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Prominent Life Sciences and Medical Device Corporate Lawyer Stephen Thau Joins Morrison & Foerster
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Resident in Palo Alto, Mr. Thau becomes co-chair of firm’s Life Sciences Group
Palo Alto, CA -- Adding further depth in life sciences, emerging company, and venture capital practices, Morrison & Foerster LLP announced that Stephen B. Thau, a leading life sciences and medical device corporate lawyer, has joined the firm as a partner in its Palo Alto office. Mr. Thau will join partners Jonathan Dickstein and John Campbell as Co-Chair of the firm’s Life Sciences Group, serving clients in areas such as licensing and strategic collaborations, corporate formation, debt and equity finance, mergers and acquisitions, patent prosecution, and intellectual property litigation.
He joins the firm from Heller Ehrman LLP, where he was a partner in that firm’s Venture Law Group in the Menlo Park office.
Mr. Thau’s corporate practice adds another dimension to Morrison & Foerster’s Life Sciences Group, which comprises more than 180 lawyers in offices around the world providing a full range of services to clients in the biotechnology, medical device, and pharmaceutical industries.
"Life Sciences companies are increasingly sourcing their corporate legal services with firms that can broadly serve their needs with specific domain expertise," explained Robert Townsend, Chair of the firm’s international Corporate Group. "Our corporate life sciences clients benefit from our combined expertise in patent prosecution, intellectual property due diligence, litigation, and technology transactions. Stephen will play a leading role in facilitating the integrated delivery of these and other of our services to life sciences clients."
Mr. Dickstein added: "We are delighted to welcome back Stephen to the firm. He is a rare blend, a corporate and a technology transactions lawyer who has significant experience dealing with issues that are unique to the life sciences industry. He brings a wealth of experience and relationships across this important sector that will help us broaden our reach and deepen our relationships with existing life sciences clients."
Mr. Thau, who began his career as an intellectual property and securities litigator with Morrison & Foerster, said he was rejoining the firm to become a part of its multi-disciplinary life sciences practice.
"Morrison & Foerster has a uniquely global, world-class, multi-disciplinary life sciences practice, extending from strengths in Europe, across the US, and in Japan and China. These global capabilities in IP matters, technology transactions, corporate finance and M&A transactions are becoming increasingly important to life sciences companies." At the same time, he added, "The firm is committed to working with young companies to help them grow to a global scale."
Mr. Thau brings more than a decade of experience representing life sciences and technology companies in corporate and securities matters. He has completed hundreds of venture capital transactions, as well as numerous public offerings, M&A transactions and corporate collaborations, which require negotiations over long-term funding, project management, and regulatory, manufacturing and intellectual property ownership issues.
Mr. Thau represents emerging companies in their formation, financing, collaborations, mergers and acquisitions, and public offerings. He also represents venture capital firms, with an emphasis in the life sciences sector, including the biotechnology, medical device and diagnostics industries. Mr. Thau will also continue his representation of emerging companies in other industries as a member of the firm’s Emerging Companies & Venture Capital and Cleantech groups.
He received his J.D., Order of the Coif, from Stanford Law School in 1994 and his A.B, magna cum laude in Biology, from Harvard College in 1989.
About Morrison & Foerster
With more than 1,000 lawyers in 18 offices internationally, Morrison & Foerster offers clients comprehensive, global legal services in business and litigation. The firm is distinguished by its unsurpassed expertise in finance, life sciences, and technology, its legendary litigation skills, and an unrivaled reach across the Pacific Rim, particularly in Japan and China. For more information, visit www.mofo.com.
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