Fish & Richardson launches life sciences team
The firm has appointed a leading attorney and a prosecutor to jointly lead its new division.
Fish & Richardson has appointed leading trial attorney Martina Hufnal and veteran patent prosecutor Todd Garcia to chair the firm’s life sciences industry team.
The team represents every sector of the life sciences market, including pharmaceutical, medical device, medtech and biotech companies, as well as academic and research institutions.
The team provides strategic and forward-thinking counsel to clients to minimise risk, protect clients’ assets, and strengthen clients’ competitive edge in the market.
Its cross-practice approach leverages interdisciplinary collaboration across litigation, patent prosecution and counseling, post-grant, trademark, regulatory, and licensing to provide clients with seamless support and a 360-degree view of potential opportunities and threat assessment and mitigation.
“Fish has a nationally recognised bench of trial attorneys and IP practitioners whose experience representing life sciences companies is second to none,” said Fish President and CEO John Adkisson.
"Fish knows the life sciences because we’re scientists too. More than 140 of our attorneys, technology specialists, and patent agents are part of this team with extensive experience and technical backgrounds in related disciplines.
“The life sciences industry team provides a cross-practice, cross-geography organisational structure to further invest firm resources and enhance collaboration to support clients in this rapidly evolving industry.”
Team co-leader Hufnal has extensive experience in Hatch Waxman litigation, biosimilar cases, and medical device disputes and is highly regarded for her work on complex pharmaceutical and healthcare industry cases.
Hufnal is known for her long-term strategic perspective and her deep understanding of clients’ priorities and business objectives. She has represented industry-leading clients in contentious, high-stakes matters and has contributed to defining the evolving landscape of IP law in the life sciences space.
Commenting on her new role, she said: “I’m grateful to be entrusted as co-leader of this robust and energetic team,” said Hufnal.
“The life science space is dynamic and provides an exciting opportunity to better cross-serve clients and drive success for innovative companies and institutions. I’m looking forward to collaborating across this team to accelerate progress and results.”
Fellow leader Garcia has represented the full spectrum of life sciences clients from startups to large pharmaceutical companies and major research institutions.
Also commenting, he said: “I’m excited to co-lead our life sciences industry team. We will support and deploy the strongest and most experienced professionals with the right technical expertise to handle our clients' patent protection and enforcement needs.”
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