Known for handling complex patent licensing, acquisitions and sales, patent prosecution, patent due diligence and counseling as well as strategic patent asset management, DLA Piper LLP (US)‘s intellectual property and technology department advises clients across a diverse range of industries and technologies. Boston’s Larissa Bifano leads the team and advises on patents and licenses for AI-driven systems in addition to handling patent litigation. In San Diego, Lisa Haile focuses on patent protection and IP transactional matters. Raymond Miller in Philadelphia covers patent development and strategies with a life sciences focus, and Lauren Murdza is key name for technology transactions and general corporate matters, including licensing and development agreements. Based in Palo Alto, Victoria Lee is adept at handling a range of technology-related matters, including structuring, drafting, and negotiating complex commercial and intellectual property agreements, and Jeffrey Aronson also handles IP-related transactions in the TMT sector. Dallas-based Mark Lehberg extends the team’s expertise in technology licensing transactions. At the beginning of 2023, a large team of attorneys joined the team from Dentons, including San Francisco lawyers Peter YimRandy Omid  Parker Kuhl and Brian Ho as well as Seattle attorney Michael Swett and Palo Alto-based Christopher Eide.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • 'Trustworthy, knowledgeable, experienced team with breadth and depth of experience and good judgement.'
  • 'I have worked with more than a dozen senior intellectual property attorneys in the technology sector over two decades and Larissa Bifano is the best I have encountered. She is intelligent, effective, and trustworthy. She has sound judgement and she and her team work efficiently even around technologically sophisticated material.'

Key clients

  • Caelum Biosciences
  • CuraSen Therapeutics, Inc.
  • Codex
  • Liquidia Corporation
  • MicroSurgical Technology, Inc.
  • MVRx
  • Nanotronics Imaging
  • Personal Genome Diagnostics
  • Precision NeuroScience, LLC
  • Sanofi S.A.
  • Sanofi-Aventis US LLC
  • Sanofi-Aventis Recherche and Development
  • Synthetic Genomics, Inc.
  • Tesla, Inc.

Work highlights

  • Advised MicroSurgical Technology, Inc. on establishing, expanding, and managing its IP portfolio, including advice related to in-licensing technology from surgeons and universities and out-licensing technology to third parties.
  • Represented the University of Pennsylvania in the negotiation of a Research, Collaboration, & License Agreement with the Foundation for Angelman Syndrome Therapeutics to develop an investigational adeno-associated virus gene therapy for Angelman syndrome.
  • Represented Generian Pharmaceuticals in negotiating a collaboration and exclusive license agreement with Mitrobridge, Inc. (a wholly owned subsidiary of Astellas) to discover and develop novel small molecules for undruggable therapeutic targets by using a proprietary drug discovery platform for diseases that have limited treatment options.

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.

Larissa Bifano

Other key lawyers

Lisa Haile, Ray Miller, Victoria Lee, Jeffrey Aronson, Mark Lehberg, Lauren Murdza, Peter Yim, Michael Swett, Randy Omid, Parker Kuhl, Christopher Eide, Brian Ho