Corporation, Hewlett-Packard Corporation, Pharmascience, Inc., Nektar Therapeutics, and the California Institute of Technology.
Ms. Reed obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from M.I.T. in 1979, attended graduate school in nuclear chemistry at the University of California at Berkeley, and obtained a J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, in 1984. She is a member of the American Bar Association, the American Intellectual Property Law Association, the San Francisco Intellectual Property Law Association, the Silicon Valley Intellectual Property Law Association, and the American Chemical Society. Ms. Reed is admitted to practice in California and is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Joining her as Members are Carol A. Schneider, Flavio M. Rose and Karen Caanan.
Dr. Schneider represents clients mainly in the biotechnology and biomedical fields, and has drafted and prosecuted patent applications to issuance in areas such as molecular biology, immunology, genomics, gene therapy, pharmaceuticals, and drug delivery. She has been involved in a variety of proceedings before the United States Patent and Trademark Office, including interferences, reissues, and ex parte reexaminations, and has also prepared numerous opinions on patentability, validity, infringement, and freedom of operation. Her background also includes life sciences patent litigation including: Hormone Research Foundation and Hoffmann LaRoche v. Genentech, Inc., Genentech, Inc. v. Abbott Laboratories, Calgene Inc. v. Enzo Biochem, Inc., Vestar v. Liposome Technology, Inc., University of California and Idexx Laboratories v. Synbiotics, and GenSci Regeneration Laboratories, Inc. v. Osteotech, Inc.
Prior to joining The Reed Intellectual Property Law Group, Dr. Schneider was a partner at Irell & Manella LLP in Los Angeles. She received her J.D. from the University of Southern California in 1988, where she was a member of the USC Law Review and Order of the Coif. She received her bachelor?s degree in bacteriology from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1973, and her Ph.D. in cellular and molecular biology from the University of Southern California in 1980. Dr. Schneider is a member of the State Bar of California, the American Bar Association, the American Intellectual Property Law Association, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Mr. Rose has worked on patent litigation, prosecution, and client counseling in a wide variety of technologies, including biotechnology, drug delivery, diagnostic contrast media, semiconductor manufacturing, microprocessor design, and cinematic special effects. His patent litigation experience includes Bayer v. Elan Pharmaceutical Research Corp., Novartis Consumer Health v. Elan Transdermal, Elan v. Biovail Corp., Affymetrix v. Hyseq, Applied Materials v. Novellus, Sonus v. Molecular Biosystems, Pitney Bowes v. Stamps.com, and Bloomstein v. Paramount Pictures.
A graduate of the University of Santiago in Chile, Mr. Rose earned a master's degree in electrical engineering from MIT in 1982. Prior to attending law school at the University of California at Berkeley, he worked for a number of years in industry, focusing on computer-aided design software, computer graphics, networking, and integrated circuit design. After graduation from law school in 1994, Mr. Rose served as a judicial law clerk to Judge Irma E. Gonzalez of the Southern District of California in San Diego, and then spent a number of years in the litigation department of Irell & Manella LLP. Mr. Rose is admitted to practice in California and is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Ms. Canaan's practice focuses on patent preparation and prosecution in the biotechnical, pharmaceutical and chemical arts. As part of her practice, Ms. Canaan prepares non-infringement, invalidity, patentability and freedom-to-operate opinions as well as analyses associated with new drug and generic drug applications for the Food and Drug Administration.
Ms. Canaan graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1986 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in biochemistry. She received her J.D. in 1997 from Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa, California. Prior to attending law school, Ms. Canaan worked for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the Texas Medical Center and at Stanford University where she focused on recombinant DNA techniques, the production of transgenic animals, and derivation and maintenance of embryonic stem cell lines. After law school she worked as an attorney-advisor at the United States Patent and Trademark Office reviewing petitions on a variety of legal questions. Ms. Canaan began working with Ms. Reed in 2002 and became a partner of The Reed Intellectual Property Law Group in 2005.
Mintz Levin is an AmLaw 100 law firm with offices in the US and the UK. The firm has exceptional depth in a broad range of practice areas, but our clients recognize that what sets us apart from other law firms is our industry focus. By truly understanding business drivers and industry trends, we are able to provide our clients with more than just legal advice. We provide legal solutions to our clients' business issues. Since 1933, our lawyers have represented entrepreneurs, emerging growth companies, government agencies, and leaders in primary industries that include Life Sciences/Biotechnology; Technology & Communications; Financial Services & Insurance; Healthcare; Real Estate, Hospitality & Construction; and Retail & Consumer Products. Our practical knowledge combined with our industry expertise enables us to provide our clients with enterprise legal advice that gives their business a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
