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New York Intellectual Property Attorneys Join Vedder Price
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Attorneys and Scientific Advisors Move to NY office
New York, NY -- The law firm of Vedder Price announces that Thomas J. Kowalski and Deborah L. Lu, Ph.D., have joined the firm as Shareholders in its Intellectual Property Group in New York. Heidi E. Lunasin, M.S.P.H., Associate, and Smitha B. Uthaman, Ph.D. and Jane Kiselgof, Ph.D., Scientific Advisors, have also joined the firm. All were formerly with the law firm of Frommer Lawrence & Haug LLP in New York. Mr. Kowalski, Dr. Lu and Ms. Lunasin are all admitted to practice in New York and before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Ms. Lunasin is also admitted in New Jersey. Drs. Kiselgof and Uthaman are admitted to practice before the USPTO.
Mr. Kowalski, Drs. Lu, Kiselgof and Uthaman and Ms. Lunasin join Vedder Price's existing Biotech attorneys, includingAjay A. Jagtiani, Mark J. Guttag and David J. Lanzotti in Washington, D.C., together with Robert S. Beiser and John J. Gresensin Chicago. Messrs. Jagtiani, Guttag and Lanzotti assist clients in all areas of biotechnology, including diagnostics, genomics, immunotherapy, proteomics, pharmaceuticals and other microbiology techniques. Mr. Gresens joined Vedder Price from Merchant & Gould where he chaired that firm's Biotech and Chemical practice and was lead partner on the National Institutes of Health account for ten years. Mr. Beiser, prior to entering into private practice, served in the patent departments of Abbott Laboratories and Bausch & Lomb where he was involved in a wide range of patent prosecutions relating to pharmaceuticals and medical devices.
Angelo J. Bufalino, Chair of the firm’s Intellectual Property Group, noted: “We could not be more delighted to have Tom and Deborah and their colleagues join us in New York. Our Intellectual Property group has grown to 37 attorneys and 3 Scientific Advisors / Patent Agents who handle a wide range of prosecution, transactional and litigation matters. The New York team brings vital expertise in the pharmaceutical and biotech market segments, supplementing our strengths in the electrical, chemical, biotech and mechanical areas and represents an important strategic objective to enhance our expertise in Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences prosecution. What is more, we now have IP attorneys in all three of our firm’s offices so that we can better meet client demand.” “We are expecting great synergies and enhanced collaboration,” added Bufalino.
Mr. Kowalski commented: “Vedder Price has excellent professionals and personnel, as well as broad resources. I am honored to be among the professionals of Vedder Price and excited to be here. Vedder Price provides the best platform to fully serve the intellectual property and broader legal needs of clients.”
Mr. Kowalski has more than 20 years of experience in the areas of biotech, chemical, and medical apparatus patent prosecution, licensing, counseling and litigation. He is admitted to practice before the USPTO, the state and federal courts of New York, the Federal Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Commercial Biotechnology and an Editorial Advisor for Intellectual Property for Nature Biotechnology. He writes and speaks frequently on a wide range of topics relating to pharmaceutical and biotechnology patents. He is a graduate of New York University (ACS certified B.S. Chem., 1982) and St. John’s University (J.D., with Honors, 1986). During his studies, Mr. Kowalski conducted laboratory research, including under a National Science Foundation Grant, the results of which were published in the Journal of Organic Chemistry. Mr. Kowalski is listed in the 2010-11 edition of Who’s Who Legal.
Dr. Lu received her Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry from the University of Michigan and her law degree from Fordham University (J.D., 2004). She prepares biomedical and biotechnological patent applications and assists clients in the management of biotech-related patent portfolios. She also performs patentability analyses and enjoys an active patent and trademark litigation practice. She was a post-doctoral fellow in Microbiology at Harvard Medical School and in Structural Biology at the Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine at the New York University Medical Center.
“We feel that this is a great opportunity for us, but more importantly for our clients,” stated Dr. Lu. “My colleagues and I look forward to serving both the comprehensive intellectual property and broader business needs of our clients.”
Ms. Lunasin received her undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from Rutgers University College of Engineering and her law degree from the Seton Hall University School of Law. In addition, she has a Masters Degree in Public Health from the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She works in all areas of patent and trademark law.
Dr. Uthaman works on aspects of patent prosecution and litigation involving technologies related to the life sciences, with particular emphasis on molecular and cellular biology, immunology, biochemistry and biotechnology. Dr. Uthaman completed her B.Tech. with honors in Biotechnology and Biochemical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India. She received her Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where she was also an Isenberg scholar at the Isenberg School of Management. Her work has been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals and has been presented at major scientific conferences.
Dr. Kiselgof is a registered Patent Agent, with an emphasis on patent applications related to the Life Sciences and, in particular, in pharmaceuticals and medicinal chemistry. She received her Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Brandeis University. Prior to private practice, Dr. Kiselgof worked at Schering-Plough Research Institute in medicinal chemistry. She has published a number of scientific papers and is an inventor on several U.S. patents.
The law firm of Vedder Price is a business-oriented law firm composed of 270 attorneys in New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C. The firm offers clients a wide-range of services in three core areas of practice: Corporate, Labor & Employment and Litigation. Within the corporate practice area, Vedder Price offers clients the benefits of a full-service patent, trademark, copyright and technology law practice that is active in both domestic and foreign markets. Our practice is directed not only to obtaining protection of intellectual property rights, but also to successfully enforcing such rights and defending clients in court and before federal agencies, such as the Patent and Trademark Office and the International Trade Commission, when necessary.
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