Sheppard Mullin Adds Intellectual Property Team in Washington, D.C.

Group Brings Deep Patent Prosecution, Counseling and Litigation Experience to Firm’s Burgeoning Life Sciences Practice

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP is pleased to announce that a five-attorney team, led by partner Martin A. Bruehs, has joined the firm’s Intellectual Property practice group and the Life Sciences industry team in Washington, D.C. Bruehs was most recently a partner at Dentons, where he was head of their Chemical Patent practice. He will serve in the same capacity for Sheppard Mullin on the East Coast. Also joining Bruehs from Dentons are special counsel Rajesh C. Noronha and senior associates James M. Turner, Ph.D., and Ying-Hua (Betty) Sun, M.S. In addition, Gary Mangels, Ph.D., joins as special counsel, having previously practiced with Bruehs and his group at Dentons prior to moving in-house at Johnson Matthey as senior patent counsel.

The addition of Bruehs and his team is part of a strategic effort to augment Sheppard Mullin’s life sciences capabilities and follows on the recent hire of partner Jing Liu, Ph.D., and her team of associates, including Paul Chang, Ph.D. and Marc Chatenay-Lapointe, Ph.D. in Del Mar.

“This group’s deep background in sophisticated chemical, pharmaceutical, biotech and related patents will be an enormous asset to our national and international life sciences clients,” said Guy Halgren, Sheppard Mullin chairman. “Martin, Raj, Gary, Jim and Betty will fit in well with our collaborative culture, and we’re thrilled to add them to our thriving life sciences practice.”

Daniel Yannuzzi, Sheppard Mullin’s Intellectual Property practice group leader, added, “We’ve built a premier team of pharmaceutical, chemical and biotechnology patent attorneys that work with clients around the globe. Martin and his team augment the scope of our department, nicely rounding out our full-service patent practice across a broad range of technical specialty areas.”

Bruehs’ practice includes U.S. and international patent matters involving a range of technologies, including chemistry, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical/cosmetic products and nanotechnology. Clients around the world turn to him to develop and implement patent procurement and enforcement strategies to support their global business initiatives. His practice also includes patent litigation, intellectual property advice and counseling, opinions, inter partes and post-grant reviews, patent reissue and reexamination matters, patent interferences and intellectual property licensing and transactional matters. He has served as litigation counsel in evidentiary hearings, Markman hearings and jury and bench trials in various federal district courts and as appellate counsel before the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Bruehs has also advised clients in multiple declared patent interference proceedings and inter partes reviews, which have proceeded to final hearing proceedings, before the US Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences and Patent Trial and Appeal Board, respectively. Bruehs earned his BSChE in Chemical Engineering from Pennsylvania State University, with honors, and his J.D., cum laude, from Albany Law School. He is admitted to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York, and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Bruehs speaks French and German.

Noronha focuses on patent and trademark litigation and counseling clients in the chemical, electronic, mechanical, pharmaceutical and computer fields. He also has extensive experience in intellectual property licensing, portfolio development and management, and electronic discovery. He has litigated high-stakes patent cases in district courts throughout the United States, before the International Trade Commission, and on appeal before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the United States Supreme Court. He earned his BSE in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and his J.D. from the Columbus School of Law, The Catholic University of America. Following law school, Noronha clerked for the Honorable Sue L. Robinson, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, where he was involved in the adjudication of numerous federal cases in one of the nation’s foremost patent jurisdictions.

Dr. Mangels brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to Sheppard Mullin having served both in private practice and in-house roles. He primarily focuses on patent prosecution, management and counseling. He also has experience in patent litigation, opinions, inter partes and post-grant reviews, patent reissue and reexamination matters, patent interferences and intellectual property licensing and transactional matters. Before becoming a lawyer, Dr. Mangels was a Corporate Research Fellow for Pfizer, Inc. and, later, BASF Corporation. He earned his B.S. in Chemistry from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, his M.A. and his Ph.D. in Chemistry and Environmental Science from Rutgers University, and his J.D. from Rutgers University Camden School of Law.

Dr. Turner focuses on patent prosecution in relation to biotechnology, molecular biology and chemistry. Dr. Turner has significant research experience in molecular biology, bioorganic chemistry and structural biology. Prior to becoming a lawyer, Dr. Turner was a National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellow at The Scripps Research Institute in the Laboratory of Dr. Peter G. Schultz, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Predoctoral Fellow at The Scripps Research Institute in the Laboratory of Dr. Richard A. Lerner and Dr. Carlos F. Barbas III. He earned his B.S. in Chemistry from the California Institute of Technology, his Ph.D., in Biology from The Scripps Research Institute, and his J.D., magna cum laude, from California Western School of Law.

Sun advises inventors, start-ups, universities, midsized and multinational companies on intellectual property matters in the areas of domestic and international patent procurement, management, and licensing. She has prosecuted patent applications in the fields of molecular biology, immunology, vaccines, cell biology, genetic engineering, virology, chemistry, biochemistry, biologics, pharmacology, and botany. She also has experience assisting with patent infringement and trade secret misappropriation disputes before the ITC. Prior to becoming an attorney, she was a Research Associate at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a teaching Hospital of Harvard Medical School, where she conducted HIV vaccine research. Sun earned her BSc in Cell Biology and Genetics and her MSc in Cell and Developmental Biology from the University of British Columbia, and her J.D. from Santa Clara University School of Law. She is fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese.

About Sheppard Mullin’s Intellectual Property Practice
Sheppard Mullin’s IP practice covers in-depth all laws governing patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, false advertising, unfair competition, counterfeiting, and grey marketing. We litigate high-stakes, bet-the-company patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret disputes throughout the U.S., including in patent-intensive jurisdictions such as the Western District of Texas, Delaware and the Northern District of California. Our prosecution and counseling teams develop global IP portfolios, prepare opinions and perform product clearance based on a deep understanding of our clients’ businesses and technologies. We perform IP due diligence for investors and acquirers of target IP, and we advise clients on a broad range of privacy and data protection matters, including privacy policies and procedures, security breaches, regulatory investigations and global compliance. Our diverse client base ranges from Fortune 50 and multinational corporations to innovative start-ups and individuals across a wide spectrum of industries. Sheppard Mullin’s IP practice and partners are often recognized by Chambers, Patexia, IAM Patent 1000, Managing IP, World Trademark Review, U.S. News and Best Lawyers, Law360, and The Daily Journal, among others.

About Sheppard Mullin’s Life Sciences Industry Team
Sheppard Mullin’s Life Sciences Industry Team helps promising startups, publicly held multinational corporations, research institutions, government agencies, and investors protect and leverage intellectual property; raise and deploy capital; structure mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, strategic alliances, joint ventures, and spin-offs; navigate legislative and regulatory issues; and develop, lease, and acquire R&D and laboratory facilities. We also work with our life sciences clients as they access the capital markets through initial public offerings or private placements and consult with them on corporate governance and SEC compliance issues. In an industry where partnerships and collaborations are on the rise and there is pressure to produce results, we work hand-in-hand with our clients in their drive for success and profitability.

About Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP
Sheppard Mullin is a full-service AmLaw 50 firm with more than 980 attorneys in 15 offices located in the United States, Europe and Asia. Since 1927, industry-leading companies have turned to Sheppard Mullin to handle corporate and technology matters, high-stakes litigation and complex financial transactions. In the U.S., the firm's clients include almost half of the Fortune 100. For more information, please visit www.sheppardmullin.com.

KARA EYER
(312) 499-0533
keyer@sheppardmullin.com