Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP‘s intellectual property practice features IP practice head Louis Beardell in Philadelphia, IP deputy practice lead Dion Bregman in Silicon Valley, Princeton-based leader of the life science practice Alan Leeds and deputy life sciences head Benjamin Pensak, who shares his time between Chicago and San Francisco. This consortium of lawyers brings together expertise for licensing, commercial, and technology transactions, regularly advising on patent licensing, IP strategy, collaborations, strategic alliances, and joint ventures, in addition to providing clients with standards body advice. The group works on the prosecution and counseling of life science and chemistry patents, business methods and e-commerce patents, and electrical, mechanical, and software patents. Silicon Valley’s Rahul Kapoor is noteworthy for his transactional experience in technology-licensing deals.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • 'Efficiency, efficiency, efficiency. The team has the experience and understanding of the biotech industry required to take the next step from a pure legal advisor to a business partner who can cut through many of the issues that inevitable crop up in negotiations and focus on the high-value issues that can impact company value and partnering options down the line.'
  • 'Ben Pensak has a wonderfully practical approach to contract negotiation. He understands the industry and the issues that inevitably crop up in negotiations. He also understands that we don't need to fight on every point. Ben's singular focus is getting the client to a deal that works for both parties efficiently and on budget.'
  • 'Alan Leeds stands out among peers for his knowledge of pharmaceutical industry licensing and is an invaluable partner to our business. He effectively balances counseling with execution and has helped us deliver for our organization more times than I can count. He is accessible, genuinely likable, and committed to strong client service.'
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Key clients

  • Merck
  • Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.
  • Intel Corporation
  • Western Digital
  • SRI International
  • Eli Lilly and Co.
  • Alexion
  • LIB Therapeutics, Inc.
  • Takeda Pharmaceutical Co.

Work highlights

  • Represented Merck in its global development and commercialization agreement for three of Daiichi Sankyo’s DXd antibody-drug conjugate candidates, in a transaction implying a $4bn upfront payment and $1.5bn in continuation payments as well as potential additional payments of up to $16.5bn contingent upon the achievement of future sales milestones.
  • Advised SRI International on an agreement to receive the Palo Alto Research Center, a research and development organization and Xerox company.
  • Advised Takeda on its strategic discovery collaboration license agreement with F-star Therapeutics.

Lawyers

Leading partners
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Louis Beardell, Dion Bregman, Alan Leeds, Benjamin Pensak

Other key lawyers

Rahul Kapoor, Andrew Antczak, Victor Ghidu, Martin Henshall, Kelly Plummer