Updated 4:32 p.m.
A five-attorney patent prosecution and litigation team has made the jump from Patton Boggs to Venable, the latter firm announced Monday.
Partners Michele Frank, Toni-Junelle Herbert and Mark Shanks, of counsel Therese Finan and associate Fabian Koenigbauer will join Venable’s Washington office. The group deals primarily with clients in the biotechnology, medical device and life sciences industries in matters related to patent prosecution, commercialization, strategic portfolio management and litigation.
Frank, a former patent examiner with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, specializes in patent counseling and portfolio management, transactions and setting up in-house IP departments.
Herbert, who specializes in drug development, works on patent rights acquisition in the U.S. and abroad. She represents clients from the chemical, pharmaceutical, boat propulsion technology and biotechnology industries.
In 2003, Herbert and Shanks folded their IP boutique firm into Reed Smith, according to a press release.
Shanks represents foreign and domestic companies in patent and trade secret litigation related to biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and chemical processing.
With the enactment of the America Invents Act, Shanks said that he anticipates he and his colleagues will be arguing more often before the Patent and Trademark Office.
“Like many firms, we anticipate with the AIA, we will be in the realm of opposition and doing more arguing on behalf of our clients,” Shanks said.
Shanks said that the group was drawn to Venable because of the strength of its general practices as well as its active patent prosecutions. “It’s an unbeatable combination,” he said. “The bench strength and the team mentality should be a great service to our clients."
“We are seeing strong demand for top-notch IP counsel,” Michael Gollin, chair of Venable’s life sciences practice group, said in a written statement. “In Michele, Toni, Mark, Therese and Fabian, we gain outstanding attorneys who have proven skills representing life sciences companies, through every step of the IP life cycle, including commercialization and disputes.”
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