Eileen’s market-leading experience, practical advice and industry insight in intellectual property and regulatory law make her a go-to advisor for clients in Canada and the United States.Chair of Torys’ Intellectual Property and Food and Drug Regulatory practices, Eileen is one of a handful of Canadian lawyers who advise on regulatory clearance and intellectual property protection of products. Across sectors—including life sciences, agribusiness, regenerative medicine and stem cells, cannabis and more—Eileen helps clients identify IP and regulatory assets, obtain and maintain market exclusivity, exploit IP assets and enforce their IP rights.Eileen is a registered patent and trademark agent in the United States and Canada and is adroit at navigating the issues at play in cross-border matters. She is also a Certified Licensing Professional of the Licensing Executive Society (LES) (2011-2014), United States and Canada. This certification is issued only to persons who have met the requirements for licensing professionals, established by CLP, Inc., under the guidance of the LES. Fewer than 1% of all attorneys have this certification, making Eileen a specialized resource for clients.
Torys
According to one pharmaceutical client, Torys impresses with its ‘knowledge regarding the intersection of regulatory and IP law’. Alongside its premier life sciences expertise, the Toronto-based group is additionally well versed in IP matters pertaining to the TMT, retail, food and beverage, agriculture, industrial, and energy and natural resources sectors, among others. IP chair and patent specialist Eileen McMahon also fronts the food and drug regulatory practice and advises on an array of IP protection and regulatory matters. Edward Fan coordinates the IP group and has an emphasis on IP acquisition, enforcement and exploitation. The group also fields two highly regarded IP litigators in Andrew Shaughnessy and Andrew Bernstein. Other recommended names include life sciences specialist Teresa Reguly and newly promoted patent litigator Nicole Mantini.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘Torys IP offers a unique and compelling offering of deep legal expertise and pragmatic business insight. The team is very responsive and also proactive, routinely reaching out to keep us informed of developments in industry and the law as it relates to the pharmaceutical field.’
‘Eileen McMahon possesses unparalleled expertise and experience in the life sciences industry. Andrew Shaughnessy provides innovative strategic legal thinking and a willingness to use his vast network to support our legal needs.’
‘Teresa Reguly is responsive and pragmatic, with extremely sharp legal skills and strategic and innovative in her legal thinking.’
‘Andrew Bernstein is a great resource when it comes to IP and constitutional matters. He is always responsive and engaging. He works well with in-house counsel, making sure we are always on the team and part of the process. This creates trust and high-level collaboration that you do not find with other firms.’
‘Eileen McMahon and her team know the biopharmaceutical industry extremely well.'
‘Eileen McMahon always finds a way to achieve a goal for her client. Very creative, caring and successful.’
‘The team is wonderful to work with. It is highly knowledgeable about IP, both prosecution and litigation. It also has great experience and knowledge regarding the intersection of regulatory and IP law.’
Key clients
- LiquidPower Specialty Products
- CFL Enterprises
- Sanofi-Aventis Canada
- Catalyst Pharmaceuticals and KYE Pharmaceuticals
- NOVA Chemicals Corporation
- Amgen
- Olympus Corporation
- Champion Petfoods
Work highlights
- Advising LiquidPower Specialty Products (LSPI)in defending an action to impeach a patent owned by LSPI brought by Flowchem.
- Representing NOVA Chemicals Corporation in appealing two separate decisions involving disputes with Dow Chemical Canada.
Lawyers
Hall of Fame
The lawyers at the very top of the profession, widely known and respected by peers and clients for their longstanding involvement in market-leading work.
Leading individuals
Andrew provides clients with leading experience, deep knowledge and skilled advocacy to advance their interests in patent and commercial disputes, as well as appellate matters, in all levels of court.Andrew helps clients involved in numerous types of disputes, including intellectual property, commercial and public law matters. A significant portion of his practice involves patents, copyright, trademarks arising in the life sciences, information technology, media and other industries.Andrew’s commercial litigation practice includes considerable experience in class actions, licensing, contract and tort actions, frequently advising and defending traditional and new media clients on defamation and free expression issues. He also has a strong track record in public law matters, having acted for both public- and private-sector clients in administrative hearings, judicial reviews and constitutional law cases.Andrew is an experienced appellate lawyer. He has helped numerous clients navigate difficult appeals before the Ontario and Federal Courts of Appeal, as well as other appellate courts across the country in a wide variety of areas of substantive law, including contracts, patents, copyright, class actions, administrative and constitutional law. He has also argued several appeals before the Supreme Court of Canada.
A leading intellectual property lawyer with pragmatic perspective, Edward helps companies acquire, enforce and fully exploit their intellectual property assets across industries.Edward is the practice group coordinator for the firm’s Intellectual Property Group. In addition to advising on issues relating to patent procurement and portfolio management, Edward is also involved in negotiating and crafting intellectual property, technology transfer, software and other technology-related licenses and agreements.Edward is a registered patent agent in Canada and the United States and a trademark agent in Canada.
Teresa’s scientific fluency supports her broad intellectual property skills and business-minded approach, helping clients realize and manage their intellectual property and product regulatory strategy.Teresa provides ongoing advice to clients who sell regulated products in the food, pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries.She advises on intellectual property and regulatory issues in the chemical, biochemical and pharmaceutical fields, including the validity patentability and infringement of intellectual property rights. Teresa has extensive experience with drafting, filing and prosecuting patent applications and is frequently involved in drafting and negotiating IP licensing, research and development, co-promotion, marketing and confidentiality agreements for her clients.She also provides guidance on Food and Drugs Act compliance, establishment licensing, product licensing, packaging and labeling, drug pricing and formulary listings. She has deep knowledge in the advertising and promotion of consumer products, food and health products, as well as mandatory reporting and corrective actions.Her work regularly includes advising clients across industries on privacy issues, cross-border transfer of personal information and compliance with privacy law obligations, particularly involving personal health information.Teresa is a registered patent agent in Canada. In September 2009, she was awarded for having achieved the highest overall mark in Canada on the 2008 patent agent exams.
Andy is known for a creative, business-savvy approach, bringing deep scientific fluency and sophisticated litigation strategy to clients in their complex intellectual property disputes.Andy’s practice focuses on intellectual property litigation and dispute resolution, representing a wide variety of clients in complex patent and trademark infringement and related litigation. With a focus on life sciences, Andy has decades of experience protecting the IP rights of clients in the industry and has deep knowledge and perspective on pharmaceutical patents.He has appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada, Federal Court of Canada, Federal Court of Appeal, Ontario Superior Court of Justice and Court of Appeal for Ontario, as well as specialized tribunals such as the Trademarks Opposition Board and the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board.Andy is very active in the legal community and is a well-known speaker, teacher and author in Canada.